Registration for Fall entry into the Strategic Health & Risk Communication program must be submitted by March 15.

Please see the CPH SHRC registration site to sign up.

The new Strategic Health & Risk Communication certificate offers undergraduate students the knowledge, skills and experience related to applying communication principles to address public health problems. It will help prepare students to better meet the evolving health needs of society at large and use their health promotion and/or communication skills in an applied manner. The program will culminate in a capstone course in which students will create a public health communication campaign for a community client, providing students with valuable experiential and hands-on learning.

This interdisciplinary certificate program, created through a partnership between UGA’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication and College of Public Health, will provide the training necessary for students to claim expertise in strategic health and risk communication and expand their career opportunities in the fast-growing area.

The SHRC track requires 6 courses in a balanced curriculum: two core courses at Grady College, two courses at the College of Public Health, and two elective special topics courses. Students will apply for acceptance into the certificate program. However, students outside the certificate can take these courses, thus broadening the number of students introduced to this discipline.

What is Strategic Health and Risk Communication?

Industry and societal demand for graduates with strategic health and risk communication skills and knowledge are increasing. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the health care industry will increase by at least 20%, with more jobs available for health care marketing managers, health marketing analysts, health/ medical service managers, and health marketing communication specialists. This 18-credit certificate features courses from both departments, including core courses such as ADPR Health, Health and Risk Communication Campaigns (new course), Public Health Communication, and Health and Wellness. Two elective courses are required with topics ranging from storytelling and digital/social/crisis communication strategies to an array of public health topics and their foundations.

Specifically, the following educational objectives will be met by this program:

1. To provide students with foundational knowledge in health promotion and health/risk communication.
2. To communicate the value of applying strategic health and risk communication to health promotion practice.
3. To illustrate the process of developing empirically-informed health and risk communication campaigns for public health purposes.
4. To practice the application of strategic public health and risk communication through project-based and experiential learning opportunities.