Advising in the College of Health
Who will be advising you?
All students receive academic advising from professional advisors who guide students on building their schedules, answering curriculum-related questions, and providing support in acclimating to college life. While students are assigned a specific advisor, COH advisors act as a team, providing students with a greater support system. Advisors are available to students by email, virtual meetings, and in-person meetings.
Students are also assigned a faculty mentor who will develop and maintain a professional relationship with their mentees to encourage and support them as they pursue their academic and career goals. All questions about the support the COH provides should be directed to cohadvising@lehigh.edu
Math in the College of Health
Calculus is only required for Biostatistics and Health Data Science Majors, it is not a required course for Population Health, Community and Global Health, or HMS majors, but it is recommended for students who plan to declare a BS in Population Health.
The Mathematics Department uses a Calculus placement tool, ALEKS, from McGraw-Hill. Every student who intends to take a Calculus class at Lehigh in the fall of 2025 must use the ALEKS system for placement. ALEKS is an evaluation that provides a second recommendation for your Calculus course based on your results. If the recommended calculus course is Math021, please note that the College of Health recommends Math 051 instead, which meets pre-med and Biostatistics requirements. Math 021 is a part of an engineering calculus sequence, so it is not necessary for College of Health students.
ALEKS does not give credit like an AP exam. Instead, its purpose is to make sure students are ready for calculus. It will also indicate the topics and areas you can improve and provides modules to work through to prepare you for the fall semester. After completing the suggested modules, you have the opportunity to test again and improve your placement recommendation. More details about ALEKS will come in time for registration. Be sure to look for email alerts for when ALEKS testing starts.
Pre-Med Students
If you plan to attend medical or veterinary school, you can get started on those prerequisites. Otherwise, you can explore and register for the first-year eligible courses it is recommended that you explore courses in both the population health and community & global health majors. Sample course schedules are provided for your convenience, as is a list of courses available to first-year students. College of Health students are often planning to attend medical or veterinary school following their graduation from Lehigh. Since no specific major is required for pre-health students, this path is possible for students regardless of their choice to pursue a BA or a BS. Additional information about this plan is available on our website.
Major requirements, college distribution requirements, and degree requirements…what’s the difference?
When you select a major, you will need to meet all the requirements of that major. Usually, there are “core” requirements and electives. Core requirements are specific courses that you are required to take. With electives, you are able to select courses based on your health interests, with approval from your academic advisor. The number of total major credits varies by major.
There are also college distribution requirements. These are subject requirements that must be met regardless of a student’s major and are specific to each college. Some, like English and the First Year Seminar, are required to be taken during your first semester. Others can be taken at any time before graduation. Your advisors will help with this sequencing.
All students in the College of Health must meet the requirements below prior to graduation.
- First-year Seminar (1 course)
- HLTH 090: The Value of a Degree in Health
- Science Writing (4 courses)
- WRT 001 or WRT 003 Critical reading and composition
- WRT 002 or WRT 005 Research and argument
- Select 2 additional upper-level Health Science Writing courses from the list below, or in consultation with an advisor
- CGH 295: Fact Check: Reporting Health in the Misinformation Age
- CGH 313 Health Policy & Politics
- CGH 314 Advanced Commercial Determinants of Health
- CGH 315 Medical Mysteries
- CGH 316 Global Environmental Disasters & Policy
- CGH 317 Sex, Drugs, & Trauma
- CGH 319 Public Health Law
- CGH 322 Contemporary Indigenous Health
- CGH 332 Aging, Health, and Social Policy
- CGH 334: Cross-National Comparisons of Health Systems & Policy
- EPI 310: Environmental Epidemiology & Exposure Science
- POPH 316 Global Sexual & Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice
- POPH 319: Population Health Bioethics
- POPH 350: Pandemics & Public Health
- Determinants of health (2 courses)
- CGH 103 Biological & Environmental Determinants of Health
- CGH 104 Sociocultural & Political Determinants of Health
- CGH 105 Commercial Determinants of Health
- Bioethics (1 course)
- POPH 003 Justice, Equity, & Ethics in Population Health
- POPH 319 Population Health Bioethics
- Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (1 course)
- CGH 002 Introduction to LGBTQ2+ Health
- CGH 021 Culture and Health
- CGH 022 Global Perspectives on Health
- CGH 122 Indigenous Healing Traditions
- CGH 309: Ethnomedical Traditions of the Americas
- CGH 310: Rural Communities and Health in the United States
- CGH 311 Religion, Spirituality, and Health
- CGH 312 Curses, Possessions, and Supernatural Illnesses
- CGH 318 Sexuality Education
- CGH 322 Contemporary Indigenous Health
- CGH 325: LGBTQ+ Health Research, Policy, and Practice
- CGH 351: Special Topics in Indigenous Peoples' Health
- CGH 397: Disability and Society
- POPH: 316Global Sexual & Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice
- Sustainability (1 course)
- CGH 102: Community Health & Engineering
- CGH 108: Food Justice
- POPH 106: Global Environment & Human Welfare
- CGH 316 Global Environmental Disasters & Policy
- POPH 317: Urban Greenspace and Health
- POPH 395: Applied Field Methods in Environmental Health and Engineering
Finally, there are degree requirements. To earn a degree, you will need to complete at least 120 credits by the time you graduate. Those credits comprise your major courses, distribution courses, and any other credits you earn. The “any other credits” or “free electives” outside your major or distribution requirements can come from any course at Lehigh! We want you to try other things, so don't fear that a course “won’t count for anything.” Take the course because it looks interesting. All credits “count” toward your degree; as long as you are paying attention to meeting your major and distribution requirements, you can do some exploring too!
College of Health Contacts:
Ben Moyer, Senior Academic Advisor
610-758-1888
Monica Samson, Academic Advisor
610-758-6434
Web site: https://health.lehigh.edu/