Health And Wellness Major

College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) – Department of Food and Nutrition

The Department of Food and Nutrition offers a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) with major in Health & Wellness

The General Education Requirement

All students must satisfy a general education requirement consisting of ten (10) courses outside of the major department. The General Education Domain II-B (Natural Sciences) and laboratory requirement are satisfied through the completion of the major requirements.

Course Prerequisites

Courses may have specified conditions for enrollment, such as prior completion of less advanced courses, permission of the instructor, or appropriate placement test scores. Students should refer to course descriptions in the department listings for prerequisite requirements.

Health and Wellness Mission Statement

The Health and Wellness program at Framingham State University provides a course of study that enables students to actively participate in the changing wellness environments. The Health and Wellness major prepares students for careers in public and community health, wellness, or fitness disciplines.

Health and Wellness Learning Goals and Specific Learning Outcomes:

Learning Goals: The program will

• prepare students for a variety of careers in health, wellness, fitness, food and nutrition education, and foodservice.
• enable students to develop proficiency in relevant technology.
• prepare students to become dedicated life-long learners.

Specific Learning Outcomes:  Students will be able to

• describe the principles of health and wellness from a multidimensional and interdisciplinary perspective.
• think and act ethically in the context of health, nutrition and wellness.
• apply management principles to evaluate human, physical, and fiscal resources in organizations.
• demonstrate a variety of communication strategies in health and wellness education.

Additional Fitness concentration Learning Outcomes:  Students will be able to

• demonstrate competence in assessing the health-related components of physical fitness.
• develop, implement, and evaluate physical activity programs for apparently healthy individuals and individuals with medical conditions who are cleared for independent physical activity.
• explain the benefits of physical activity and nutrition for health, wellness, length of life, and quality of life.

Additional Nutrition and Food Studies concentration Learning Outcomes:  Students will be able to

• interpret and apply nutrition science concepts to improve the health of individuals and communities.
• identify and apply food principles to food and nutrition systems.

Requirements for Major in Health and Wellness:

Major Core Courses (10 courses)

• BIOL 130 Principles of Biology with Lab or
  • BIOL 142 Introduction to Human Biology with Lab or
  • an introductory biology course with lab
• CHEM 103 Introductory Chemistry or
  • CHEM 107 Principles of Chemistry
• HLTH 110 Wellness for Life
• HLTH 206 Wellness Behavior
• HLTH 222 Public Health and Epidemiology
• HLTH 430 Research Methods in Health and Wellness
• NUTR 110 Fundamentals of Nutrition Science
• NUTR 262 Food, Culture, and Society
• HLTH 495 Internship in Health and Wellness or
  • NUTR 495 Internship in Food and Nutrition
• STAT 117 Introduction to Statistics or
  • STAT 157 Probability and Statistics or
  • STAT 208 Biostatistics or
  • ENVS 202 Data Analysis for Scientists

Concentration in Fitness (7 courses)

• BIOL 241 Anatomy and Physiology I with Lab
• BIOL 242 Anatomy and Physiology II with Lab
• HLTH 302 Exercise Physiology
• HLTH 310 Exercise Testing and Prescription   
• HLTH 410 Personal Training       
• HLTH 495 Internship in Health and Wellness
• MRKT 181 Marketing Principles
• NUTR 271 Nutrition for Sports and Exercise
  • NUTR 333 Nutrition and Chronic Disease
• One additional HLTH or NUTR course at the 200-level or above.

 _{NOTE: A minor is recommended for students in this concentration.  Suggested minors include for Fitness include: American Sign Language, Biology, Business, Communication Arts, Latin American Studies, Marketing, Nutrition, Science Communication, Sports Management, Psychology, Sociology.}

Concentration in Public and Community Health (6 courses) 

• NUTR 478 Community Nutrition

Students must take five (5) courses from the following list with at least one (1) course from each of the four (4) areas:

Category 1: Health Promotion/Disease Prevention:

• HLTH 326 Drugs, Alcohol, and Addictive Behavior
• NEUR 225 Biopsychology
• NUTR 333 Nutrition and Chronic Disease
• PSYC 245 Health Psychology
• SOCI 325 Health and Illness
• SOCI 333 Society, Mental Health, and the Individual
• SOCI 366 Death and Dying

Category 2: Global and Environmental Health:

• ANTH 207 Global issues in Anthropology
• GEOG 208 The Environment, Health, and Disease
• GEOG 216 Introduction to Geographical Information Systems
• GEOL 233 Environmental Geology
• GLST The World on the Move: Migration in a Global Era
• NUTR 208 Food System Sustainability
• SOCI 204 Environmental Sociology
• SOCI 222 The World on the Move: Migration in a Global Era

Category 3: Public Policy, Law & Ethics:

• ECON 200 The Economics of Globalization
• ECON 333 Environmental Economics
• ENVS 101 Introduction to Environmental Science and Policy
• GEOG 235 Environmental Law and Policy
• PHIL 222 Bioethics
• PHIL 234 Environmental Ethics
• POSC 229 Public Policy Analysis
• POSC 270 Race, Politics, and the Law
• POSC 325 Public Management
• SOCI 230 Law and Society
• SOCI 245 Race and Ethnic Relations
• SOCI 263 Social Inequality

Category 4: Communications:

• COMM 215 Science Communication
• COMM 322 Persuasion and Social Influence
• COMM 328 Argumentation and Advocacy
• ENGL 225 Introduction to Journalism
• ENGL 280 Persuasive Writing
• ENGL 286 Professional Writing
• ENGL 311 Writing about Science
• ENGL 338 Grant Writing
• ENGL 377 Writing for Online and Social Media

_{Effective as of the 2021-2022 Undergraduate Catalog}