UCLA Global Health Minor: A Comprehensive Guide

For students with diverse interests seeking to broaden their skills and enhance their major, a minor can be an excellent way to focus on a second area of study. UCLA offers over 100 minors, providing opportunities to pair them with majors in unexpected ways. The Global Health minor, offered through the UCLA International Institute, provides students with a flexible skill set for understanding the challenges of globalization and inequity as they pertain to health. It encourages students to develop an interdisciplinary understanding of health issues in a global context.

Benefits of Pursuing a Minor

Declaring a minor allows students to study subjects of personal interest, broaden their skills, and become more diverse. Minors can also provide a competitive edge when seeking employment. For example, a food studies minor can complement majors in chemistry, biology, communication, and numerous other fields.

Overview of the UCLA Global Health Minor

The UCLA International Institute introduced the Global Health minor to investigate the health implications of globalization. The minor explores the institutional, economic, logistic, legal, and social challenges of global health, using a multidisciplinary lens to consider health in a global context. This offering is part of the institute’s ongoing efforts to increase its offerings to the entire campus and help globalize UCLA curricula.

Dr. Timothy Brewer, vice provost for interdisciplinary and cross-campus affairs, stated that finding solutions to address pressing issues of health equity around the world benefits from the involvement of many disciplines. He added that the breadth of UCLA’s areas of excellence allows the campus to play a key role in developing more globally aware citizens and in educating the next generation of global health leaders.

Dr. Michael Rodriguez, professor and vice chair of the Department of Family Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine and director of the UCLA Blum Center on Poverty and Health in Latin America, chairs the program. Faculty members who helped develop the program include David Gere (world arts and cultures/dance), Michael Lofchie (political science), and Ninez Ponce (health policy and management).

Emely Montes de Oca, a Chicana/o studies major, described the program as something completely new and fresh and noted that the minor is great because it’s an interdisciplinary look at a very broad and large topic, so students get to look into the many different components and specifics that make up this field.

Betty Nguyen, a biology major, is considering declaring the global health minor because she believes there is a strong need for this interdisciplinary field of study as people and markets are becoming globally interconnected and the transmission of disease does not stop at a country's borders. Nguyen is excited to have the opportunity to take classes in public health, economics, sociology, and international development studies to be able to analyze health care through these lenses.

Global Health Minor Requirements

The Global Health minor consists of seven courses: two lower division (preparation) courses and five upper division courses.

Lower Division Requirements (Preparation Courses)

Students must complete two minor preparation courses (lower division) to be eligible to declare the minor.

Upper Division Requirements

Coursework for the global health minor consists of one required core course and four electives.

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Core Course

The required core course is "Global Health and Development," offered by the International Development Studies Program. Students cannot substitute Global Health 100 with another course.

Electives

Students can choose from electives offered by the International Institute’s Global Studies Interdepartmental Program and International and Area Studies Programs, as well as a range of courses in such UCLA departments as civil and environmental engineering; community health sciences; sociology; history; molecular, cell, and developmental biology; nursing; and world arts and cultures/dance.

Students are allowed to take up to two courses from any one theme area.

Important Considerations

Course Overlap

There is a limit to how many courses can overlap with your major and the Global Health minor. You must have at least 20 minor exclusive units for Global Health (this includes lower division & upper division units). In other words, the 20 minor exclusive units are courses that are solely being applied toward the minor. The 20-unit minor exclusive requirement also applies to overlap with 2nd majors and other minors (GE & Honors Courses are not impacted by the overlap limit).

Enrollment

The Global Health Department only oversees enrollment for its own Global Health courses (GH 100, GH 191, etc.). Thus, they cannot permit students into other department courses. GH minor students are expected to review enrollment restrictions and requisites for other department courses and follow any department-specific protocols for enrollment.

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For all courses notated as "Additional" on the department’s quarterly course offerings list, they are not on the current minor worksheet but are approved for that specific quarter. They will be added automatically to your DARS. Students in the Global Health minor will need to follow enrollment policies of departments that offer the courses. Please note that most departments restrict enrollment during the first enrollment pass. Courses numbered 100 such as, Biostatistics 100, Community Health 100, Environmental Health Sciences 100, Public Health 100 and Health Policy 100 may be restricted to the Public Health students during the academic year. GH 100 is typically offered once during the academic year and typically during summer term.

The Global Health Minor Quarterly Course Lists provide students with a list of all approved minor courses that will be offered in a specific term. Students can peruse the list quickly to see what is being offered for a particular term and for which requirement it will fulfill for the minor.

Study Abroad

It is possible to apply study abroad courses to the Global Health minor. In some cases yes, and it will depend on where you study abroad and if the courses you take are applicable to the minor. Courses must be a minimum of 4 units, upper division, and transferable to UCLA. All courses should be pre-approved, but final approval is determined by the GH Chair via a petition (once you come back from abroad and courses have posted to your DPR).

Once your study abroad coursework shows up on DARS, an advisor can make any necessary course substitutions.

Internships

It is possible to receive academic credit for an internship and count it toward a Global Health minor requirement with department approval. Students must be enrolled in an approved internship course (e.g., 195CE) and coursework must be related to Global Health.

Petitions

Students can submit a Petition to the Chair of Global Health if they want to apply a course not included on the minor worksheet. This may also include courses taken or to be taken abroad. Students are allowed to submit up to 2 petitions (including petitions for lower or upper division coursework). Courses listed on the Additional Course List do not count as a petition since they are already approved. Students taking courses abroad may be allowed to submit more than 2 courses.

Please be aware that the petition may be denied and you will need to plan alternative coursework. Petition submissions will be checked at the end of each week.

DARS

If you’re enrolled in an Additional Approved GH minor course as noted on the department’s quarterly course offerings list, but it’s not showing up on your DARS, the course will be added automatically to your DARS.

Financial Aid and Scholarships

Study Abroad Financial Aid

In most cases, two UCLA courses are offered during a Summer Travel program. Financial aid options include scholarships, grants, and fellowships. The Study Abroad office is located at 233 Covel Commons. There are numerous books available that highlight financial aid for specific programs and destinations.

Scholarship and Fellowship Opportunities

Boren Fellowships: These fellowships support U.S. citizens or permanent residents studying less commonly taught languages in world regions critical to U.S. interests (including Africa, Asia, Central & Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East). Maximum awards for the Boren Fellowships are $20,000.
Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program: The U.S. Department of State funds about 600 students for summer language institutes abroad at various skill levels. The program is for U.S. citizen undergraduate students.
UndocuBruins Fellowship Program: This program ensures that all students, regardless of immigration status, have the opportunity to receive financial support and achieve their educational and professional goals.
Mariposa Achievement Project (MAP) Scholarship: The MAP Scholarship was created to support undocumented students cover the cost of academic materials.
The Judith Boyajian Travel Fellowship: The Judith Boyajian Travel Fellowship is designed to provide undergraduate and graduate students with support for purposeful travel to and cultural immersion in Africa. Key for any student who applies for the grant would be a commitment to public service, and whether in an established program or under an original project, students will also be required to be engaged in it. The fellowship will provide up to $4,000 to cover travel and approved related expenses, and fellows are expected to spend a minimum of 45 days in-country.
Payne Fellowship Program: The Agency for International Development (USAID) Program seeks to attract and prepare outstanding individuals for careers as USAID Foreign Service Officers. Graduating seniors or college graduates with strong academic records are eligible to apply. The Payne program encourages members of historically underrepresented minority groups and those with financial need to apply. Selected fellows will receive support for graduate school and gain employment with USAID in an exciting rewarding career in the Foreign Service with a commitment minimum of five years.
The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans: The purpose of the fellowship is to provide opportunities for continuing generations of immigrants or children of immigrants to achieve leadership in their chosen field. Generous stipends of up to $25,000 are awarded, as well as tuition scholarships. Undergraduate students may apply for this scholarship while simultaneously applying to graduate school.
Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program, Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship, Harry S. Truman Scholarship, Morris K. Udall Scholarship: These are additional scholarship opportunities to explore.

UCLA International Institute Academic Programs

The Academic Programs offered through the UCLA International Institute allow students to focus on a particular area of study - either a specific geographic area, or a global comparative and issue-oriented approach - through a variety of disciplines across campus. Alumni of the UCLA International Institute Academic Programs live across the globe, and are involved in a multitude of fields, including the education, government, cultural, nonprofit, health, legal and business sectors and international affairs.

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