OSWEGO — SUNY Oswego says it has received state approval to offer its bachelor of science program in wellness management as an online-only option beginning this fall. The university contends the option can help students “who are busy balancing work, family and school.” the option could work for students who are “eager” to reach graduate […]
OSWEGO — SUNY Oswego says it has received state approval to offer its bachelor of science program in wellness management as an online-only option beginning this fall.
The university contends the option can help students “who are busy balancing work, family and school.” the option could work for students who are “eager” to reach graduate school or the workforce ahead of the “normal” four-year timetable for an undergraduate degree.
In a news release, SUNY Oswego highlighted the example of Jamie Walzer, a senior from Rochester with a wellness-management major with a minor in biology. Walzer is pursuing graduate school for training as a physician assistant. She took the wellness management online courses already available and is “on track” to obtain her undergraduate degree in three years.
“That’s why I did a lot of the classes in my major online,” Walzer said. “I did a whole semester over last summer.”
The all-online option for wellness-management core courses and electives has “evolved over years of improvements in instructional methods and design,” Sandra Bargainnier, chair of health promotion and wellness in SUNY Oswego’s School of Education, said in the release. The knowledge and skills students are expected to take away from each course are “equivalent” to those delivered in a classroom, she contends.
“Instructors have to add value to the experience, to bring their engaged and present and creative selves to these courses,” Bargainnier said. “It takes time to do it well.”
Courses available in the wellness-management sequence include “Introduction to Health Promotion and Wellness;” “Essentials of Exercise Physiology;” “Health Promotion Program Planning;” “Nutrition Concepts;” “Evaluation and Research in Health Promotion;” and electives in psychology, management, and marketing.
Whether students opt for face-to-face, online only, or a hybrid approach, Bargainnier said SUNY Oswego’s undergraduate degree in wellness management offers a “strong foundation” for many career and advanced-degree opportunities. The areas include public health, nursing, mental-health counseling, medical school, athletic coaching, personal training, human-services programs with health components, nutrition, physical therapy, self-enrichment fields such as yoga instructors and wellness consultants, and entrepreneurship in health and wellness fields.
“What’s great about our program is the flexibility it gives you to go in a variety of directions,” said Bargainnier. ν
