The Department of Community and Environmental Health, one of the largest departments at Boise State in terms of enrollment, will now operate as Public Health and Population Science (PHPS) within the College of Health Sciences. The new name launches a full rebrand for the department: “public health” to emphasize its role in developing students into public health leaders, policymakers and practitioners in communities across the world while “population science” focuses on the interaction of public health and healthcare.
“Both public health and healthcare have evolved over the last decade, becoming better integrated,” said Lillian Smith, PHPS divisional dean. “This is seen in the uptake of value-based healthcare and comprehensive planning for health across businesses, non-profits, governmental agencies and communities. Our department will prepare the future workforce with the skills needed for the new reality.”
The department has updated its mission statement “to strengthen and improve the overall health of individuals, organizations, the environment and communities using evidence-based teaching, scholarship and service.”
There are currently 1,323 active undergraduate and graduate students in the department. A total of 4,416 graduates have completed 4,749 degrees since it was established in 1999.
The department offers three new master of public health degrees and both a bachelor of arts and bachelor of science in public health. It also has revised the bachelor of science in health studies degree to align with medical and clinical education, as well as healthcare changes that focus on population and health systems sciences.