Environmental Health professionals work to control environmental hazards and to maintain environmental factors that contribute to optimum health, safety, comfort, and well being. EHS graduates are prepared for entry-level positions in government, industry, consulting agencies, institutions, and public health agencies. Environmental Health Science graduates are qualified for positions with federal, state, and local government departments of environmental health, as well as public health protection agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Energy, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Graduates are also qualified for employment in private industry and environmental consulting firms.
This work may include quality control, industrial hygiene and safety, loss control and risk assessment, or many other facets of environmental health consultation. The demand for qualified environmental health practitioners is high and projected to increase over the next decade. The Department of Environmental Health Science offers an accredited program leading to a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Health Science. The program includes general education and supporting courses in biology, chemistry, and mathematics, plus a variety of environmental health courses dealing with air quality, water quality, wastewater disposal and treatment, hazardous and solid waste management, risk assessment and epidemiology, industrial hygiene, control of disease vectors, food hygiene, radiological health, environmental health program planning and law, and toxicology. During upper division study, the student must complete six credit hours of supervised field experience with appropriate agencies, industries, consulting companies, and so forth.