Design Your Own Fieldwork Experience

The Big Picture:

Here are the big picture steps required if you want to design your own Field Work Experience to satisfy your Global Health minor Fieldwork Experience requirement:

  1. First step, make connections:
    • Find a placement. Look for an organization that does public/global health-related work that you’re interested in working with. Reach out to them to see if they are accepting volunteers/interns. See below for more details.
    • Connect with a UO faculty supervisor to discuss your ideas about your Field Work Experience and the organization you want to work with. Ask the faculty if they are willing to supervise you in an individualized study for your Field Work Experience. See below for more details.
  1. Next, get Pre-Authorization for your Global Health Minor Fieldwork Experience and register for GLBL (or other) credit.
  1. Upon registration for the credits, you must…complete the Field Work Experience! Successfully complete (with a passing “P/NP” grade) the 4.00 units of credit you registered for in Step 2.
  1. Finally, confirm your completed experience. Upon completion of Step 3, let the Global Health program know you’ve earned your 4.00 units of credit for your Field Work Experience requirement. Visit the “Confirm Completed Experience” program page for more details.

The Details:

Here are some of the details when it comes to A) connecting with an organization and UO faculty supervisor for a Fieldwork Experience of your own design and B) getting the Global Health program pre-authorization required in order to use the experience to satisfy your Global Health minor Fieldwork Experience requirement:

“Step 1: Make Connections” Details

If you’re looking for a study abroad or international internship experience related to global/public health that you might use towards your Global Health minor Fieldwork Experience requirement, here are some links, information, and suggested steps to help you get started.

Find a Placement

Students are responsible for identifying and applying to Global Health-related field work opportunities that suit their academic and professional interests. These “design your own” experiences can be conducted through local non-profit organizations, campus-based health promotion activities, and/or research experiences supervised by UO faculty members.

Looking for placement ideas?

Found an organization or faculty you want to work with that is willing to work with you? Excellent! Now start drafting your Pre-Authorization form and bring it to your meeting with your intended faculty supervisor (see “Connecting with with a Faculty Supervisor” below).

Connecting with a Faculty Supervisor

Connect with a Global Health-affiliated faculty to serve as your faculty supervisor for your Fieldwork Experience and associated GLBL individualized study credits.

Tips for Connecting with Faculty

  • Be polite and professional – Faculty, like all staff at the University of Oregon, have a lot on their plate and a limited amount of time to attend to it all. We’re all here because we’re excited to work with students, and the way you reach out can go a long way in helping us help you!
  • Come prepared – Come to the meeting prepared with some ideas you would like to discuss. It’s okay if you don’t have all the details figured out and you want to talk through some things, but come to the meeting with ideas about the organization you want to work with, the work you want to do with them, and how you think it relates to your Global Health minor. If you’ve already reached out to the organization you want to work with and they’ve confirmed they want to work with you, even better!
  • Bring your drafted Pre-Authorization form and have an understanding of the submission timeline and process – Both you and the faculty who agrees to supervise you in 4.00 units of individualized study credit will benefit from you taking a proactive lead on making sure you have all your paperwork together. The supervising faculty will need to review and sign off on the Pre-Authorization form indicating their agreement to supervise the credit as well, so they’ll need to review the complete draft of the form. If you can send them your drafted form in advance of your conversation with them, even better!
  • Outline how you’ll be completing 120 hours worth of field work for your 4.00 units of individualized study credit – You will need to  complete 4.00 units of individualized study credit to satisfy your Field Work Experience requirement for the Global Health minor. 4.00 units of individualized study credit must equate to 120 hours of work (30 hours per 1 credit). Your supervising faculty will need to know your plan for completing those 120 hours as they will be signing off on your completion of those 120 hours by giving by giving you a “Pass” grade, if you complete the 120 hours of work.
  • Confirm the faculty is willing to supervise “GLBL” credit –  In conversation, you and the faculty should confirm that the faculty is willing to supervise “GLBL” credit. The Global Studies Department will allow non-“GLBL” faculty to oversee this credit, provided a core Global Studies faculty member signs off (the current Director of the Global Health program is a core Global Studies faculty member).

What if my faculty supervisor prefers to supervise individualized study credit in their own department?

  • If the faculty would prefer to supervise individualized study credits in the faculty’s home department, that is fine – as long as you register for and complete 4.00 units of credit related to your Fieldwork Experience requirement, and you have that experience pre-authorized and approved for the Global Health Minor Fieldwork Experience requirement, the credits can come from any applicable department on campus.
  • If you are a student majoring in Human Physiology (HPHY), Psychology (PSY), Biology (BIO), or Environmental Studies (ENVS) and you would like to pursue credit in that department, you should see the “Field Work Experience in Other Departments” page of the Global Health program website to proceed.
  • Regardless of which department you register for credit in, you must still complete the required Pre-Authorization form linked below.

If the faculty has questions about the Field Work Experience requirement or Pre-Authorization form, let them know they can reach out to the School of Global Studies & Languges Undergraduate Support Team at gslundergrad@uoregon.edu.

“Step 2: Get Pre-Authorization and GLBL Credit Registration for your Global Health Minor Fieldwork Experience” Details

Prior to completing your experience, all students must complete a “Pre-Authorization Form” that must be reviewed and approved by the Global Health Program Director in order to have that experience count towards their Global Health minor Fieldwork Experience requirement. For Global Health minors seeking to register for GLBL credit for their Fieldwork Experience Requirement, this also includes a section for “GLBL” individualized study credit registration. Read on for full details.

Pre-Authorization Form Details & Deadlines

  1. DOWNLOAD: Click here to download the required Pre-Authorization Form.
  2. PURPOSE: If you are seeking to utilize a study abroad program or international internship experience for your Global Health minor Fieldwork Experience, this is your notice to the department of your plans for completing your Fieldwork Experience requirement for your Global Health minor.
  3. GUIDANCE: This form should be reviewed and completed in conjunction with the “Design Your Own Field Work Experience” page of the Global Health program website (this page).
  4. SUBMISSION PROCESS & DEADLINES: Turn in completed form, with faculty supervisor and student signature, to gslundergrad@uoregon.edu (with faculty supervisor on copy) by the term’s deadline:
    1. Fall deadline: September 15th
    2. Winter deadline: December 15th
    3. Spring deadline: March 15th
    4. Summer deadline: June 15th
  5. APPROVAL: The form will be reviewed and approved by the Global Health Program Director. Students will receive notice of this approval via email, and the approved form will be saved into your Global Health minor student file.
  6. GLBL CREDIT REGISTRATION (if applicable): Once approved by the Global Health Program Director, the School of Global Studies & Languages Undergrad Support Team will process the form and communicate with the student so the student can register for the course (if registering for GLBL credit).
    • HOW DO I COMPLETE THE CREDIT SECTION IF NOT SEEKING GLBL CREDIT? Skip section 5, “GLBL Credit Registration Information” and instead complete section 6, “Non-GLBL Credit Information” to indicate which major’s departmental experience you are seeking credit for in conjunction with your Global Health minor Fieldwork Experience requirement.
  7. CONFIRM ONCE COMPLETE: Upon completion of the credit for the Global Health Minor Fieldwork Experience requirement, the student must confirm with the Global Health program once they have completed their experience with a passing grade. To confirm completion, student must visit the “Confirm Completed Experience” program page and fill out the online form linked there.

HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT FILLING OUT THIS FORM?: Contact the School of Global Studies & Languages Undergraduate Support team at gslundergrad@oregon.edu.

Important Reminder

Completing this Pre-Authorization form will not sign you up for credit in any department other than Global Studies “GLBL” credit, and that’s only if you complete section 5, “GLBL Credit Registration Information.”

As noted on the form:

“In order to register for non-GLBL credit, you must contact the department you are seeking credit from and comply with their registration requirements and deadlines. The Global Health program cannot register you for non-GLBL credit. See Psychology’s Practicum/Internship page, Biology’s advising page (click “Internships” to get info download), Environmental Studies “Internships” page, the Human Physiology program’s “HPHY 409 Practicum Application” linked under their HPHY 409 course listing on their “Courses” page, etc.”

So please make sure that you complete your major department’s required application, credit registration form, etc., whatever is required by your major department for independent study credit registration, in addition to completing and returning the Global Health program’s required Pre-Authorization Form. See the “Field Work Experience in Other Departments” page of the Global Health website for more details.