Health Education (HLHED)

Degree Conferred: M.Ed.

The Graduate Faculty

• Raffy Luquis, Ph.D. (Arkansas) Associate Professor of Health Education
• Samuel W. Monismith, D.Ed. (Penn State) Associate Professor of Health Education

The Program

The Health Education program emphasizes behavioral and organizational change principles to plan, implement, and evaluate interventions that enable individuals, groups, and communities to achieve personal, environmental, and social health. It complements other professional fields such as education, nutrition, physical therapy, occupational therapy, dental hygiene, nursing, health care administration, and preventive psychology.

The program follows a professional development focus, as many of the students are employed in the broad areas of disease prevention and health promotion and are pursuing graduate study part- time. The M.Ed. is a professional degree emphasizing applied research. The program requires a research-based culminating experience. The faculty has a broad range of interests, including health promotion, stress management, human sexuality, substance abuse prevention and control, and multicultural health issues.

Admission Requirements

Students must have a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university, an overall minimum undergraduate grade-point average of 2.50 and a junior/senior grade-point average of 3.00 (on a 4.00 scale) for admission into the program.

Students are also required to submit:

• a completed online application form with application fee;
• two copies of an official transcript from an accredited, college-level university;
• supplementary application.

An application is available at www.hbg.psu.edu/admissions/gradapp.php.

The Curriculum

A minimum of 30 graduate credits is required for completion of the degree. A 3-credit, research-based culminating writing experience is required. The program requires students to complete 21 credits in prescribed core courses and 9 credits in elective courses.

Prescribed Core Courses (21 credits)

• HLHED 415 PLANNING AND DEVELOPING HEALTH EDUCATION PROGRAMS (3)
• HLHED 456 ADVANCED TECHNIQUES IN SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY HEALTH EDUCATION (3)
• EDUC 440 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS AND MEASUREMENT (3) or
• EDPSY 400 INTRODUCTION TO STATISTICS IN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH (3)
• HLHED 552 CURRENT HEALTH EDUCATION ISSUES (3)
• HLHED 553MULTICULTURAL HEALTH ISSUES (3)
• EDUC 586 EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH DESIGN (3) or
• HLHED 530 RESEARCH TECHNIQUES IN HEALTH EDUCATION (3)
• HLHED 591 CULMINATING HEALTH EDUCATION SEMINAR (3) or
• HLHED 587 MASTER’S PROJECT (3)

Elective Courses (9 credits)

A minimum of 9 credits are to be selected in consultation with student's advisor from the following HLHED courses:

• HLHED 420 DEVELOPMENT OF STRESS MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS FOR HEALTH EDUCATION (3). Prerequisite: permission of program
• HLHED 421 INTEGRATING HEALTH EDUCATION INTO THE SCHOOL PROGRAM K-12 (3). Prerequisite: permission of program
• HLHED 443 ALCOHOL AND DRUG EDUCATION (3). Prerequisite: permission of program
• HLHED 497 SPECIAL TOPICS (1-9)
• HLHED 501 WORLD HEALTH PROMOTION (3)
• HLHED 516 EVALUATION OF HEALTH EDUCATION AND PROMOTION PROGRAMS (3)
• HLHED 590 COLLOQUIUM (3)
• HLHED 596 INDIVIDUAL STUDIES (1-9)
• HLHED 597 SPECIAL TOPICS (1-9)

Students also may select electives from suitable courses in Psychology, Community Psychology and Social Change, Education, Training and Development, or Health Administration programs. Note that 6 credits must be at the 500-level. Please contact the program office for further information about electives.

Transfer Credits and Course Substitutions

A maximum of 10 credits of high-quality graduate work completed at an accredited institution may be applied toward the degree requirements. Transferred academic work must have been completed within fi ve years prior to the date of fi rst degree registration in the Graduate School. A grade of at least B quality must appear on an offi cial graduate transcript.

Approval to apply transferred credits toward the degree must be granted by the Health Education program and the Graduate School. Any course substitution for prescribed core courses must be granted by the Health Education program. Credits earned to complete a previous master’s degree may not be applied.

Grade-Point Average and Time Limit

All requirements for the master’s degree in Health Education must be met within eight years of admission to degree status. A minimum grade-point average of 3.00 for work done at the University is required for graduation.

For a list of courses, visit the web at http://www.psu.edu/bulletins/whitebook/$programs.htm

Please note: This page is not a part of the official Penn State Graduate Bulletin.