Department of Health Promotion and Physical Education

Prepare yourself to take an active role in the promotion of health and physical activity, with a focus on enhancing people's well-being through educating in school and community settings, practicing in the health sciences, and leading in health policy and management. Throughout your four years at Ithaca College, we will support your development in five key areas:

• Critical thinking

• Valuing human difference

• Ethical reasoning

• Analyzing and disseminating information

• Civic engagement  

Your classroom experiences will be enriched through opportunities in and outside the classroom via labs and professional clubs. Our labs offer you a chance for hands-on practice and our professional student clubs help you learn more about your field, interact with your peers and faculty outside of the classroom, practice leadership skills, and network.

Since our approach emphasizes theory into practice and performance, you will also apply what you learn in the classroom to fieldwork, internships, and student-teaching experiences. You will develop the critical theoretical foundation and skills to be job ready for professional practice or prepared for graduate school entry.

We offer three tracks for undergraduate health promotion majors, responsive to the wide range of interests that students have in the health professions field. Each of the tracks will position you for future success in areas such as business and management, clinical research or direct patient care (chiropractor, nurse practitioner, occupational therapy, physician, physician assistant, or physical therapy) as well as public health population-based interventions or policy development.

Make a difference for youth by shaping their health and wellness habits early through teaching. Teachers make a difference, with visible results in the progress of students. You will likely learn just as much from your student's questions as they will from you! The teaching profession is versatile, and permits you to find employment and live all over the world. Also, if you like an exciting and varied work environment, no two days are the same in the life of a teacher.