Do you have a passion for caring for others? Do you like to share strategies on living a healthier life? Do you love to give back to your community and help those in need? Do you want to enter the field of healthcare — but the idea of becoming a doctor, dentist, or surgeon doesn’t appeal to you? If this sounds like you, Buffalo State College’s Health and Wellness Program may offer the perfect solution.
There are hundreds of job options in the health and wellness field, many of which do not require any additional education beyond a bachelor’s degree. As a health and wellness graduate, you would be able to immediately enter the workforce and start making a difference in people’s lives. If you decide to pursue a higher degree in the medical field, health and wellness will provide you with a strong, solid background on which to build. Read more to learn if health and wellness is the right program for you.
Housed within the Health, Nutrition, and Dietetics Department, the health and wellness program
prepares students to become health and wellness professionals in community organizations, colleges and universities, government health departments, and some healthcare settings. Students also are eligible to become certified health education specialists (CHES).
At Buffalo State, students in the major earn a bachelor of science degree in health and wellness, prepares undergraduate students to assume roles as health/wellness professionals in private business and industry, community organizations, and healthcare environments. Graduates pursue careers as public health educators, community health educators, corporate wellness coordinators, and program coordinators for establishments such as the YMCA. Others pursue additional education.
In the majors, students learn how to:
Here are some of the other unique attributes that makes the Buffalo State health and wellness program a great choice:
“I had a lot of great teachers in my (health and wellness) program who helped me along the way,” said Nick Jones, a health and wellness major who graduated in 2017. “I am fortunate because the program has professors who care.
Good nutrition and regular exercise combined are an effective way to reduce the risk of cancer and to prevent its recurrence. “This has been proven over and over,” said Carol DeNysschen, associate professor and chair of the Health, Nutrition, and Dietetics Department. “If we could only motivate people to eat better and move more, we’d have so much less chronic disease.”
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation awarded the 2016 Abbott Nutrition Award in Women’s Health to DeNysschen. The annual award recognizes a dietitian who has made “significant contributions to the importance of nutrition in women’s health.”
The Health, Nutrition, and Dietetics Department sponsors multiple opportunities that enable students to gain hands-on experience outside of the classroom. Students participate in conferences, sponsor wellness activities, serve in support roles for health-delivery organizations, and participate in individual research and scholarship programs with faculty mentors. Below are just a few clubs, programs, and opportunities available to health and wellness majors:
Internships allow students to obtain relevant professional experience and to prepare for employment. Relationships with institutions have been established throughout the country. The department offers a variety of health and wellness internship sites for students.
Health and Wellness Internships allow students to obtain relevant professional experience and to prepare for employment. The department offers more than 38 health and wellness internship sites for students.
The health and wellness major prepares students for several professions, such as community health educator, corporate or individual wellness, community program directors. It also can a base for higher education specialties beyond the program such as in public health and programs in allied health professions.
Unfortunately, our country is notorious for the health-related challenges it faces. Advances in medicine and social services means that senior adults are living longer and requiring more care. More than one-third of our society is classified as overweight, and the weight-loss industry alone generates billions of dollars in revenues each year. More and more parents are seeking ways to involve themselves and their families in healthy activities and programs. All of this translates to one thing: huge opportunities in the health and wellness fields. As a health and wellness professional, you would be able to help individuals pursue increased wellness through healthy lifestyle changes.
Job titles typically held by health and wellness graduates include:
