Health Sciences Department Mission and Learning Goals

Mission

The Health Sciences Program offers inter/multidisciplinary coursework and clinical experiences leading to a major on the undergraduate transcript.

The mission of the Health Sciences program is to prepare students for entry into professional healthcare careers or graduate programs through a rigorous course of study grounded in patient-centered, team-based problem solving, and pre-requisite sciences. Interdisciplinary collaboration and community engagement are fundamental processes, as faculty and students collaborate with other campus departments and clinical and community care centers to address public health problems in Western Massachusetts and beyond.

In addition to aligning with the University’s mission, the Health Sciences program is well-positioned to prepare students for the new healthcare environment. A shift from an illness to a wellness model emphasizes prevention as a key component in optimizing health. An essential goal of this department initiative is to connect clinical care (hospitals, clinics, etc.) and community care (schools, senior centers, individual community members, etc.) teams. 

The program’s intentional addition of wellness theory and its application for disease prevention and treatment, along with the pedagogy of interprofessional education make it unique to existing similar programs. The pedagogical approach utilized throughout the core curriculum is grounded in interprofessional education values – teamwork, conflict resolution and effective use of informatics. All program core courses involve group work with case-based, problem-based pedagogy and simulation. The integration of information literacy and multiple disciplinary perspectives is emphasized.

After successfully completing the program, our graduates may accept positions in a wide variety of graduate programs: exercise science, physical therapy, occupational therapy, physician assistant, athletic training, public health, nursing, health education, epidemiology to name a few. Our graduates may also work in a wide variety of settings: cardiac rehabilitation, echocardiogram technology, physical therapy, occupational therapy, physician assistant, biotechnology, health informatics, healthcare management, community health, and nursing.

Learning Goals

  1. Increase student flexibility to explore a variety of aspects of healthcare.

Provide academic and clinical experiences to all HS students

Didactic and Clinical partnerships in a variety of health professions 

  1.  Utilize a multidisciplinary approach to problem solving and patient care.

Provide instruction and clinical experiences in team based care

Didactic and Clinical partnerships in a variety of health professions 

  1. Prepare students to be leaders in the new model of healthcare.

Leadership project opportunities for each student

Leadership projects embedded in course assignments

  1. Increase relevance of university curriculum.

Provide prerequisite coursework for admission to graduate HS programs

Graduate survey and acceptance outcomes data collection and analysis

  1. Increase accessibility of graduate school prerequisites.

Provide prerequisite coursework for admission to graduate HS programs within the students academic major and timeline

 

Student survey and progression data collection and analysis

  1. Increase marketability of students as they apply to graduate schools and professional positions.

Provide adequate UG experiences to allow an 80% acceptance rate to graduate HS programs

Monitor student and graduate data for admissions and student success in graduate HS programs

 

  1. Broaden teaching service and scholarship opportunities for faculty members.

Increase faculty research and scholarship opportunities by 25%

Include research and scholarship projects for HS students with faculty mentorship

  1. Promote interdepartmental collaboration.

80% of the curriculum will be taught by interdepartmental faculty and departments

Monitor faculty workload and assignments to HS courses