Undergraduate Advising: Global, Environmental, and Occupational Health

If you have a quick question, we encourage you to take advantage of our drop-in advising hours for current and prospective GBHL and ENSP-EJ majors.

The Fall 2024 drop-in schedule begins on Thursday, August 22nd and concludes on Monday, December 9, 2024.

If you cannot make it to drop-in advising, current UMD students can schedule a 30-minute appointment with a member of the GEOH Undergraduate Advising Team. 

Current UMD students can schedule an appointment through your TerpEngage Advising portal (UMD login required).

GEOH Undergraduate Team

Catherine Donohoe advises all prospective and current GBHL and ENSP-EJ majors on degree completion requirements, course planning and scheduling, academic opportunities and general questions.

Christine Kim is a graduate assistant with the GEOH Undergraduate team. She assists with drop-in advising, program communications, and events. 

Global Health Major Advising

Dr. Hassanatu Blake is the Director of the Global Health Undergraduate program. Current Global Health majors can contact Dr. Blake with questions about GBHL course content, experiential learning, career or internship planning, or general questions about the field of Global Health.

ENSP-Environmental Justice Major Advising

Arielle Wharton is the Faculty Advisor for ENSP-Environmental Justice majors. Current ENSP-EJ majors can contact Arielle to ask about ENSP-EJ course content or substitutions, career and internship preparation, or general questions about the field of environmental justice.

Prospective Students

Applying to UMD soon and want to know more about majors in Public Health? See how to connect with the SPH recruitment advisor. 

Students interested in learning more about the Environmental Science and Policy major and Environmental Justice specialization should review the Prospective ENSP major website. 

Certain SPH majors are required to meet with an advisor before registering for fall or spring semester classes:

• All first year and transfer students in your first semester at UMD
• All NCAA Student-Athletes
• All ENSP-EJ majors
• SPH majors with 75 or more credits
• Accelerated BS-MPH Applicants
• Students on academic probation or dismissal

Learn more about SPH mandatory advising

What about everyone else?

We encourage you to check in with a major advisor at least once a year, whether in drop-in advising or by scheduling an appointment.

Ultimately, you, the student, are responsible for abiding by university and SPH academic policies, making decisions and meeting requirements and deadlines for your degree.

Exceptions to policy

If you are facing extreme or extenuating circumstances, you may request an exception to certain university policies through the SPH Dean’s Exception to Policy process. You have the opportunity to provide supporting documentation, but note that there is no guarantee that an exception request will be approved. Common examples of exception to policy requests are:

• benchmark extension
• third attempt at a course
• withdrawing from a course after the deadline
• credit overloads
• course time conflicts
• exceeding the total number of repeatable credits.

Permission to Enroll

Once you are enrolled at UMD, you must request advance approval to take courses away from UMD.

Review UMD academic policies and the procedures for requesting a Dean's Exception to Policy as an SPH major.

FERPA

It is SPH policy that if a student wishes to bring parents, legal guardians or family members to a meeting with an advisor, faculty member or other School official, the student must schedule the meeting at least 1 business day in advance, and University parties involved must be notified that the student’s parent, legal guardian, or family member will be present at the meeting. The student must also have a Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) Academic Release Information Form on file with the department.

Select Global Health Major Policies and Requirements

• See all GBHL Major Requirements and Approved courses 
• GBHL Sample Plan and Major Checklist Summer 2024
• SPH Major Policy Agreement (BS, Global Health) Summer 2024
• All SPH major benchmarks and sample 4 year plans
• BS, Global Health World Language Guidance
• Coming late October 2024: Global Health Experiential Learning Guidance

Environmental Science and Policy Major Policies and Requirements

• ENSP Environmental Justice overview and contacts
  • ENSP EJ Major Requirements and Checklist
  • ENSP-EJ sample plan
  • ENSP Advising Policies

Note: Declared ENSP-EJ majors follow SPH procedures for requesting exceptions to policy and permission to enroll at another institution

GEOH Advising Resources

ELMS: All current GBHL and ENSP-EJ majors are invited to the GEOH Undergraduate Advising Toolkit in Canvas.

Email: We send official communications, including deadlines, events and internship opportunities, to students’ Terpmail in a weekly e-newsletter.