Vision, Mission and Curriculum Overview
To provide the opportunity to develop the foundation of a career in the management of health services through a well-designed liberal education, understanding the role of health in achieving quality of life and the role of quality health services in protecting and promoting health.
The Objectives of the Department
- To have a highly qualified faculty who collaborate in an intellectually stimulating and collegial environment.
- To create an environment in which diverse students and faculty participate in advancing knowledge of health services provision.
- To offer high quality, competency-based service, continuing, graduate and undergraduate programs that emphasize quality of care.
- To maintain a collaborative and mutually beneficial relationship with the professional practice of health services management.
- To serve as a resource to Georgetown University, the School of Health, the Health Sciences Center and the MedStar Health System.
- To reflect the Jesuit values of educating the total person for successful citizenship and service.
- To serve the alumni of the programs as they achieve their career objectives.
The Mission of the Undergraduate Health Care Management & Policy Program
- To provide the opportunity to develop the foundation of a career in health care through a well-designed liberal education, understanding the role of health in achieving quality of life, the role of quality health services in protecting and promoting health, and the relationship between health policy and the health of the population.
The Objectives of the Undergraduate Health Care Management & Policy Program
- To attract individuals to fields in, or related to, health management and health policy, who are committed to making a significant contribution to the quality of health care as well as the health and the quality of life of the public.
- To expose students to the full spectrum of career opportunities in health systems and health policy, as well as provide successful role models in practice and policy settings.
- To provide fundamental background in the social, political, economic and technical forces that shape the provision of health services.
- To provide basic competencies in the skills and ethical sensitivity that are essential for successful and meaningful careers in the field.
- To provide practical learning experiences that enhance and integrate didactic learning.
- To develop in students the appreciation and skills that are essential for life-long learning and development.
Curriculum Overview
The Health Care Management and Policy curriculum builds on a liberal arts education and examines how health care markets and policy contribute to the health of individuals and populations. The program’s mission is to prepare graduates for careers in health care through a well-designed liberal education and an in-depth understanding of health services and health policy. To that end, all students take courses in Health Economics, the Politics of Health Care, Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Epidemiology, Statistics, and Health Services Research. There are opportunities to take electives in other schools within the University, to minor in an area of interest, and to study abroad.
For students who select a concentration in Health Management, the sequence includes Organizational Behavior and Development, Accounting, Health Finance, Health Information Systems, and a series of management electives that can be taken throughout the program. The senior year includes a year-long internship (a year-long honors thesis project may be undertaken in addition to, or in lieu of, an internship, providing student meets criteria) under the preceptorship of an experienced executive. The internship provides the student with an opportunity to hone their analytical and leadership skills as they prepare for subsequent professional roles and/or graduate study.
For students who select a concentration in Health Policy Analysis, the sequence includes Health in a Free Society, US Political Systems, Analytical Methods in Policy Evaluation, and a series of policy electives that can be taken throughout the program. During the senior year there is a semester-long internship and accompanying seminar (a year-long honors thesis project may be undertaken in addition to, or in lieu of, an internship, providing student meets criteria) in one of the many health policy organizations and agencies in Washington DC.
Major Requirements
Required Courses for the HCMP – Health Management Concentration
Course List
| Code |
Title |
Credits |
| HCMP 3016 | Organizational Behavior & Dev | 3 |
| HCMP 4002 | Health Finance | 3 |
| HCMP 3005 | Information Systems | 3 |
| ACCT 1001 | Principles of Accounting | 3 |
| Healthcare Managerial Ethics | |
| Legal Environment of Health Ca | |
| Data Analysis & Visualization | |
| Pharmaceutical Mgmt & Policy | |
| Patient Exp & Healthcare Admin | |
| Indigenous Health Law & Access | |
| Strategy in Digital Health | |
| Who Owns What in Healthcare? | |
| |
| Health Quality Internship I | |
| Health Quality Internship II | |
| |
| Honors Thesis Research I | |
| Honors Thesis Research II | |
| Honors Thesis Seminar I | |
| Honors Thesis Seminar II | |
Required Courses for the HCMP – Health Policy Analysis Concentration
Course List
| Code |
Title |
Credits |
| GOVT 1200 | The U.S. Political System | 3 |
| HCMP 4001 | Health in a Free Society | 3 |
| HCMP 4005 | Analytical Tools/Hlth Pol Eval | 3 |
| |
| Hlth Sys Pol:Seminar & Intern | |
| |
| Honors Thesis Research I | |
| Honors Thesis Research II | |
| Honors Thesis Seminar I | |
| Honors Thesis Seminar II | |
| |
| |
Georgetown Core Curriculum
The Georgetown Core Curriculum (Georgetown Core) is a distinctive expression of Georgetown University’s identity as a student-centered research university rooted in the Jesuit and Catholic tradition. The Georgetown Core is a two-tiered program. The first tier – the “shared core” – has been created and approved by the Main Campus Core Curriculum Committee and is shared by all undergraduates as a common core experience. The second tier of the requirement – the “school-specific core” – is designed and determined by each of the undergraduate schools, embodying the shared learning goals of the university Core while furthering the specific mission and tradition of each school. Both the shared and school-specific cores change over time, balancing the traditional ethos of a liberal arts education with the changing needs of our students in a changing world. Ultimately, it is the hope that the entirety of a Georgetown education – the cores, majors and minors, and electives – will lead students to embody as life-long habits the goals described in the Georgetown Core Curriculum Learning Goals.
More information about the Georgetown Core Curriculum can be found on the Provost’s Core Curriculum website.
Georgetown Shared Core Requirements
The core requirements that form the first tier, the common experience across the University, are outlined below. Georgetown courses fulfilling each of these requirements are designated “Core: [specific requirement]” in the Attributes in the Schedule of Classes.
Philosophy – 2 Courses
Through the Core, the Philosophy Department is committed to providing courses that promote students’ personal growth as human beings in search of meaningful lives, foster their development as responsible citizens, and offer effective introductions to the discipline of philosophy. The learning goals shared by courses in the Philosophy Core are:
- Understand what philosophy is, how it differs from other academic disciplines, and what its primary areas of inquiry are.
- Understand and construct arguments.
- Describe and analyze complex problems.
- Read, write and speak effectively.
- Engage critically and constructively with moral problems and decisions.
- Apply philosophical analysis, argumentation, and critical reflection to the study of other disciplines.
Please refer to each school/college curriculum for specific courses that will fulfill this requirement.
Theology and Religious Studies – 2 Courses
Through the Core, the Theology and Religious Studies Department is committed to fostering in students a critically appreciative awareness of the religious dimension of human existence, and to assisting students in reflecting upon their own experience and understanding in that enlarged context. The first course provides this foundation while the second course allows students to develop their critical awareness by applying it to a particular area of interest in religion or theology.
The learning goals shared by courses in the Theology and Religious Studies Core are:
- To consider reflectively your relationship to the world, your fellow humans, and God.
- To foster a critically appreciative awareness of the religious dimension of human existence.
- To assist you in reflecting upon your own experience and understanding in that enlarged context.
- To develop your critical awareness by applying it to a particular area of interest in religion or theology.
Problem of God1 (THEO 1000) and one Theology and Religious Studies elective fulfill the Theology and Religious Studies requirement. Introduction to Biblical Literature (THEO 1100) may be substituted for Problem of God or may be used as an intermediate level elective.
Writing – 2 Courses
The writing requirement provides students with opportunities to connect their writing with critical reading and thinking, inquiry, and analysis. The Writing and Culture Seminar, WRIT 1150, approaches writing through three interrelated frameworks: writing as a tool for inquiry, writing as a process, and practice writing in different rhetorical situations. Each section focuses on a cultural theme, with readings and assignments that engage students with compelling questions and problems. Seminar readings provide texts for analysis as well as models and motives for student writing. Students are encouraged to complete this course during their first year at Georgetown. The learning goals shared by different sections in the Writing and Culture Seminar are:
- Experiment with diverse strategies for planning, drafting, and revising writing.
- Adapt writing to respond to, engage, and persuade audiences.
- Employ rhetorical strategies for analyzing, designing, and communicating in writing and other forms of media.
- Engage in writing as a form of thinking, inquiry, and learning.
The second half of the Writing Core is an intensive writing experience located within the student’s chosen major, embedded within the requirements as determined by that program. Each major’s Integrated Writing requirement is established by the department or program in order to express the unique conventions and practices of the discipline. The learning goals shared by courses in the Integrated Writing Core are:
- To prepare students to use the relevant forms, styles, and conventions of writing within their chosen major(s).
- To employ writing as a method to enhance students’ learning of concepts, materials, and methods in their major.
Courses fulfilling this requirement are identified within each major.
Humanities: Art, Literature, Music, and Media (HALM) – 1 Course
(Formerly Humanities: Art, Literature and Culture (HALC))
The Humanities: Art, Literature, Music, and Media (HALM) requirement serves to deepen students’ understanding and experience of a range of creative media representing cultural expressions from various historical periods and world regions, from the local to the global.
Through reading, listening, viewing, analyzing, writing, and/or creative practice, students acquire the intellectual and practical tools to interpret human experiences portrayed in the arts, literature, music, and media.
HALM Learning Goals:
-
Understand how art, literature, music and/or media have historically shaped and been shaped by cultures.
-
Develop generative habits of mind and exercise critical thinking skills for a world in flux: openness, resilience, curiosity, creativity, imagination.
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Activate knowledge through creative, analytical, and/or critical approaches in individual, collaborative, and/or public-facing projects.
HALM courses must be Georgetown University courses and cannot be fulfilled by transfer credits; they must be 3-credit courses. Courses that can fulfill other Core requirements (such as HIST, PHIL, THEO) are ineligible.
In 2026-27, the older “HALC” designation (Humanities: Arts, Literature, and Culture) will be replaced with HALM (Humanities: Arts, Literature, Music and Media). For this academic year, courses with the designation will be tagged with both HALC and HALM. In Fall 2027, the tag HALC will be retired in favor of HALM.
Science For All – 1 Course
The natural sciences, and the technologies that they enable, are woven deeply into the fabric of our lives and are central to many of the important political and social challenges that we face. They are also pinnacles of intellectual accomplishment in humanity’s ancient and ongoing quest to understand the world in which we live. Thus we believe that to function as liberally educated, ethically responsible citizens, as stewards of the planet, and as effective leaders, all Georgetown students should understand scientific modes of thought and concepts, both in the abstract and as they are exemplified in at least one major area of scientific inquiry. The Science For All (SFA) Core requirement is grounded in these beliefs. The learning goals shared by courses in the Science for All Core are:
- To understand the basic principles and some current research challenges of one or more areas of science.
- To understand science as a set of methods of inquiry that involve forming and testing hypotheses through the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data.
- To consume and interpret scientific information with critical understanding of the balance of certainty and uncertainty that research findings inevitably reflect.
Quantitative Reasoning and Data Literacy – 1 Course
This requirement applies only to students in the class of 2028 and later.
The Quantitative Reasoning and Data Literacy (QRDL) requirement will help students learn to understand how real-world interpretation of data progresses from a set of numbers, frequently incomplete and with measurement errors, to a visual distillation that clearly conveys meaning. While mathematics and statistics provide a necessary foundation for quantitative reasoning and data literacy, the power of pure mathematics lies in its abstraction. In contrast, QRDL emphasizes a distinctive variety of concrete contexts and applications. The learning goals shared by courses in the Quantitative Reasoning and Data Literacy Core are:
- To build a quantitative toolbox that allows students to become comfortable performing and/or evaluating quantitative analyses.
- To translate and make meaning of data and quantitative analyses as they apply to complex problems.
- To effectively communicate statistical methods and results both visually and textually to a diversity of audiences with considerations to contextual, social, or ethical issues.
Engaging Diversity/Pathways to Social Justice
For students in the class of 2025, 2026, or 2027
Engaging Diversity (2 courses)
All Georgetown students are required to take two Engaging Diversity courses as overlays, meaning that the courses may count toward another degree requirement (Core, major, or minor). One of these courses must be labeled with a “Core: Diversity Domestic” attribute and one must be labeled with a “Core: Diversity Global” attribute.
In courses designated as fulfilling a diversity requirement, students will engage with different cultures, beliefs, and ideas. These courses will explore conditions that contribute to unequal access and influence. Finally, these courses should enable students to reflect on their own identities as they also deepen their understanding of the experience of others. The learning goals shared by courses in the Engaging Diversity Core are:
- To prepare students to be responsible, reflective, self-aware and respectful global citizens through recognizing the plurality of human experience and engaging with different cultures, beliefs, and ideas.
- To be better able to appreciate and reflect upon how human diversity and human identities shape our experience and understanding of the world.
For students in the class of 2028 and later
Pathways to Social Justice (3 courses)
Georgetown’s Pathways to Social Justice (PSJ) curriculum prepares students to critically analyze historical and contemporary power differentials. By fulfilling the Pathways to Social Justice requirement, students will gain a better understanding of how social, political, geographic, economic, and other cultural factors shape experiences of the world, as well as how these factors contribute to marginalization and inequality. PSJ courses will also explore how communities have resisted marginalization, and will focus on axes of identity that have formed the basis for historical and contemporary marginalization and oppression, including race, gender, class, caste, disability, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
A cornerstone of this requirement is the one-credit University Seminar in Race, Power, and Justice which is designed to ensure that every student at Georgetown develops a baseline vocabulary for discussing racial difference and marginalization. This seminar will provide the foundation for each student’s engagement with other PSJ-attributed “overlay” courses offered across Georgetown’s Main Campus and should be taken in the first year.
In addition to the required one-credit University Seminar in Race, Power, and Justice, the requirement also requires students to take two overlay courses (meaning that these courses may count toward another degree requirement, whether core, major, or minor). Eligible courses have the “Core: PSJ” attribute.
Each course in the Pathways to Social Justice Core works toward at least three of these shared priorities:
- Inclusive Scholarship
- Intersectional Approaches to Identity
- Historical Legacies of Inequality and Their Contemporary Impacts
- National, Regional, and Global Comparisons
- Imagining Justice
