Emma Hamrick
Staff Writer
Two new majors, Healthcare Administration and Exercise Science, were offered for the first time to students beginning in the spring semester. Some students opted to take advantage of the new academic prospects, switching their majors to the newly formed programs.
The Healthcare Administration program filled a void in the school’s curriculum for a degree gaining demand among students.
“The healthcare industry is growing very rapidly right now. We are seeing growth in the 20 percent range, which is fantastic. There is a need for students coming out of college with healthcare knowledge. We have opportunities to apply that knowledge in many different types of healthcare settings,” Elizabeth Krause, director of the new Healthcare Administration program said.
Krause believes that the growth in the industry has created a need for graduates with Healthcare Administration degrees.
“The healthcare industry is becoming more complex and we need highly educated students to make a change and be able to use their ingenuity and creativity to help the industry be sustainable,” Krause said.
Unlike other healthcare based majors, Healthcare Administration is rooted in business.
“You have to think of healthcare in two tracks; there’s the clinical side of things and then there’s the business side of things,” Krause said. “Even though the program is called healthcare administration, it is designed to give you the tools to one day manage healthcare organizations.”
Krause said that there was great interest about the program from both business and nursing students. Some students dissatisfied with their experience completing clinical hours in the nursing program, for example, switched into the Healthcare Administration program in order to remain in the healthcare field.
“I would highly encourage anyone with any desire to work in the industry to take our introductory course and see if the program is for them,” Krause said.
The Healthcare Administration program will also be offered as a minor.
While the School of Nursing and Health Sciences lost some of its students to the Healthcare Administration major, changes in what was formerly known as the Human Movement and Performance major caused another stir within the department.
The Human Movement and Performance major was dissolved in favor of creating an Exercise Science major. While the former program focused heavily on physical education, the new program shifted towards a more science based curriculum.
“Human Movement and Performance was kind of a broad topic,” sophomore Elise Barnes said of her former major. “A degree in Exercise Science is more recognizable than a degree in Human Movement and Performance.”
The new science foundation of the major prompted students aspiring to work within the healthcare field to take up the new program.
“The major is definitely geared to people interested in sports. It’s a really active major. I’m going to use it to work towards becoming a physical therapist and hopefully intern with the Atlanta Falcons one day,” Barnes said.
The new majors at FSC made the dreams of finding an academic niche a reality for students in the future.
