When he puts together his syllabus for Fundamentals of Social and Behavioral Science (PuBH 6020), Professor Toben Nelson assigns academic journal articles, case studies, and reports, but he also urges students to keep an eye on another source—the daily news.

While the syllabus covers core behavioral health frameworks and how they apply to public health issues, the course remains responsive to current events. “I tell my students, look on the front page of any major newspaper, you’re going to find something that is highly relevant to public health,” Nelson said. “We spend class time talking about the approach public health professionals might take in addressing those challenges.”

That approach—grounding lessons about abstract models of social and behavioral science in real-world public health issues—is key to the course that has been developed and refined over the years by a range of SPH faculty. SPH instructors and others who have contributed to the course’s development include Mayo Professor Emeritus Ira Moscovice, Professor and Dean Emeritus John Finnegan, Professor Lynn Blewett, Professor Emeritus Roger Feldman, Professor Emeritus Charles Oberg, Professor Traci Toomey, Professor Simone French, and Professor Emeritus Harry Lando. In addition to Nelson, the course is currently taught by Professor Rhonda Jones-Webb, Associate Professor Jennifer Linde, and Associate Professor Zinzi Bailey. The class has remained a mainstay of the SPH curriculum for many years, in part because it reflects SPH’s core commitment to applied public health practice.

“Social and behavioral sciences have an impact on pretty much everything we do in public health,” Nelson said. And because the course draws students from a wide range of different backgrounds, some who have extensive training in social and behavioral sciences, while others have almost none, a key goal is to get students on the same page with the concepts of social and behavioral sciences.”

In Nelson’s course, students become acquainted with four different topic areas where social and behavioral science apply to public health: population perspectives, individual psychological theories, community perspectives, and economics and policy applications.

The goal, then, is for each student to take each abstract concept and use it to address a specific public health need of their choosing. “In class, we’re going to talk about these concepts, and then students are going to demonstrate that they understand them and can apply them to case studies in public health that they care deeply about.”

Alone and in small groups, the students work on case studies that bring the concepts to life, while providing them with the kinds of hands-on, real-world challenges they’ll encounter in the field.

Developing effective communications skills is another key aim of the course. “Communication is absolutely critical in our field,” Nelson said.

“Public health is an empirical science, but we also have to be great storytellers. We need to craft narratives grounded in facts and data, delivered in a way that people—and policymakers—can understand.”

To that end, students learn strategies to tailor messages to diverse audiences, including avoiding jargon and focusing on communicating factual information in clear and understandable language.

For Nelson, the course’s value is confirmed when alumni reach out years later. “I’ve had students tell me, ‘I use what I learned in your class every day in my job,’” he says. “That’s gratifying, and it speaks to how versatile and relevant these skills are. It speaks to the breadth of the topics we focus on and the applicability of them to pretty much any topic people might face out in the field.”

Fundamentals of Social and Behavioral Science is offered in-person for fall 2025. Three online sections will also be offered—one each in the fall, spring, and summer semesters.