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Kansas State University

Field Experience in Public Health:

Guidelines for students:

  1. Introduction & Policy
  2. Requirements
  3. Approval Procedures
  4. Agency Field Experience Sites

Agencies and Preceptors Hosting an MPH Student:

  1. Frequently asked questions
  2. 10 reasons to host an mph student
  3. Portable Document Format Field Experience Student Request Form (PDF File)

 

Agency Field Experience Sites:

Preparation for the field experience should begin at least one semester before the actual work on site is to begin. For example, if a student plans to do the field experience during the summer, he/she should start planning at the beginning of the spring semester or even as early as the fall semester. Some agencies offering placement opportunities start accepting applications as early as 9 months before the anticipated start date.

Students should seek prospective agency placements that can provide them with opportunities to practice the knowledge and skills learned in the classroom. The ideal experience should give students an understanding of both the breadth and depth of public health areas where they might eventually like to work. The faculty advisor, area of emphasis coordinator, or the MPH program director can assist the student in finding an appropriate placement by discussing the student’s career goals and by considering previous placement sites where students have had good field experiences. The area of emphasis coordinator and the MPH program director will develop a list of established placement sites with locations and contact persons.

While the majority of field experience placements will be completed with agencies in Kansas, students are not required to stay within the state to meet this requirement. Collaborative relationships will be established with the health departments in adjacent states and with a variety of other regional, national, and possibly international agencies and organizations that could provide placements.

All students are welcome to investigate opportunities wherever they may be available, provided the host agency and proposed field experience meet the MPH program’s requirements for an appropriate field experience (see guidelines in a separate document). Some examples of appropriate field experience placements used in other states in their MPH programs include the Centers for Disease Control and Health Promotion, the Health Services and Agency, the National Institutes of Health, state and local departments of health, community-based voluntary organizations like the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, or the March of Dimes. Other community-based organizations that are involved in public health approaches to prevention are county Extension programs, corporate wellness programs, major industries, community hospitals, the food industry, and pharmaceutical companies.

A field experience placement at Kansas State University will be considered only if it clearly has a community focus. A request for such an experience must be submitted in writing to the MPH Coordinating Committee for approval. Normally, faculty research projects are not appropriate venues for field experience, nor are jobs that are primarily administrative in nature.

Recognizing that occasionally a student will have personal constraints to carrying out traditional field experience placements, an effort will be made to consider evening and weekend experiences with an approved agency. The proposal must be submitted in writing to the MPH Coordinating Committee to determine if there is sufficient opportunity for practical experience in the public health agency in concert with the student’s area of emphasis and career goals.

If a student faces any logistical problems, such as the need to reschedule the hours worked or to obtain transportation to the placement site, he/she should contact the MPH program director. For problems of a personal or professional nature, such as the need to withdraw from the placement before the end of the semester or to deal with an uncomfortable or hostile work environment, the student should contact his/her faculty advisor. Students should be in contact with the faculty advisor on a regular basis either by phone or email during the field experience period to discuss the progress of the experience. It is not necessary for the faculty advisor to visit the student on site unless it is desired and is mutually agreed upon by the student and agency preceptor.