Drive environmental progress and promote health, safety and sustainability with a degree in environmental and occupational health.
Why Study Environmental and Occupational Health?
Environmental and occupational health (EOH) explores the connections between the environment and human health. Whether it’s reducing pollution and waste, or addressing unsafe food and water, EOH drives environmental progress and promotes health, safety and sustainability.
EOH professionals bring together different disciplines to uncover the root causes of complex problems in order to develop practical and effective solutions.
Why Study Environmental and Occupational Health at CSUN?
Hands-on Learning
Our hands-on approach introduces you to the field’s most important work – early and often. In applied settings, you'll explore the chemical, physical and biological factors that affect human health and environmental quality.
Career Preparation
Upon graduation, you'll be eligible to take the California Registered Environmental Health Specialist examination and to become a Registered Environmental Health Specialist (REHS). This professional credential is useful and highly recommended for all EOH graduates. It ensures that you are eligible for employment with city and county health departments throughout California.
A Welcoming Network
Local employers, many of whom graduated from this department, routinely seek CSUN graduates as new hires. As the largest accredited EOH program in the nation, the department has an extensive network of environmental and occupational health professionals dedicated to the protection of the environment and community, as well as worker health and safety.
What You'll Learn
You'll develop a basic science foundation and an in-depth understanding of applied concepts in environmental and occupational health. You'll study core courses in biology, chemistry, microbiological hazards in environmental health, general physics, public health, fundamentals of toxicology and epidemiology. You can then choose from the standard major or the 16-credit industrial hygiene option.
We've designed our courses to give you the skills you need to succeed on the job. You'll choose from courses such as:
- Environmental Health Law
- Air Pollution and Health
- Water Supply and Sewage Disposal
- Environmental Risk Analysis
The industrial hygiene option prepares you for entry-level work in positions such as industrial hygiene, hazardous waste management, environmental compliance and a variety of similar positions. Courses include:
- Hazardous Materials and Waste Management
- Radiological Health
- Controlling the Occupational Environment
- Occupational Ergonomics
Careers & Outcomes
Our graduates find employment in a wide variety of places. These include city, county, state and federal agencies; private industries such as aerospace, manufacturing, computing and automotive; a wide range of environmental consulting services; environmental health and safety departments; unions; public interest groups; universities and lobbying organizations.
Below are sample job titles and some of the places our graduates work.
Job Titles
- Environmental Health Specialist
- Air Pollution Specialist
- Environmental Auditor
- Consultant
- Industrial Hygienist
- Safety Engineers
- Loss Control Representative
- Ergonomics Specialist
- Water Quality Specialist
- Food Safety Specialist
Employers
- SpaceX
- Northrop Grumman
- Ventura County Environmental Health
- U.S. Public Health Service
- Citadel EHS
Make Connections at Annual Events
At our annual Technical Symposium, you'll join faculty and experts to discuss solutions to environmental challenges. Our events connect you to agencies such as the American Society of Safety Engineers and the American Industrial Hygiene Association.
Approvals and Accreditations
The Department of Environmental and Occupational Health is in the highest approval category for registered environmental health specialists by the California Department of Public Health. The department is fully accredited by the National Environmental Health Science and Protection Accreditation Council for both the B.S. and M.S. degrees.