The Applied Practice Experience (APE) provides you an opportunity to cultivate mentoring relationships with public health professionals through meaningful hands-on work that builds public health competencies, as well as learn how organizations function, how teams operate, and how to interact with diverse groups of stakeholders in the world of public health practice.
The APE/Integrative Learning Experience (ILE) is a full year of seminars for students in the CHSP, EPHS, GH, PHN, PHPM, and SDG concentrations.
Practice Seminars: APE and ILE
The Practice seminars complement the 180-hours of public health practice completed by students and includes 2 semesters of coursework:
- The fall-semester APE seminar meets for 15-weeks and broadens students' exposure to public health practice, facilitates valuable work experience, and increases students' knowledge of specific career opportunities.
- The spring-semester ILE which meets for 15-weeks is taken in the final seminar within each concentration and is designed to ensure that students have acquired the competencies of their academic program. Evidence of mastery can take the form of exercises, papers, and reports.
Accelerated Seminars:
Students may consider registering for the accelerated versions of the APE and ILE seminars, where coursework is completed in one semester. The APE seminar meets the first 7-weeks of the semester, and the ILE seminar meets the second 7-weeks of the semester.
These seminars are ideal for students who completed APE hours and project deliverables during the summer session and prior to the start of the semester they are offered. Therefore to qualify and to reserve a space, documentation must be submitted to the Office of Public Health Practice by the final deadlines outlined in the Completing the APE section of this website:
- Internship Completion Form, which must include signatures from the APE preceptor and the student.
- Summary Table of Products and Competencies applied during the internship.
- Copies or draft versions of all project deliverables.
Because of the pace of the coursework, deadline extensions are not possible. If the deadline is missed OR if APE hours and deliverables are not complete, students must register for the 15-week option(s).
How Do I Enroll in the APE and ILE Seminars?
All students must secure an Applied Practice Experience (APE) and submit a Practice Learning Contract (PLC) for review and approval by the Office of Public Health Practice before they will be allowed to enroll in the APE Seminar.
Once your PLC is approved, notification will be sent to the GPH Registrar about your clearance to register for the course.
As a reminder, students should not begin APE hours before receiving approval from the Office of Public Health Practice. Hours completed before approval will not count toward the required hours.
For more information about this process, please visit the Completing the APE page.