Public Health Day presentations of special projects are completed by students in PHC 6940: Master of Public Health Capstone and PHC 6601: Seminar in Contemporary Public Health Issues (students enrolled pre-Fall 2019). The oral and written reports of the special project constitute the culminating experience in the MPH program. These reports are graded by the faculty advisor, with input from one additional faculty member who assesses the oral report. Oral reports are presented on Public Health Day.
Public Health Day Dates
- Spring 2023
- Campus students: March 31, 2023
- Online students: April 2, 2022
Abstracts
Students are required to prepare abstracts of their reports before the oral presentation. Your abstract serves as a short summary of your project and should make the reader want to learn more about the project. Abstracts should follow these guidelines:
- An abstract is less than 10% of the length of the written report
- Note key facts in each category: issue/problem, methods, results, implications
- Avoid a statement of scope; a sentence like “this paper will look at…”
- Be sure to omit or condense lengthy examples, tables, and other supporting detail
- Think of the abstract itself as a mini-essay
- Be sure that the abstract is complete, accurate, and written in the same voice as the paper
- Abstracts should be submitted with your PowerPoint presentations 48 hours before your Public Health Day presentation (see the PHC 6601 Canvas site for specific deadlines)
Presentation
Currently, Public Health Day is done in a completely online format. Students will do either a poster or oral presentation over Zoom. A return to an in-person Public Health Day for campus students is dependent upon COVID-19 restrictions.
Oral Presentation: Specific times for each presentation are posted before Public Health Day. Each student is allocated 20 minutes for their presentation: 15 minutes for the formal presentation, followed by a 5-minute question and answer period. Specific content required for oral presentations is specified in the PHC 6601 syllabus along with criteria for assessment of presentation style.
Poster Presentation: Specific times for each presentation are posted before Public Health Day. Each student is allocated 20 minutes for their presentation. In the poster presentation format, students will have the full 20 minutes to present, with the faculty panel able to ask questions during the presentation. Specific content required for poster presentations is specified in the PHC 6601 syllabus along with criteria for assessment of presentation style.
Written Report
Each student prepares a scholarly paper, 15-20 pages in length (exclusive of graphs, figures, and references), based on the special project undertaken as part of the internship. A substantial portion of this paper includes an in-depth discussion of the manner in which the MPH and concentration-specific competencies were strengthened by conducting the special project. A near-final draft of the written paper must be submitted two weeks before Public Health Day and approved by the faculty advisor before the student can be scheduled for a Public Health Day presentation. The final paper will be submitted to the Canvas course and uploaded to the student’s e-folio.