The B.S. in Health Sciences degree is designed for students interested in understanding the causes of disease, strategies for promoting wellness and behavior change, and the scientific basis and methodologies for analysis of health concerns. The major combines a broad foundation of health-related course work with a choice of preparatory courses suitable for entry into graduate programs in dentistry, medicine, occupational therapy, optometry, pharmacy, physical therapy, physician assistant, public health and veterinary medicine.

There are four concentrations within the Health Sciences major: Health Assessment and Promotion, Public Health Education, Occupational Studies, and Health Studies. Each concentration prepares students to enter careers that allow them to work at a number of levels from face to face contact with individuals, groups and communities to more strategic work such as policy development. Health Promotion is a term that has been applied to a wide range of approaches to improving health of people, communities and target populations. Promoting healthy practices could occur in organizations such as schools, corporations, hospitals, or in broader settings such as advocating for effective public health policies at all government levels, or impacting the wellness and healthy lifestyles of individuals. Health Educators are an integral part of community health education programs. Health educators often work with agencies and programs dealing with substance abuse, HIV/STDs, nutrition, smoking, pregnancy, safety, and diabetes. Health educators develop educational materials, public information reports, grant proposals as well as collect and analyze data for the purposes of designing preventative health care programs. Students interested in becoming occupational therapists can choose occupational studies to prepare them for entrance into graduate level occupational therapy professional schools. Students in the Health Studies concentration gain a strong foundation of health science and it's principles in preparation for professional programs.

Careers

Many graduates choose typical career paths associated with this major. However, some graduates choose unrelated careers that utilize skills and experiences developed during their years in college. Keep in mind, that some fields will require graduate study or further training.