Vision

The Department of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, a diverse collective of academic programs, will be nationally recognized as an agent and catalyst for promoting, transforming, and enhancing health-related quality of life for individuals, groups, organizations, and communities through research, teaching, and service.

Mission

Through effective and innovative teaching, research, and service that is clearly focused on the most useful, valuable, and successful professional practices of wellness, recreation, exercise science, athletic training, health and physical education, the Department of HPER produces graduates who are life-long learners that model healthy behaviors both personally and professionally. The Department also strives to promote health, wellness, physical activity, and recreation throughout the University and surrounding communities by administering and coordinating the Personal Fitness and Wellness component of the University’s core curriculum and by developing and implementing innovative, evidence-based programs designed to address emerging local, state and national health and quality-of-life concerns.

Goals

1.       Build a diverse and distinguished faculty with the skills and resources to address critical local, state, and national public health and quality of life issues.

2.       Enhance existing graduate and undergraduate degree programs.

3.       Envision, develop, and implement new, successful, and innovative graduate degree programs.

4.       Through effective recruitment and retention, build a robust enrollment of highly skilled, motivated, qualified, and diverse graduate students.

5.       Through enrollment management, build an optimal enrollment of highly skilled, motivated, qualified, and diverse undergraduate students.