College Offers New Academic Program in Health and Wellness Studies

January 5, 2016

A new associate degree offered at Hudson Valley Community College is designed for students who wish to start a path toward a four-year degree in health education, community health, health and wellness or other associated degrees.

Health and Wellness Studies, a 62-credit associate in science (A.S.) degree, has begun accepting students for the Fall 2016 term. The degree is offered through the college's Health, Physical Education and Exercise Studies Department.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, careers in corporate wellness, health education and community health are expected to grow faster than average over the next decade. An article from January 2015 on Time.com, stated that health and wellness educator was one of "The 5 Best Jobs You've Never Heard Of." 

Rapid growth in the field of health and wellness is the result of a growing emphasis on disease prevention along with an aging population. Whether a student desires to work in the community, school, a corporate facility, or a health-related organization, the Health and Wellness Studies degree can provide a strong foundation for a wide variety of careers in the health field.

Transfer agreements for the new program have been established with the Health Education and Community Health B.S. degree programs at SUNY Cortland and the Health and Wellness B.S. degree at Buffalo State College.

The new degree joins three related certificate programs newly offered by the department during the past academic year. New certificates in Coaching, Fitness Specialist and Worksite Health Promotion provide a range of specialized starting points for students looking to prepare for a career in the exercise and wellness fields. The department also offers an associate degree in Physical Education Studies, which provides the first two years of a four-year bachelor's degree program for students interested in becoming primary and secondary school physical education instructors.

For more information, contact the department at (518) 629-7372.

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Founded in 1953, Hudson Valley Community College offers more than 80 degree and certificate programs in four schools: Business; Engineering and Industrial Technologies; Health Science; and Liberal Arts and Sciences; and an Educational Opportunity Center for academic and career training. One of 30 community colleges in the State University of New York system, it has an enrollment of nearly 12,000 students, and is known as a leader in distance learning initiatives and workforce training. Hudson Valley has more than 75,000 alumni.