The COPHP MPH program is for people who care about communities and would like to learn how to organize and affect policy. Social justice is our foundation; it is what unites our students and faculty and orients our problem-solving. Our alumni mobilize communities and catalyze grassroots public health initiatives to challenge health inequities and make positive changes to systems.

COPHP MPH is founded on the principle that adults learn best through discovering, doing, experiencing, and thinking via problem-based learning (PBL). COPHP students learn how to find the information they need to solve problems rather than memorize solutions. Our graduates can rapidly synthesize evidence to develop and evaluate public health programs.

We also recognize that graduates don’t need to be experts on everything, but rather they do need to know how to learn from, and share power with, experts in the community.

Leadership is a core learning objective in COPHP MPH. Our students develop leadership skills through facilitation and working in teams. Students gain project leadership experience through hands-on projects with community partners and problem-based learning cases.

COPHP MPH students learn collaboratively in problem-based learning classes no larger than ten people. These groups mimic workplace teams. Mutual accountability is a core value, and also a learning strategy, as it models most work environments our graduates enter after completing their degree. Our graduates know how to design, facilitate, and mediate group processes, especially in settings of competing views, and how to make sound and considered team-based decisions in public health. Most importantly, our alumni know how to draw out diverse perspectives to ensure all voices are heard.

We solve problems and overcome challenges by building trusting relationships in our classrooms, with community-based organizations, and directly with community members. COPHP MPH students are tight-knit cohorts of brilliant and curious adult learners and often remain each other’s best resources long after graduation.

We have strong community networks and partnerships that help us design our problem-based learning cases, which are often reworked to emphasize current public health issues. During both the first and second year, students engage in community-based projects for their courses, practicum, and capstone. The program boasts great community-based faculty, many of whom are alumni.

We are grounded in cutting-edge science and evidence-based practice. COPHP MPH students learn about the realities of health inequity and disparities in the United States and internationally. Our alumni skillfully develop and employ modern public health communication tools and techniques to effectively reach a variety of communities. COPHP also follows the best practices for community-based participatory research by compensating community members for their time and wisdom.

COPHP MPH students develop strong interpersonal skills through high-intensity individual and group work. We learn to sit with discomfort and explore our own imperfections and positionalities. All members of the COPHP community are proud adult learners committed to learning from and with each other. We find the problem-based learning environment cultivates high emotional intelligence and unparalleled communication skills that are transferrable to many sectors of public health.

The COPHP MPH program produces meaningful, real-world change. Our students have worked on projects that influenced policy development for Seattle and Washington state. Policy project topics include gun violence, sick leave, and pedestrian safety. These projects act as apprenticeships and immersive training opportunities to provide students with real-world work experience, not simply classroom learning.

Our remarkable graduates built, and continue to build, the COPHP MPH reputation for producing quality public health practitioners. Employers know that COPHP MPH students and graduates are reliably versatile, analytical, and nimble. They can think systematically and contribute to social equity. Our alumni skillfully and confidently practice systematic problem-solving approaches to resolve complex public health challenges. Our graduates remain deeply engaged in public health throughout their careers and often stay or return to our program to act as site supervisors for projects or instructors for problem-based learning courses.