The Department of Public Health and Recreation prepares leaders and practitioners who promote health and improve the environments in which we live, work, learn, and play. We strive to embrace a Teacher-Scholar-Practitioner Model through student, alumni, faculty, and community engagement to advance practices in public health and recreation fields. Our undergraduate curriculum in public health examines the multiple dimensions/determinants of health (e.g., physical, emotional, social, environmental, and spiritual) and the scientific and practical basis for understanding and promoting health at the population level (including epidemiology, policies, and community health) to create the optimal, meaningful conditions for health and wellness for all.
All of our programs at both undergraduate and graduate levels incorporate student-centered curriculums with our commitment to community development, social justice orientations, interdisciplinary and intercultural/globalized approaches with its emphasis on rigor and innovation, high-impact experiential learning, and career-focused applied orientations. Developed by our recent strategic planning process, our new vision statement of the department is as follows - We aspire to be innovators and leaders in learning and teaching, scholarship, and professional practice by integrating public health and recreation to ignite social change and work towards a more vibrant, prosperous, and just world where the optimal health and wellbeing of individuals and communities are achieved and sustained.