An Appetizing Gateway
Summer Institute Classes Attract Diverse Group of Students
As a part-time student at the Bloomberg School, Doug Woods takes full advantage of the MPH program’s extensive online offerings for most of his coursework.
Come summer, however, he treks to East Baltimore from his San Francisco home for the Graduate Summer Institute in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. For Woods, it’s a way to get some face time with faculty and fellow students and take courses in a compressed time frame—many that are equivalent in credits to standard academic-year classes.
This summer’s nine institutes offer 120 classes across a variety of disciplines in formats that range from one day to three weeks.
Woods, who has a PhD in cancer biology and worked for 20 years in the biotech industry, just wrapped up his second Summer Institute, completing two courses in two weeks for four credits.
“It’s a lot of effort in a short time,” says Woods, who plans to work in clinical trials, after earning his MPH.
Felicity Turner, director of International and Continuing Education, says about half of the Summer Institute students are in part-time MPH and DrPH programs. The short-term classes—which can be taken for credit or on a non-credit basis—also appeal to working professionals, international students and undergraduates.
“The courses offer an exciting gateway for people interested in exploring public health—an appetizer,” says Turner.