DrPH Applied Practice Experiences

APE Process Overview

DrPH Applied Practice Syllabus

Purpose & Setting: All DrPH students will engage in one or more practice-based experiences. The applied practice experiences should develop the student’s advanced practice and leadership skills and knowledge through completion of meaningful projects for public health organizations, including government, non-government, non-profit, industrial, and for-profit settings. These can include the student’s own work setting, or another setting that the student selects, and the student must identify a mentor in the organization who will guide the student during these experiences. Please see the section on Practice-Based Mentors.

Process: While attending each DrPH Institute, the student will start a proposal for an applied practice experience. The student will then work with their faculty advisor and an identified mentor to develop a complete proposal for the competencies, learning objectives, activities, and deliverables required for each applied practice experience. The final proposal must be approved by the student, the faculty advisor, the mentor, and the DrPH Director. DrPH students are not required to register for a course to complete their APE.

Competencies: The student is expected to achieve demonstrated growth in at least five of the DrPH competencies throughout the series of practice experiences, and at least one competency must relate to leadership or management. The student will identify the targeted competencies for each applied practice experience in their proposal, drawn from the competencies specified in the list of DrPH Courses and Competencies for their concentration. The experiences proposed to meet these competencies can be done in a single large project, or several smaller projects, and can be spread across multiple semesters; this depends on the objectives, activities, and deliverables of each practice experience.

Learning Objectives: In consultation with the faculty advisor and mentor, the student will identify the learning goals for the applied practice experiences based on the competencies targeted. The student will honestly assess their experience and build upon any limitations to enhance the skills and knowledge needed as an advanced professional, or to inform the doctoral project the student would like to pursue. Carefully considering the additional experiences needed to round out the student’s skills and practical knowledge is primary, along with ensuring that opportunities are included to enhance leadership skills.

Activities: Details of the practice activities are developed and agreed to jointly by the student, mentor, and faculty advisor. This represents the heart of the three-way agreement that is integral to developing practice experience. It is necessary to describe the specific actions, projects, processes, and tasks that will allow the student to meet the chosen competencies and objectives. Activities should take the form of statements that begin with action verbs, that are specific, measurable, and time-limited. The student should also state the expected dates for involvement in and completion of the activities, including a temporal view of the entire lifetime of each proposed activity.

Deliverables: The proposal must include deliverables that both meet the needs of the organization, and demonstrate reflection on development of the stated competencies and fulfillment of the learning objectives. This may require more than one deliverable (e.g., the completed project for the organization plus a reflection on competencies and learning objectives achieved). The student should consider what type of deliverables are appropriate for the organization, whether a report on activities performed, a summary of data collected and analyzed, tests from training sessions, etc.

Evaluation: The practice site mentor provides guidance on an ongoing basis, and assists the student with the project deliverables as needed. The student will submit the final deliverables to the faculty advisor, who will provide a final evaluation of the quality and achievement of the deliverables, and whether the student met the stated learning objectives. The deliverables, reflection paper, and signed evaluation must also be submitted to the DrPH Director for final review and approval. 

Below are links to the competencies for each concentration in the DrPH. You must use the competency list that applies to your concentration for your APE requirement. Students who are admitted to a particular catalog year can select a different catalog year later on, and may request to change their concentration as concentrations become available. To change their concentration, students must complete and submit the USF Change of Graduate Concentration form to cophdoctoral@usf.edu.