Adjunct Major Requirements
The adjunct major in Global Health Studies must be accompanied by a primary, stand-alone major.
To earn an adjunct major in Global Health Studies, students must:
- Complete eleven courses, including four core courses, three additional Global Health Studies courses, and four elective courses.
- Courses for the adjunct major may not be double-counted with any major.
- Students may elect to study abroad as part of their Global Health Studies curriculum.
Course requirements
Four Global Health core courses
- Global Health 201 Introduction to Global Health (formerly Global Health 301: Introduction to International Public Health, which counts for this requirement if taken prior to Fall 2022)
- Either Global Health 222 The Social Determinants of Health (formerly Global Health 322, which counts for this requirement if taken prior to Fall 2022)
- or Global Health 309 Biomedicine and World History
- or Global Health 325 History of Reproductive Health
- Global Health 302 Global Bioethics
- Global Health 320 Qualitative Research Methods in Global Health
- Global Health 303 (Re)Mixing Qualitative Methods (formerly Global Health 390)
- or Global Health 318 Community Based Participatory Research (formerly Global Health 390)
- or Global Health 390 Quantitative Methods: Turning Numbers into a Story
Three additional GBL_HLTH courses
- Select courses listed on our Course Descriptions page.
- All Global Health courses count, except for Global Health 399 and courses taught abroad (Global Health 3XX-SA).
Four elective courses
- Up to two elective courses can be taken abroad.
- Approved elective courses offered by a wide variety of departments are shared before pre-registration each quarter, and are posted with each quarter's schedule.
- Up to one approved 200-level course can count towards this requirement.
- Additional 300-level courses may also be considered as electives with approval from the Global Health Studies program.
- Global Health Studies classes may not be used for elective credit towards a Global Health Studies degree.
- Please note that Global Health Studies does not permit double-counting classes, but some units within WCAS and other colleges do allow it. Speak with your standalone major advisor to see what is permissible before contacting the Director of Undergraduate Studies to have a class double-counted.
Study abroad
You may elect to participate in a substantial public health experience abroad. Most Global Health Studies students choose to complete one of Northwestern's public health programs, offered in France, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and South Africa. Two of your Global Health Studies elective requirements can be completed on a public health study abroad program. Students who elect to study abroad more than once may earn more elective credits.
You may also participate in a non-Northwestern public health program (either affiliated with the university or not).
Senior Honors Theses
At this time, there is not an opportunity for adjunct majors to complete a senior honors thesis within Global Health Studies. Interested students should pursue a senior honors thesis within their other major.