This program prepares students to educate others about personal, family, and community health concerns, including maintaining good health and preventing illness. Graduates may teach health in elementary and secondary schools or serve in public health and social service agencies. The curriculum has a broad, interdisciplinary orientation that emphasizes the biological, psychological, and sociological aspects of health. A full semester of student teaching in the senior year is required in this program. The semester is divided into two separate placements, with one of the placements in a high needs school, as required by New York State.  Students who complete this major qualify to take the national examination to be certified as health education specialists and are eligible to apply for initial teacher certification after successfully completing the appropriate examinations. New York certification requires the New York State Teacher Certification Examinations; other states may require the Praxis examination or another designated state teaching examination.

All candidates for initial teaching certification must attend workshops on child-abuse identification and prevention, school violence prevention, and Harassment, Bullying and Discrimination in Schools: Prevention and Intervention (DASA). The evening workshops are offered each semester. For more information about certification requirements, and for information about fingerprinting requirements, see the “Office of Teaching and Certification” page of the Department of Education website.

Special Academic Status Policy for Health Education Majors

Acceptance into and retention in the health education major is subject to compliance with the following academic standards:

1. GPA Requirement: All students in teacher education programs in HPPE must have a cumulative 2.50 GPA at the end of each semester of their freshmen year. Sophomores, juniors and seniors must maintain an overall 2.75 GPA at the end of each semester. If the cumulative GPA falls below the required standard, the student will be placed on program warning.  The student will be provided with one semester to attain the requisite cumulative GPA. Any student who fails to meet the standard for two consecutive semesters is subject to dismissal from the program.

2. Demonstrated Success in Core Courses: Students must receive at least a C in all required courses with an EDUC, PHED or HLTH designation and maintain a 2.50 GPA throughout freshmen year and 2.75 GPA throughout sophomore, junior and senior years. Failure to meet a C grade mandates repeating the course. Students will not be allowed to participate in student teaching (HLTH 44100 and HLTH 44800) until the student achieves a grade of C or above in EDUC, PHED or HLTH required courses.

3. Student Teaching Application: Students must file an application for student teaching during the year prior to the student teaching experience. The student is responsible for attending all department meetings and to respond to emails from the Coordinator of Student Teaching about the application, placement sites, and deadlines. The application for student teaching requires that the student possess a current American Red Cross CPR card.

4. Student Teaching Grade: Students may not complete the program with a grade lower than a B in the following courses. The degree cannot be granted if this standard is not met.

a.  HLTH 44100  Student Teaching in Health Education
b.  HLTH 44800  Seminar in Health Education

Summary

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
General requirements		17
Professional health core		30
Professional health electives		9
Professional education		20
Integrative Core Curriculum 1		25-26
Complementary Liberal Arts - Required		14
Free electives		4-5
Total Credits		120

1	Please refer to "ICC" tab on our school's main page to see requirements.

Degree Requirements 

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
SOCI 30800	Counseling Theory and Dynamics	3
or SOCI 30900	Group Counseling
SOCI 10100	Introduction to Sociology	3
RLS 12500	Understanding Disability: Characteristics, Causes, Services	3
EXSS 12000	Anatomy and Physiology I	4
EXSS 12100	Anatomy and Physiology II	4
PROFESSIONAL HEALTH CORE COURSES
HLTH 13901	Technology for the Professional Edge	3
HLTH 15200	Introduction to Health and Physical Education	3
HLTH 20200	Human Nutrition	3
HLTH 21300	Wellness: Multicultural Perspectives on Health and Healing	3
HLTH 22800	Human Sexuality	3
HLTH 22900	Disease and Lifestyle	3
HLTH 31500	Family Health Problems	3
HLTH 33300	Development and Evaluation of Health Programs	3
HLTH 35000	Drug Use and Abuse	3
HLTH 43900	Assessment in Health Education	3
PROFESSIONAL HEALTH ELECTIVES
Select 9 credits of the following:		9
PSYC 32100	Abnormal Psychology
PSYC 34200	Family Therapy
SOCI 31600	Women and Health
HLTH 10200	Medical Terminology
HLTH 11300	Personal Health
HLTH 12200	Emergency Health Care
HLTH 20500	Critical Health Issues
HLTH 22400	Emergency Health Care Instructor
HLTH 22700	Stress: Its Nature and Management
HLTH 31700	Community Health
HLTH 33000	Health Promotion in the Workplace
HLTH 41700	Front Page Public Health: Policy and Epidemiology
HLTH 399xx	Selected Topics in Health
HLTH 452xx	Independent Study in Health
GERO 10100	Introduction to Aging Studies
PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION COURSES
EDUC 10200	Reading Foundations	2
EDUC 19210	Child Abuse Identification and Prevention	0
EDUC 19230	School Violence Prevention	0
EDUC 19240	Harassment, Bullying, and Discrimination in Schools: Prevention and Intervention	0
HLTH 36000	Curriculum and Materials in Health Education	3
HLTH 42000	Teaching Strategies in Health Education	3
HLTH 44100	Student Teaching in Health Education	10
HLTH 44800	Seminar in Health Education 1	2
COMPLEMENTARY LIBERAL ARTS - REQUIRED
EDUC 21010	Educational Psychology	3
EDUC 22900	Second Language Acquisition: Its Nature and Meaning for Educators	2
EDUC 34000	Social and Cultural Foundations of Education	3
Language elective 2		6
Total Credits		90

1	Counts as ICC Capstone.
2	Based on proficiency, 6 credits in the same language other than English (including American Sign Language). Placement in 10100 requires 6.0 credits of language; placement in 10200 requires 3.0 credits of language and 3.0 credits of additional LA credits; and placement in 20100 requires 6.0 credits of additional LA credits.