The new fiscal year, which began July 1, brings a new evolution and a new structure to the College of Health Sciences. The college joyfully welcomes the Department of Kinesiology and the School of Social Work.
The faculty and staff of the Department of Kinesiology and the School of Social Work are pleased to join the College of Health Sciences. This move will increase the diversity of partnerships that the college will foster. The move also helps integrate interprofessional education throughout the curriculums in the college and better educates future, high-caliber health practitioners and promoters.
Additionally, the university’s creation of a new School of Allied Health Sciences, which will encompass the departments of Community and Environmental Health, Kinesiology, Radiologic Sciences, and Respiratory Care. The new school will integrate clinical and health promotion sciences to emphasize the increased responsibilities for all clinical and health promotion staff to work on disease prevention, a focus facilitated through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The new school will also use administrative resources more effectively while creating new synergies between the college and other campus entities.
University Health Services, the campus’ medical, counseling and wellness clinic, joined the college in Feb. of 2014. Health Services strongly values higher education and the students and people who teach and provide services that make education work everyday. Health Services staff have been engaging in a strategic planning process this spring and summer. In conjunction with President Bob Kustra’s State of the University address, they announced a campus wide initiative to make Boise State University one of the healthiest campus communities in the country. Health Services aims to help all Boise State students to be educated health care consumers and to be prepared for a lifetime of healthy living. Additionally, Health Services is reinvigorating the Employee Wellness program for faculty and staff, to encourage employees to make healthy choices everyday.
Kinesiology was previously housed in the College of Education. The department has four undergraduate programs: Athletic Training, Health Education and Promotion, K-12 Physical Education, and Kinesiology with emphases in Biomechanics, Exercise Science, and Pre-Allied Health. The department also offers graduate programs, including a Master of Athletic Leadership, a Master of Science or a Master of Kinesiology in Physical Education Pedagogy, and a Master of Science or a Master of Kinesiology in Kinesiology with focus areas in Behavioral Studies, Biophysical Studies, and Socio-Historical Studies. Additionally, the department operates four labs and centers: the Center for Orthopaedic and Biomechanics Research, the Center for Physical Activity and Sport, the Human Performance Lab, and the Motor Behavior and Biomechanics Lab. The department also offers pass/fail activity courses, which encourage students in any major on campus to be physically active.
The School of Social Work was previously part of the College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs. The school offers a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work and a Master of Social Work. The school also offers two undergraduate certificates, Foundation of Refugee Services and Macro Practice for Refugee Services, and a Graduate Certificate in Refugee Services.
The college’s expansion and new structure of three schools: Allied Health Sciences, Nursing, and Social Work; and University Health Services will allow its students to better experience an enhanced program of integrated health care, a principal tenet of the Affordable Care Act. Interprofessional healthcare teams can set interrelated patient goals, thus providing better patient-centered care and preventative services. The university administration and the college’s community partners have been extremely supportive about this change to the college’s structure.
“The broader the base of understanding that the student has, the better they’re able to really deliver quality care,” states Tim Dunnagan, dean of the College of Health Sciences.
Interim Associate Dean Ron Pfeiffer adds, “It’s all about how we build teams; how we address have a problem by building and we build a team to solve that problem.”
View the video below for more information.
*Note: the video was created several months ago and the new school has since revised its name to the School of Allied Health Sciences.