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UB to offer health and wellness minor
By KEVIN FRYLING
Reporter Contributor
Students interested in obtaining a foundation of knowledge in the concepts of healthy living, as well as those interested in a career in health and wellness may pursue a minor in health and wellness, beginning in Fall 2006.
The 18- to 20-credit minor recently was approved by the University Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, according to Kara C. Saunders, assistant vice provost in the Office of Undergraduate Education. It will be offered through the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine in the School of Public Health and Health Professions.
The minor is distinguished by its emphasis on health issues pertaining to student populations, says Sherri Darrow, director of Wellness Education Services, a part of the Student Wellness Team in the Division of Student Affairs. Darrow will serve as director of the new minor.
Darrow views the minor as an opportunity to "synthesize the Student Wellness Team with academics." The minor is composed of courses and internship programs already offered at UB through Wellness Education Services and various academic departments. The minor "revamps, updates and coordinates" current resources to create a neater package that increases awareness about these services and attracts more students, she says.
"There has been an increased focus on health and wellness nationally," she says, noting that the timing is good to offer the new minor at UB.
Subjects to be addressed in the health-and-wellness courses include obesity, tobacco use, sexual health, alcohol, exercise and nutrition-all issues, Darrow says, that have a high impact on college students and are behavior-related. "Those are the ones that are hardest to change," she notes.
The program stretches beyond traditional health-and-wellness programs to reach out to more diverse, multicultural populations, such as aiming contraception education at men as well as women, or increasing awareness about health issues that impact international students or gays and lesbians, she adds.
Various strategies for assessment, intervention and prevention will be incorporated into the classes, she says, and electives, which offer more in-depth information on specific health issues and strategies to change behaviors, are required as well. The minor is highly interdisciplinary in that students can choose electives from among classes in exercise science, nutrition, psychology, women's studies or counseling, school and educational psychology.
Darrow, who holds a doctorate in epidemiology, teaches "Fundamentals of Wellness," a 100-level, three-credit exercise science course that will be a central requirement of the new minor. Students in the class, which usually will be taken in the first year, will learn about various health issues and how to develop a wellness program aimed at students. In the second year, as part of the minor's internship or practicum element, students will receive peer-education training and implement their wellness program within the campus community. In this way, students will receive practical experience, which also will benefit the university community, she says.
Darrow says that the students who usually take "Fundamentals of Wellness" are majoring in such disciplines as nursing, health and human services, and psychology, and have been requesting a minor in health and wellness.
"People across the board are interested in wellness," she says.
Others likely to take advantage of the minor are those studying for careers in exercise education, athletic training, physical therapy and dietary science, she says, adding that the minor may attract students from other areas as well.
For further information about the health and wellness minor, go to http://sphhp.buffalo.edu/spm/wellness/index.php.