Field Experience

All Public Health Administration and Policy students are required to participate in a field experience. The purpose is to develop practical skills and competencies in public health administration and policy and to provide an opportunity for the student to accumulate experience that will enhance job competence and/or placement following completion of the program.

Examples of practice placement sites include:

• Minnesota Department of Health,
• Centers for Disease Control,
• Physicians for Human Rights,
• Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota,
• Minnesota International Health Volunteers,
• Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center,
• Community-University Health Care Center, and
• Mayo Management Services.

The goal is to place each student in an agency that complements the student's interests and abilities and offers opportunities to further career goals. Although the field experience is not a job placement service, it can be used effectively as an informational and marketing tool for future employment.

Description

Each PHAP student works with a PHAP faculty supervisor who may be the student's academic advisor or another PHAP faculty member and a community preceptor to design objectives, learning activities, and evaluation methods for the field experience. The faculty supervisor provides guidance related to academic and curricular topics during the project and assures that the field experience meets PHAP program standards. The community preceptor provides consultation and guidance in their area of expertise in particular and contributes to the evaluation of the student's performance.

Contract

The student prepares a contract for the field experience in collaboration with the PHAP faculty supervisor and the community preceptor. The contract describes what the student hopes to gain from the field experience, how it relates to public health administration and policy, the field experience's objectives and task activities, and a process and criteria for evaluation. Prior to beginning the field experience, the student must distribute copies of the signed contract to the PHAP faculty advisor, the community preceptor, and the PHAP major coordinator.

Evaluation

At the completion of the field experience, the community preceptor completes an evaluation report on the student. The evaluation is based on the standards in the field experience contract and guidelines in a PHAP program evaluation form.

The community preceptor submits the evaluation to the PHAP faculty supervisor and recommends a grade. The PHAP faculty supervisor meets with the student and reviews the field experience in terms of the contract. The PHAP faculty supervisor submits the evaluation form and the final grade.

Students are responsible for sending a formal letter of thanks to their field preceptor.

Selection of Field Experience Sites

Students determine their field experience site in consultation with their advisor. The site must meet the student's stated educational objectives and provide for a preceptor who can be an effective role model for public health administration knowledge and skills.