Information and Policies
Introduction
The goal of the Global and Community Health (GCH) B.S. program is to serve the needs of students who aspire to a wide range of careers in healthcare. Students in this program will learn about the biological bases of health and disease and how social, political, economic, and environmental factors interact with the biology to create patterns of disease in communities and societies. Students must complete either of two concentrations in this major. The biomedical concentration is intended for students who are intent on gaining rigorous preparation for professional training in direct patient care (e.g., medical, dentistry, pharmacy school). The public and community health concentration, while still compatible with many professional school programs, is designed for students who wish to receive a broader education that will prepare them to understand both the biological and social determinants of health.
Students in both concentrations take a course in the foundations in global and community health along with introductory courses in biology, general chemistry, organic chemistry, calculus and statistics. In the upper division, all students take courses in biochemistry, epidemiology and environmental health. Students in the biomedical concentration also take advanced courses in genetics, molecular and cell biology, human physiology, and five quarters of Spanish, culminating in a course in medical Spanish. Students in the public and community health concentration take an introductory physiology course, an advanced course in community health, and elective courses in the biological and social contexts of health. Students in both concentrations also take courses in global and community health communication and complete a capstone course in which they participate in interdisciplinary teams to analyze a contemporary problem in global and community health.
Medical and professional school admissions requirements vary; students should verify that their coursework will satisfy the admissions requirements of the programs to which they plan to apply. Check our Health Careers webpage for more information on how you can academically prepare for a career in health care. Additional information is available at the UCSC Career Center.
Academic Advising for the Program
Students should take full advantage of academic advising and should keep in frequent contact with the advisors to stay informed about late announcements of courses, changes in scheduling, and opportunities for special study. Transfer students should also consult the Transfer Information and Policy Section. For additional advice and information:
MCD Advising
389 Thimann Labs
mcdadvising@ucsc.edu
Program Learning Outcomes
Students who successfully complete the global and community health B.S. major will be able to:
- describe the biological and environmental contexts of health;
- describe the social, economic, and cultural contexts of global and community health;
- describe the institutional and policy contexts of global and community health;
- apply methods and skills for biological and population analyses to problems in global and community health; and
- demonstrate an interdisciplinary understanding of global and community health in practice.
Getting Started in the Major: Frosh
Prerequisites
This major is highly course-intensive and/or sequential; students who intend to pursue this major must begin taking classes for the major in their first quarter at UC Santa Cruz. Students should take Foundations for Global and Community Health as soon as possible. This fall it is crosslisted three ways as POLI 89/ANTH 89/ BIOL89, and students can register under any one of these three subject codes. Due to the demanding nature of the major, students must begin their science coursework as early as possible. MATH 11A or MATH 19A; CHEM 1A, CHEM 1B, CHEM 1C, and CHEM 8A; and BIOL 20A, BIOE 20B, and BIOL 20L must be completed before the sixth quarter in order for students to qualify for admission to MCD biology-sponsored majors, the biology B.S., global and community health B.S., molecular, cell and developmental biology B.S., and neuroscience B.S. majors. For an overview of prerequisites and getting started in the major, please visit our MCD Biology advising site.
An online mathematics placement examination is required to enroll in a math course. Biological science majors are expected to take this examination and are encouraged to work in the learning modules until they place into calculus. For more information see the mathematics placement website.
Students intending to major in the global and community health B.S., biomedical concentration should take the Spanish placement examination, offered by the language program, to determine the level at which they should begin the Spanish sequence.
Transfer Information and Policy
Transfer and Admission Screening Policy
The global and community health program encourages applications from transfer students. The global and community health B.S. major has a major qualification policy that limits access to the program to students who have successfully completed a subset of foundational coursework. Transfer students are held to similar criteria when being assessed for admission to UC Santa Cruz as an MCD-sponsored major. See qualifying for the major as a transfer applicant for more information.
To be considered for admission as a proposed global and community health B.S. major, transfer students must complete the following courses or their equivalents prior to transfer, by the end of the spring term for students planning to enter in the fall with grades of C or higher in each course.
Plus, one of the following calculus courses:
| MATH 11A | Calculus with Applications | 5 |
| MATH 19A | Calculus for Science, Engineering, and Mathematics | 5 |
In addition, the following courses are recommended prior to transfer to ensure timely graduation.
One of the following courses
| MATH 11B | Calculus with Applications | 5 |
| MATH 19B | Calculus for Science, Engineering, and Mathematics | 5 |
Plus the following courses
| STAT 7 | Statistical Methods for the Biological, Environmental, and Health Sciences | 5 |
| STAT 7L | Statistical Methods for the Biological, Environmental, and Health Sciences Laboratory | 2 |
| CHEM 8B | Organic Chemistry | 5 |
| CHEM 8L | Organic Chemistry Laboratory | 2 |
Please see our site on preparing to transfer as an MCD major for more complete information.
Prospective students are encouraged to prioritize required and recommended major preparation, and may additionally complete courses that articulate to UC Santa Cruz general education requirements as time allows.
Students who are proposed in a different major and have advanced standing when they enter UCSC require permission from the department to change into the major. Admission to the major is not guaranteed.
Getting Started in the Major: Transfer Students
Transfer students who have met the major qualification requirements are encouraged to declare the major during their first quarter at UC Santa Cruz. Transfer students should complete the required courses foundations of global and community health (GCH 1) as soon as possible. In addition, students in the biomedical concentration should complete biochemistry (BIOL 100), genetics (BIOL 105), and molecular biology (BIOL 101) by the end of their first year at UCSC since they are prerequisites for the majority of other required courses. Transfer students in the biomedical concentration should also take the Spanish placement exam upon arrival. We encourage transfer students to complete the required Spanish courses (including SPAN 5M) before the fall of their second year.
Major Qualification Policy and Declaration Process
Major Qualification
To qualify for the global and community health B.S. major, students must pass the following courses:
Students must also pass one of the following courses:
All qualification courses must be completed by the end of the fifth quarter. Students with two or more grades of NP, C-, D+, D, D-, or F in the policy courses are not qualified to declare.
When assessing qualification:
- All courses must be taken for a letter grade, see Letter Grade Policy.
- Students with AP credit for MATH 11A or MATH 19A, BIOL 20A, BIOE 20B, and/or CHEM 1A, need only pass the remaining qualification policy courses.
- Every student who satisfies the major qualification requirements and who petitions to declare the major by the campus major declaration deadline (i.e. before enrolling in their third year or the equivalent) will be admitted to the major. Students who satisfy the major admission requirements, but who petition to declare the major after the campus major declaration deadline will be considered on a case-by-case basis for admission to the major; admission is not guaranteed.
Appeal Process
Students who are not eligible to declare the major may submit an appeal to the global and community health B.S. faculty advisor. The department will notify the student and their college of the outcome of the appeal within 15 working days of the quarterly appeal deadline.
See our appeal process for more information.
How to Declare a Major
Students should submit a petition to declare by completing the online declaration petition as soon as they complete the major qualification courses or reach their declaration deadline quarter, whichever comes first.
Students petitioning when the campus declaration deadline is imminent (i.e., in their sixth quarter, for students admitted as frosh), will either be approved, denied, or provided with conditions (e.g., completion of some courses with certain grades) that will be resolved within at most one more enrolled quarter, even if they have not completed major qualification courses.
Each major/minor advising office has a process for declaring. To initiate the process to declare, please complete the online declaration petition located on the Department of MCD Biology website. For assistance, please contact MCD biology advising at mcdadvising@ucsc.edu.
Letter Grade Policy
All courses that are taken to satisfy any major requirement must be taken for a letter grade.
Course Substitution Policy
At least half of the upper-division courses required for the major must be taken at UC Santa Cruz, not as transfer credits from another institution. If a student plans to transfer to UCSC from another institution, the student is advised to contact MCD Advising at UCSC before enrolling in upper-division courses at the student’s institution or any institution other than UCSC. This advising will help students understand the limitation of transferring upper-division courses from other institutions to UCSC. For more information on transferring courses to UCSC, please consult the undergraduate website.
Once matriculated, a student must receive permission from the department to satisfy the BIOL 20A, BIOL 100, BIOL 105, BIOL 101, or BIOL 110 requirements with courses taken at other institutions. Students who wish to receive credit toward the major for these or other courses taken either at UCSC or at another institution should contact MCD Advising.
Double Majors and Major/Minor Combinations Policy
Students interested in pursuing multiple majors within the biological sciences may NOT declare the following combination of majors:
- Biology (B.A., B.S., or minor) AND any other biological sciences major
- Any combination of the following: Global and Community Health (B.A., or B.S.), Human Biology, Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, Neuroscience, or Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Should a student choose to double major, they must qualify for and complete the Disciplinary Communication and comprehensive requirements for each of the majors.
Study Abroad
The UC Education Abroad Program (EAP) offers qualified students unique opportunities to broaden their educational horizons. We encourage interested students to participate. Many programs are in English-speaking countries or use English for advanced courses. Many programs offer small classes, extensive laboratories, and/or field research experience.
Students interested in study abroad need to get an early start on their basic science requirements, including chemistry, mathematics, and introductory biology and must declare their major prior to applying to go abroad. Students interested in studying abroad should visit the EAP office as soon as possible to begin planning. They should also seek advice about their EAP plan for major courses at UC Santa Cruz from MCD Advising and receive their approval.
Honors
Honors in the majors are awarded to graduating students whose academic performance demonstrates excellence at a grade point average (GPA) of 3.5 or above. Highest honors are awarded to those students whose performance demonstrates the highest level of excellence and results in a GPA of 3.8 or above.
Medical and Professional School Admission
Medical and professional school admissions requirements vary; students should verify that their coursework will satisfy the admissions requirements of the programs to which they plan to apply.
Biomedical Concentration
Course Requirements
Lower-Division Courses
All of the following courses:
| BIOL 20A | Cell and Molecular Biology | 5 |
| BIOE 20B | Development and Physiology | 5 |
| BIOL 20L | Experimental Biology Laboratory | 2 |
| CHEM 1A | General Chemistry | 5 |
| CHEM 1B | General Chemistry | 5 |
| CHEM 1M | General Chemistry Laboratory | 2 |
| CHEM 1C | General Chemistry | 5 |
| CHEM 1N | General Chemistry Laboratory | 2 |
| CHEM 8A | Organic Chemistry | 5 |
| CHEM 8L | Organic Chemistry Laboratory | 2 |
| CHEM 8B | Organic Chemistry | 5 |
| CHEM 8M | Organic Chemistry Laboratory | 2 |
| PHYS 6A | Introductory Physics I | 5 |
| PHYS 6B | Introductory Physics II | 5 |
| PHYS 6C | Introductory Physics III | 5 |
| PHYS 6L | Introductory Physics I Laboratory | 1 |
| GCH 1 | Foundations for Global and Community Health | 5 |
| STAT 7 | Statistical Methods for the Biological, Environmental, and Health Sciences | 5 |
| STAT 7L | Statistical Methods for the Biological, Environmental, and Health Sciences Laboratory | 2 |
BIOL 20L is waived for junior transfer students who completed their introductory biology courses at a California community college.
Note: CHEM 109 is also recommended for pre-med students.
Plus one of the following options:
Language Requirement
SPAN 1-SPAN 4 or the equivalent and one quarter of Spanish for health-care workers (SPAN 5M).
Upper-Division Courses
All of the following courses:
Internship Requirement:
Students must participate in a community health-care service activity approved by the health sciences internship coordinator. Credit may be earned over multiple quarters.
Disciplinary Communication (DC) Requirement
Students of every major must satisfy that major's upper-division disciplinary communication (DC) requirement. The DC requirement in global and community health B.S. degree is satisfied by completing the following courses:
| GCH 190 | Global and Community Health Task Force | 5 |
| GCH 195 | Global and Community Health Communication | 2 |
Comprehensive Requirement
All majors have a comprehensive requirement. For the global and community health B.S., this requirement can be satisfied by receiving a passing grade in the Health Sciences Internship, BIOL 189.
Planners
The tables below are for informational purposes and do not reflect all university, general education, and credit requirements. See Undergraduate Graduation Requirements for more information.
Sample Global and Community health B.S., Biomedical Concentration, First-Year Student Four-Year Planner
Additional first-year student sample planners
The following general education requirements will be fulfilled by the major requirements listed in the above planner: MF, SI, SR, CC. In addition to the GE requirements satisfied by the above courses, a student will also need to complete courses satisfying the ER, IM, TA, PE, and PR general education requirements.
Sample Global and Community health B.S., Biomedical Concentration, Transfer Two-Year Planner
Additional transfer student sample planners
This planner assumes that a student has completed all UC Transfer Pathway courses:
Initial Spanish course placement is based on the Spanish placement exam. Students who lack prior experience with the Spanish language should consider taking Spanish courses prior to transferring to UCSC.
Public and Community Health Concentration
Course Requirements
Lower-Division Courses
Core Courses
| BIOL 20A | Cell and Molecular Biology | 5 |
| BIOE 20B | Development and Physiology | 5 |
| BIOL 20L | Experimental Biology Laboratory | 2 |
| CHEM 1A | General Chemistry | 5 |
| CHEM 1B | General Chemistry | 5 |
| CHEM 1C | General Chemistry | 5 |
| CHEM 1M | General Chemistry Laboratory | 2 |
| CHEM 1N | General Chemistry Laboratory | 2 |
| METX 41 | Physiology of Disease | 5 |
| GCH 1 | Foundations for Global and Community Health | 5 |
| STAT 7 | Statistical Methods for the Biological, Environmental, and Health Sciences | 5 |
| STAT 7L | Statistical Methods for the Biological, Environmental, and Health Sciences Laboratory | 2 |
Plus one of the following options:
BIOL 20L is waived for junior transfer students who completed their introductory biology courses at a California community college.
Note: CHEM 109 is also recommended for pre-med students.
Lower-Division Breadth Requirement (Choose One)
| ANTH 2 | Introduction to Cultural Anthropology | 5 |
| BIOL 80A | Female Physiology and Gynecology | 5 |
| BIOL 80J | Biology of Emerging and Pandemic Diseases | 5 |
| BIOL 88 | Studies in Medicine: Its Art, History, Science, and Philosophy | 5 |
| JRLC 30
/CLNI 30
| (H)ACER Undergraduate Community Internship | 2 |
| CLNI 60 | Water Justice: Global Insights for a Critical Resource | 5 |
| CMMU 10 | Introduction to Community Activism | 5 |
| CSE 80A | Universal Access: Disability, Technology, and Society | 5 |
| ENVS 25 | Environmental Policy and Economics | 5 |
| ENVS 80F | Introduction to Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems | 5 |
| FMST 10 | Feminisms of/and the Global South | 5 |
| FMST 30 | Feminism and Science | 5 |
| FMST 31 | Disability Studies | 5 |
| FMST 41 | Trans Gender Bodies | 5 |
| HIS 81 | Science in the Colonial World | 5 |
| LALS 55 | AIDS Across the Americas | 5 |
| LIT 80K | Topics in Medical Humanities | 5 |
| POLI 17 | U.S. and the World Economy | 5 |
| POLI 20 | American Politics | 5 |
| POLI 61 | Politics of Social Policy | 5 |
| PSYC 1 | Introduction to Psychology | 5 |
| SOCY 1 | Introduction to Sociology | 5 |
| SAS2V | Feeding the World (UCD) | |
| SOCY 10 | Issues and Problems in American Society | 5 |
| SOCY 15 | World Society | 5 |
| SPAN 3 | First-Year Spanish | 5 |
| SPAN 4 | Second-Year Spanish | 5 |
| SPAN 5M | Medical Spanish | 5 |
| VME 57V | Global Pop Health & Env (UCD) | |
Upper-Division Courses
All of the following courses:
| BIOL 100 | Biochemistry | 5 |
| BIOL 113 | Principles of Epidemiology | 5 |
| CMMU 165 | Community Analysis for Global Health | 5 |
| GCH 190 | Global and Community Health Task Force | 5 |
| GCH 195 | Global and Community Health Communication | 2 |
| METX 115 | Environmental Health Science | 5 |
Internship Requirement:
Students must participate in a community health-care service activity approved by the health sciences internship coordinator. Credit may be earned over multiple quarters.
STEM Elective (Choose One):
| BIOE 118 | Plants and Society: the Biology of Food, Shelter, and Medicine | 5 |
| BIOL 101 | Molecular Biology | 5 |
| BIOL 105 | Genetics | 5 |
| BIOL 117 | Global Health and Neglected Diseases | 5 |
| CHEM 109 | Intermediate Organic Chemistry and Applications to Biology | 3 |
| CHEM 169 | Chemistry and Biology of Drug Design and Discovery | 5 |
| CHEM 171 | Chemical Biology | 5 |
| METX 100 | Introduction to Microbiology | 5 |
| METX 102 | Cell and Molecular Toxicology | 5 |
| METX 135 | Functional Anatomy | 5 |
| METX 135L | Functional Anatomy Lab | 3 |
Enrollment in METX 135 requires concurrent enrollment in METX 135L.
Non-STEM Electives (Choose two):
| ANTH 110E | Anthropology of Global Environmental Change | 5 |
| ANTH 110F | Evolution of Human Diet | 5 |
| ANTH 110T | Motherhood in American Culture | 5 |
| ANTH 110Y | Feeding California | 5 |
| ANTH 111 | Human Ecology | 5 |
| ANTH 112 | Life Cycles | 5 |
| ANTH 129 | Beyond Borders: Other Globalizations and Histories of Interconnection | 5 |
| ANTH 134 | Medical Anthropology: An Introduction | 5 |
| ANTH 136 | The Biology of Everyday Life | 5 |
| ANTH 144 | Anthropology of Poverty and Welfare | 5 |
| ANTH 146 | Anthropology and the Environment | 5 |
| ANTH 148
/FMST 148
| Gender and Global Development | 5 |
| ANTH 160 | Reproductive and Population Politics | 5 |
| ANTH 161 | The Anthropology of Food | 5 |
| ANTH 161S | Anthropology of Food, Abroad | 5 |
| ANTH 162 | Anthropology of Displaced Persons | 5 |
| BIOL 188 | A Life in Medicine | 3 |
| CMMU 156 | Politics of Food and Health | 5 |
| CMMU 160 | Public Health | 5 |
| CMMU 161 | Gender Health and Justice | 5 |
| CMMU 162 | Community Gardens and Social Change | 5 |
| CMMU 163 | Health Care Inequalities | 5 |
| CMMU 164 | Health Justice in Conflict | 5 |
| DANM 136 | Mapmaking for Environmental Activism | 5 |
| FMST 124 | Technology, Science, and Race Across the Americas | 5 |
| FMST 125 | Race, Sex, and Technology | 5 |
| HIS 101D | World History of Science | 5 |
| HIS 101F | Global Environmental History | 5 |
| HIS 139C | Queer Pasts: A Radical Telling of LGBTQ History in the United States | 5 |
| HIS 151 | History of Science, Medicine, and Technology from Antiquity to the Enlightenment | 5 |
| HIS 151A | Medicine and the Body in the Colonial World | 5 |
| HIS 151B | Drugs in World History | 5 |
| HIS 177A | Slaves, Soldiers, and Scientists: History of the Tropics | 5 |
| LALS 175 | Migration, Gender, and Health | 5 |
| LALS 194X | Extractivism and Socio-Environmental Conflicts in the Americas | 5 |
| LGST 108 | Gender, Sexuality, and Law | 5 |
| LGST 135 | Native Peoples Law | 5 |
| LGST 137 | International Environmental Law and Policy | 5 |
| LGST 173
/POLI 173
| Disability, Law, & Politics | 5 |
| POLI 102 | Doing Research | 5 |
| POLI 120B
/LGST 120B
| Society and Democracy in American Political Development | 5 |
| POLI 120C
/LGST 120C
| State and Capitalism in American Political Development | 5 |
| POLI 121
/LGST 121
| Racism & Justice in America | 5 |
| POLI 160B
/LGST 160B
| International Law | 5 |
| POLI 166 | Politics of Migration | 5 |
| POLI 175
/LGST 175
| Human Rights | 5 |
| POLI 182
/LGST 182
| The Power to Punish | 5 |
| POLI 186
/LGST 186
| Global Health Politics | 5 |
| POLI 187 | Decolonial Global Health: A View from the Middle East and Africa | 5 |
| POLI 189 | Pandemics, Politics, and Global and Community Health | 5 |
| PUBHLTH 121 | Intro to Alternative Medicine (UCD) | |
| PUBHLTH 174 | Global Health Ethics (UCI) | |
| SOCY 121 | Sociology of Health and Medicine | 5 |
| SOCY 121G | Genomics and Society | 5 |
| SOCY 127P | Sociology of Drugs, Botanicals and Pharmaceuticals | 5 |
| SOCY 128C
/LGST 128C
| Social History of Democracy, Anarchism, and Indigenism | 5 |
| SOCY 128I
/LGST 128I
| Race and Law | 5 |
| SOCY 128J
/LGST 128J
| The World Jury on Trial | 5 |
| SOCY 128M
/LGST 128M
| International Law and Global Justice | 5 |
| SOCY 132 | Sociology of Science and Technology | 5 |
| SOCY 135 | Healing Justice | 5 |
| SOCY 153 | Sociology of Emotions | 5 |
Students may petition for substitution of elective courses.
Disciplinary Communication (DC) Requirement
Students of every major must satisfy that major's upper-division disciplinary communication (DC) requirement. The DC requirement in the global and community health B.S. degree is satisfied by completing the following courses:
| GCH 190 | Global and Community Health Task Force | 5 |
| GCH 195 | Global and Community Health Communication | 2 |
Comprehensive Requirement
All majors have a comprehensive requirement. For the global and community health B.S., this requirement can be satisfied by receiving a passing grade in the Health Sciences Internship, BIOL 189.
Planners
The tables below are for informational purposes and do not reflect all university, general education, and credit requirements. See Undergraduate Graduation Requirements for more information.
Sample Global and Community health B.S., Public and Community Health Concentration, First-Year Student, Four-Year Planner
Additional first-year student sample planners
The following general education requirements will be fulfilled by the major requirements listed in the above planner: MF, SI, SR, CC. In addition to the GE requirements satisfied by the above courses, a student will also need to complete courses satisfying the ER, IM, TA, PE, and PR general education requirements.
Sample Global and Community health B.S., Public and Community Health Concentration, Transfer Two-Year Planner
Additional transfer student sample planners
This planner assumes that a student has completed all UC Transfer Pathway courses: