Information and Policies
Introduction
Global and Community Health (GCH) is an interdisciplinary field of study that is connected both to urgent practical work in the world at large and the core concerns of a liberal arts education. Since GCH topics are embedded in and reflective of wide-ranging social forces, their study is situated at the intersection of diverse traditional disciplines ranging from art, literature, and history, to anthropology, sociology, psychology, politics, economics, and the natural and environmental sciences. Other interdisciplinary fields such as feminist studies and Latin American and Latino studies also intersect in influential ways with GCH, creating exciting opportunities for double majors.
University of California, Santa Cruz, students have many opportunities in the GCH curriculum for practical work in the world beyond the university. Students reflect repeatedly through the major on how their own personal learning can be effectively connected with and communicated to external audiences ranging from community organizations to employers to graduate schools.
More than two hundred courses offered by faculty from all five divisions of UC Santa Cruz contribute to the GCH curriculum. These faculty are committed to the value of interdisciplinary learning, as well as to the possibilities of connecting student research and writing with GCH concerns in the world beyond the university.
No specific courses at the high school level are required for admission to the GCH Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) at UC Santa Cruz. Courses in the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities, whether taken at the high school or college level, are appropriate background and preparation.
The GCH B.A. is appropriate for students interested in careers ranging from medicine, nursing, dentistry and pharmacy to public health and environmental health work in governmental agencies, to global health and community health work with non-governmental organizations, law firms and universities. Many of these careers also require additional post baccalaureate degrees for which the GCH B.A. provides an excellent foundation. There are also jobs open to those with a bachelor's degree in GCH in community health, counseling and educational settings as well as in business sectors such as human resources, administration, hospitality, recreation, food services, farming and construction.
Program Learning Outcomes
Students completing requirements for the B.A. in GCH will develop knowledge and competency in the following five domains:
- the biological and environmental contexts of global and community health;
- the social and cultural contexts of global and community health;
- the institutional and policy contexts of global and community health;
- the methods, skills and humanities-informed analysis of global and community health; and,
- the interdisciplinary design and implementation of global and community health work.
Academic Advising for the Program
Additional advising information for new and continuing students is available on the GCH B.A. Advising website. Students may also make an appointment with the B.A. advisor via Navigate Slug Success or contact us at any time at gchBAadvising@ucsc.edu. We look forward to hearing from you!
GCH BA Program Advising
Social Sciences 1, Suite #117
(831) 459-3727
gchBAadvising@ucsc.edu
Getting Started in the Major: Frosh
Students who intend to pursue this major should begin taking classes for the major in their first year at UC Santa Cruz. The GCH B.A. major includes some sequential courses and as a result, it is strongly recommended to meet with the GCH B.A. advisor to discuss your academic planning form.
Students are encouraged to take GCH 1 (Foundations for Global and Community Health) in the first year; this course may be offered during the summer session as well.
Additionally, the GCH B.A. program requires language competency at the first-year level. Some or all of this requirement may be satisfied upon entry with a language placement test. Students with language experience other than English are strongly encouraged to take the relevant language placement test, so as to support effective academic planning with the GCH B.A. advisor.
It is also critical that students check whether there are prerequisites for offered GCH BA electives that they wish to take. For example, although a student can complete the program without a Math Placement exam, a number of the electives have math prerequisite(s).
Transfer Information and Policy
Transfer Admission Screening Policy
Students planning to apply in this major are not required to complete specific major preparation courses before they come to UC Santa Cruz.
Getting Started in the Major: Transfer Students
All transfer students who have not completed an articulated course equivalent to GCH 1 must take it in either in their first fall quarter or the summer quarter before.
Courses from another institution may be considered only if they appear on the student’s Transfer Credit Summary. Students who wish to substitute transferable courses taken elsewhere for the GCH B.A. major’s requirements should discuss the procedure with a GCH advisor.
Additionally, the GCH B.A. program requires language competency at the first-year level. Some or all of this requirement may be satisfied upon entry with a language placement test. Students with language experience other than English are strongly encouraged to take the relevant language placement test, so as to support effective academic planning with the GCH B.A. advisor.
It is also critical that students check whether there are prerequisites for offered GCH B.A. electives that they wish to take. For example, although a student can complete the program without a Math Placement exam, a number of the electives have math prerequisite(s).
Major Qualification Policy and Declaration Process
Students may declare the major after completing the required lower-division GCH course (GCH 1) with a grade of C or better.
Appeal Process
A student who has not been able to satisfy the pre-declaration requirement may petition the GCH program for an exception by using this Appeal to Qualify form within 15 days of the denial of the declaration. Within 15 days of receipt of the appeal, the department will notify the student and college of the decision. If a student has questions about the appeals process, they should contact gchBAadvising@ucsc.edu.
How to Declare the GCH B.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.
To initiate the process to declare, please complete the GCH B.A. Academic Planning Form located on the GCH website. For assistance, please contact GCH B.A. advising at gchBAadvising@ucsc.edu.
Letter Grade Policy
All courses that are taken to satisfy any major requirement must be completed with a letter grade of C or better.
Course Substitution Policy
Students may request to substitute GCH B.A. elective requirements with courses taken from other institutions outside of California, individual study courses, study abroad electives, or other four-year institutions. To do so, students must submit a complete Course Substitution request form and receive approval from either the GCH executive director or vice director. A complete course substitution request includes appropriate class details (e.g., number of credits received and class title), a copy of the course syllabus, and any relevant materials the student believes should be present in the review process.
The same substitution request procedure is required for any UC Santa Cruz courses that are not included in the Requirements and Planners tab of the GCH B.A. program statement.
Double Majors and Major/Minor Combinations Policy
Students interested in pursuing multiple majors may NOT declare a combination of the Global and Community Health B.S. and B.A. Double majors with other degrees are permitted so long as students qualify for and complete all requirements for each of the majors, including the Disciplinary Communication and comprehensive requirements.
Study Abroad
Students can petition for transferable credits from Global Learning programs to count toward GCH B.A. major requirements via course substitution. It is recommended that students seeking to participate in any Study Abroad opportunity check in with the GCH B.A. advisor to discuss academic planning and progression in the major, and to screen potential course substitutions. Students may not fulfill the Upper-Division Common Core electives and Disciplinary Communications (DC) requirement abroad. All study abroad courses used to satisfy GCH B.A. major requirements must be reviewed and approved by a GCH director. Please review the Course Substitution Policy section above for more details about the course substitution process.
Students are encouraged to review UCEAP study abroad courses focused on public and global health to fulfill the Area IV upper-division elective requirement for the major after approval of a request submitted to the GCH B.A. advisor.
Honors
Honors in the GCH B.A. are awarded to graduating seniors, based primarily on a review of grades, whose academic performance is judged to be consistently excellent by a committee of GCH faculty. Highest honors in the major are reserved for students with consistently outstanding academic performance.
Independent and Field Studies
Students may petition the program to substitute one upper-division independent study or field study toward the elective requirements of the major.
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 specific programs to which they plan to apply.
Requirements and Planners
Course Requirements
Lower-Division Courses
One lower-division GCH requirement
All students are required to complete and pass Foundations for Global and Community Health (GCH 1).
| GCH 1 | Foundations for Global and Community Health | 5 |
Four Lower Division GCH Electives
All students are required to take four lower-division electives from the four lists below: one from the natural science and bio-environmental competency list; one from the social science and political-cultural competency list; one from the quantitative competency list; and one from the linguistic competency list. These courses are normally taken during the student's first year. All lecture/lab combinations count as one course. For courses with a required concurrently enrolled lab, only successful completion of the lecture is required for the major. Successful completion of the lab may count toward total degree credits.
One course required from each of the four lists.
Natural science and bio-environmental competency for Global and Community Health
| ANTH 1 | Introduction to Biological Anthropology | 5 |
| BIOE 19 | Biodiversity in the Age of Humans | 5 |
| BIOL 20A | Cell and Molecular Biology | 5 |
| BIOL 80A | Female Physiology and Gynecology | 5 |
| BIOL 80J | Biology of Emerging and Pandemic Diseases | 5 |
| BIOL 86 | Research Deconstruction: MCD Biology | 3 |
| BIOL 88 | Studies in Medicine: Its Art, History, Science, and Philosophy | 5 |
| BME 5 | Introduction to Biotechnology | 5 |
| BME 18 | Scientific Principles of Life | 5 |
| BME 80H | The Human Genome | 5 |
| CHEM 3A | General Chemistry | 5 |
| CHEM 4A | Advanced General Chemistry: Molecular Structure and Reactivity | 5 |
| CHEM 8A | Organic Chemistry | 5 |
| CSE 80A | Universal Access: Disability, Technology, and Society | 5 |
| ENVS 24 | General Ecology | 5 |
| ENVS 25 | Environmental Politics, Economics and Justice | 5 |
| ENVS 80F | Introduction to Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems | 5 |
Social science and political-cultural competency for Global and Community Health
| ANTH 2 | Introduction to Cultural Anthropology | 5 |
| BME 80G
/PHIL 80G
| Bioethics in the 21st Century: Science, Business, and Society | 5 |
| CLNI 60 | Water Justice: Global Insights for a Critical Resource | 5 |
| CMMU 10 | Introduction to Community Activism | 5 |
| ECON 1 | Introductory Microeconomics: Resource Allocation and Market Structure | 5 |
| ECON 20 | Economics for Non-Majors | 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 |
| GCH 10 | COVID, Culture and Community Health | 5 |
| HAVC 48 | Climate Justice Now! Art, Activism, Environment Today | 5 |
| HIS 60 | Medical and Scientific Terminology | 5 |
| HIS 81 | Science in the Colonial World | 5 |
| JRLC 60 | Understanding Sustainability: Researching Environmental Justice at UCSC | 5 |
| LALS 5 | Introduction to Human Rights and Social Justice | 5 |
| LALS 45 | Intersections of Race, Class, and Gender | 5 |
| LALS 54 | Racism, Science, and Health: Colonial and Carceral Legacies | 5 |
| LALS 55 | AIDS Across the Americas | 5 |
| LALS 56 | The Right to Health | 5 |
| LALS 57 | Drugs, Addiction, and Recovery in the Americas | 5 |
| LALS 80J | Race, Nation, and War | 5 |
| LALS 80S | Sexualities and Genders in Latin American and Latina/o Studies | 5 |
| LIT 80K | Topics in Medical Humanities | 5 |
| POLI 17 | U.S. and the World Economy | 5 |
| POLI 61 | Politics of Social Policy | 5 |
| PSYC 1 | Introduction to Psychology | 5 |
| SOCY 1 | Introduction to Sociology | 5 |
| SOCY 10 | Issues and Problems in American Society | 5 |
| SOCY 15 | World Society | 5 |
Quantitative Competency for Global and Community Health
| | Either one of these courses | |
| BIOE 80S | Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics | 5 |
| CMMU 30 | Numbers and Social Justice | 5 |
| LALS 15 | Truth, Justice, and Statistics | 5 |
| STAT 5 | Statistics | 5 |
| | or these 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 |
| | or these courses | |
| STAT 17 | Statistical Methods for Business and Economics | 5 |
| STAT 17L | Statistical Methods for Business and Economics Laboratory | 2 |
Linguistic competency for Global and Community Health (complete or test-out of one of the listed courses)
Upper-Division Courses
Upper-division Global and Community Health requirements
All students are required to complete and pass two common core courses: the first, a course in Community Analysis for Global and Community Health; the second, a course in Social Analysis for Global and Community Health. All upper-division major requirement electives must be satisfied by unique, single courses.
Required Common Core Courses
Requirement 1: Community Analysis for Global and Community Health
Choose one course:
| CMMU 165
/GCH 165
| Community Analysis for Global Health | 5 |
Requirement 2: Social Analysis for Global and Community Health
Choose one course:
| ANTH 134 | Medical Anthropology: An Introduction | 5 |
| GCH 123 | Migration as a Social Determinant of Health | 5 |
| GCH 186 | Global Health Politics | 5 |
| SOCY 146 | Introduction to Population Health | 5 |
Six upper-division electives from the four GCH "context" areas
The following four groups of context courses constitute the core upper-division courses of the GCH B.A. One course must be taken from each of the four GCH context areas, plus two additional electives from any of the areas. All lecture/lab combinations count as one course. For courses with a required concurrently enrolled lab, only successful completion of the lecture is required for the major. Successful completion of the lab may count toward total degree credits.
Area I: Biological and environmental contexts
| ANTH 104 | Human Variation and Adaptation | 5 |
| ANTH 110F | Evolution of Human Diet | 5 |
| ANTH 111 | Human Ecology | 5 |
| ANTH 112 | Life Cycles | 5 |
| ANTH 136 | The Biology of Everyday Life | 5 |
| BIOE 118 | Plants and Society: the Biology of Food, Shelter, and Medicine | 5 |
| BIOL 117 | Global Health and Neglected Diseases | 5 |
| BIOL 188 | A Life in Medicine | 3 |
| CMMU 162 | Community Gardens and Social Change | 5 |
| ENVS 130B
/LGST 130B
| Justice and Sustainability in Agriculture | 5 |
| ENVS 135 | Sustainable Aquaculture | 5 |
| ENVS 176 | Vulnerability, Complex Systems, and Disasters | 5 |
| METX 100 | Introduction to Microbiology | 5 |
| METX 102 | Cell and Molecular Toxicology | 5 |
| METX 115 | Environmental Health Science | 5 |
| METX 133 | Medical Microbiology | 5 |
| PSYC 109 | Stress and Well-Being throughout Development | 5 |
Area II: Social, cultural and historical contexts
| ANTH 110T | Motherhood in American Culture | 5 |
| ANTH 110Y | Feeding California | 5 |
| ANTH 129 | Beyond Borders: Other Globalizations and Histories of Interconnection | 5 |
| ANTH 130Y | Health, Illness, & Medicines in Muslim Worlds | 5 |
| ANTH 146 | Anthropology and the Environment | 5 |
| ANTH 161 | The Anthropology of Food | 5 |
| ANTH 161S | Anthropology of Food, Abroad | 5 |
| CMMU 156 | Politics of Food and Health | 5 |
| CMMU 160 | Public Health | 5 |
| CMMU 161 | Gender Health and Justice | 5 |
| CMMU 163 | Health Care Inequalities | 5 |
| CMMU 164 | Health Justice in Conflict | 5 |
| ECON 104 | Is There Truth in Numbers: The Role of Statistics in Economics | 5 |
| ECON 120 | Development Economics | 5 |
| FMST 124 | Technology, Science, and Race Across the Americas | 5 |
| FMST 125 | Race, Sex, and Technology | 5 |
| FMST 133 | Science and the Body | 5 |
| GCH 123 | Migration as a Social Determinant of Health | 5 |
| HIS 101D | World History of Science | 5 |
| HIS 101F | Global Environmental History | 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 |
| LALS 100 | Concepts and Theories in Latin American and Latina/o Studies | 5 |
| LALS 112 | Immigration and Assimilation | 5 |
| LALS 143 | Race and Ethnicity | 5 |
| LALS 151 | Race & Mobility | 5 |
| LALS 152 | Consumer Cultures Between the Americas | 5 |
| LALS 155 | Latin American and Latino Youth Movements | 5 |
| LALS 175 | Migration, Gender, and Health | 5 |
| LALS 177 | Migrant Health and Social Justice | 5 |
| LALS 178 | Gender, Transnationalism, and Globalization | 5 |
| PSYC 140G | Women's Lives in Context | 5 |
| PSYC 140L | Women's Bodies and Psychological Well-Being | 5 |
| PSYC 144 | Latinx Psychology | 5 |
| PSYC 172 | Health Psychology | 5 |
| PSYC 178 | Nutritional Psychology | 5 |
| SOCY 121 | Sociology of Health and Medicine | 5 |
| SOCY 121G | Genomics and Society | 5 |
| SOCY 132 | Sociology of Science and Technology | 5 |
| SOCY 143 | Black Botanical Medicine in the Americas | 5 |
| SOCY 146 | Introduction to Population Health | 5 |
| SOCY 147 | Health in a Changing America | 5 |
| SOCY 153 | Sociology of Emotions | 5 |
| SOCY 159 | Pregnancy and Birth | 5 |
Area III: Institutional and policy contexts
| ECON 156 | Health Economics and Policy | 5 |
| ENVS 130B
/LGST 130B
| Justice and Sustainability in Agriculture | 5 |
| ENVS 143 | The Future of Sustainable Development | 5 |
| ENVS 147 | Global Environmental Justice | 5 |
| ENVS 158 | Political Ecology and Social Change | 5 |
| ENVS 172 | Environmental Risks and Public Policy | 5 |
| HIS 151B | Drugs in World History | 5 |
| LALS 143J | Global Political Economy | 5 |
| LALS 172 | Visualizing Human Rights | 5 |
| LGST 108 | Gender, Sexuality, and Law | 5 |
| LGST 137 | International Environmental Law and Policy | 5 |
| LGST 173
/POLI 173
| Disability, Law, & Politics | 5 |
| POLI 160B
/LGST 160B
| International Law | 5 |
| POLI 166 | Politics of Migration | 5 |
| POLI 175
/LGST 175
| Human Rights | 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 |
| POLI 189B | Global & Community Health Policy in Practice | 5 |
| SOCY 122
/LGST 122
| The Sociology of Law | 5 |
| SOCY 127
/LGST 127
| Drugs in Society | 5 |
| SOCY 128I
/LGST 128I
| Race and Law | 5 |
| SOCY 128M
/LGST 128M
| International Law and Global Justice | 5 |
| SOCY 135 | Healing Justice | 5 |
| SOCY 185 | Environmental Inequality | 5 |
Area IV: Methods, skills & humanities-informed analysis
| AM 115 | Stochastic Modeling in Biology | 5 |
| ANTH 107A | Methods and Research in Biological Anthropology: Genetics | 5 |
| ECON 104 | Is There Truth in Numbers: The Role of Statistics in Economics | 5 |
| ENVS 104A | Introduction to Environmental Field Methods | 2 |
| ENVS 104L | Field Methods Laboratory | 5 |
| ENVS 133 | Agroecology Practicum | 5 |
| HAVC 141N | Data Cultures: Art, Technology, and the Politics of Visual Representation | 5 |
| JRLC 136 | Methodologies of Critical Praxis | 5 |
| LALS 126 | Digit@l Americ@s/Digit@l Latin@s | 5 |
| LALS 186
/SOCY 186
| Field Research Methods | 5 |
| LALS 187F | Human Rights Investigations Lab | 2 |
| LIT 121O | Body Theories and Embodied Poetics in Contemporary American Poetry | 5 |
| LIT 160C | Cruelty: Enjoying the Pain of Others | 5 |
| LIT 167I | The Enviromental Humanities | 5 |
| LIT 167G | Reading the Weather: Literature and Global Climate Change | 5 |
| SOCY 123 | Global and Transnational Perspectives in Science and Technology Studies | 5 |
UCEAP study abroad courses focused on public and global health can be substituted for the upper-division electives listed in Area IV “Methods, skills & humanities-informed analysis” of the GCH B.A.
A number of courses offered by UC Online are relevant to the GCH B.A. and have been approved for substitution of major requirements. Please see the GCH B.A. advisor for a current list of these courses.
Comprehensive Requirement
The comprehensive requirement for the GCH B.A. is satisfied by completing the same courses as those required for the Disciplinary Communication requirements.
Disciplinary Communication (DC) Requirement
Students of every major at UC Santa Cruz must satisfy that major’s upper-division Disciplinary Communication (DC) requirement. The 7-credit DC requirement for the GCH B.A. is satisfied by completing one of the following course combination options:
Option 1
Both of the following courses:
| GCH 190 | Global and Community Health Task Force | 5 |
| GCH 195 | Global and Community Health Communication | 2 |
Option 2
Both of the following courses:
| GCH 195 | Global and Community Health Communication | 2 |
| GCH 199A | Global and Community Health Senior Thesis | 5 |
Option 3
All three of the following courses:
| GCH 195 | Global and Community Health Communication | 2 |
| GCH 199A | Global and Community Health Senior Thesis | 5 |
| GCH 199B | Global and Community Health Senior Thesis B | 5 |
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.
Plan One for Incoming Frosh
| |
Fall
|
Winter
|
Spring
|
Summer
|
|
Entering
|
|
|
|
College 1A
|
| |
|
|
Summer Edge (optional)
|
| |
|
|
|
|
1st
(frosh)
|
GCH 1
|
Lower-Div Competency 1
|
Lower-Div Competency 3
|
|
|
College 1
|
Lower-Div Competency 2
|
Lower-Div Competency 4**
|
|
| |
WRIT 1/1E (if needed)
|
|
|
|
2nd
(soph)
|
WRIT 2*
|
Upper-Div GCH Area 1 Elective
|
Upper-Div GCH Area 2 Elective
|
|
| |
Upper-Div GCH Area 3 Elective
|
Upper-Div GCH Area 4 Elective
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
3rd
(junior)
|
Upper-Div GCH Area Elective
|
CMMU 165/GCH 165
|
Social Analysis for GCH Req
|
|
|
Upper-Div GCH Area Elective
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
4th
(senior)
|
GCH 190 or GCH 199A
|
GCH 195
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
* WRIT 2 should be taken in or before spring quarter of the second year.
**Some or all of this linguistic competency requirement may be satisfied upon entry with a language placement test. The maximum possible number of courses required to satisfy the Linguistic Competency is three courses.
Plan Two for Incoming Transfer Students
| |
Fall
|
Winter
|
Spring
|
Summer
|
|
Entering
|
|
|
|
KRSG 1T
|
| |
|
|
Summer Edge (optional)
|
| |
|
|
|
|
3rd
(junior)
|
GCH 1
|
CMMU 165/GCH 165
|
Social Analysis for GCH Req
|
|
|
Lower-Div Competency 1
|
Lower-Div Competency 3
|
Upper-Div GCH Area 1 Elective
|
|
|
Lower-Div Competency 2
|
Lower-Div Competency 4**
|
Upper-Div GCH Area 2 Elective
|
|
|
4th
(senior)
|
Upper-Div GCH Area 3 Elective
|
Upper-Div GCH Area Elective
|
|
|
|
Upper-Div GCH Area 4 Elective
|
Upper-Div GCH Area Elective
|
|
|
|
GCH 190 or GCH 199A
|
GCH 195
|
|
|
**Some or all of this linguistic competency requirement may be satisfied upon entry with a language placement test. The maximum possible number of courses required to satisfy the Linguistic Competency is three courses.