MSc in
Master of Science in Health and Well-being Management Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)
Introduction
Individual and community health, disease prevention, and engaging in healthful habits to promote well-being are at the fore-front of public interest. Health and wellness is a mosaic of nutrition, physical activity, stress management, and environmental features that are critical for a productive, efficient, and healthy society. Corporations, small businesses, government agencies, and institutions are employing health and well-being professionals to help people lead healthier lives and contribute to corporate, agency, and business productivity.
The MS in health and well-being management is a health and wellness degree that prepares you for a career in health and well-being program design, administration, and research. It is the perfect choice for those interested in going to medical or dental school or pursing doctoral studies in nutrition, health promotion, exercise science, or public health.
To provide high-quality, population-based health care, the future health care workforce needs a skill set that includes the ability to:
- apply systems thinking,
- design interventions,
- practice dissemination and implementation science,
- engage with communities, and
- understand and utilize team dynamics, negotiation, and advocacy skills.
RIT's health and wellness degree offers evidence-informed guidance to develop and apply these skills.
Scholarships and Funding
RIT awards more than $37 million in merit scholarships and assistantships to graduate students each year. Scholarship awards range from 5% of tuition all the way up to full tuition. Awards are based on an applicant's academic excellence. Many things are considered when awarding scholarships - undergraduate grades, graduate placement test scores, and your research and work experience all factor in.
Graduate assistantships are offered to full-time matriculated graduate students to serve as teaching, research, or administrative assistants. Graduate Assistants receive wages (determined by the department making the appointment) in exchange for work performed. Many graduate assistants also receive tuition remission (i.e., tuition support) in addition to receiving wages for assistantship duties.
Graduate students can be awarded both scholarships and assistantships. These funding opportunities are the same for both US and international applicants.
RIT awards more than $30 million in merit scholarships and assistantships to graduate students each year. Scholarship awards range from 10% - 40% of tuition. Our median scholarship amount is around 30% of tuition or $13,000. Awards are based on an applicant's academic excellence. Many things are considered when awarding scholarships - undergraduate grades, graduate placement test scores, and your research and work experience all factor in.
Graduate assistantships are offered to full-time matriculated graduate students to serve as teaching, research, or administrative assistants. Graduate Assistants receive wages (determined by the department making the appointment) in exchange for work performed. Many graduate assistants also receive tuition remission (i.e., tuition support) in addition to receiving wages for assistantship duties.
Graduate students can be awarded both scholarships and assistantships. These funding opportunities are the same for both US and international applicants.
Optional Co-Op: cooperative education is paid work assignments with corporations and organizations around the U.S. and abroad. Co-op allows students to spend one or more semesters employed in a full-time, paid position related to their academic program before they graduate. Many students use co-op earnings to help finance their education.
Work-Study: graduate students studying full-time may apply to work part-time on campus. RIT has more than 9,000 jobs available each year, and students typically work 10 – 20 hours per week. International students studying on an F-1 or J-1 visa may work up to 20 hours per week on campus and 40 hours during break periods.
Curriculum
The MS in health and well-being management offers two emphasis options, both of which prepare you for a career in health and well-being as well as offer research experiences for those interested in pursuing further doctoral and post-graduate studies.
Content development, implementation, and evaluation focuses on helping students learn how to design and execute health and well-being programs, focusing on development of content and expertise in a particular area of health or wellness, such as exercise, behavior, and nutrition.
Health and well-being program management relates to leading an organization’s health and wellness program or an employee assistance program within corporate setting or in self-employment venues.
Program Outcome
- Demonstrate skills in the design, delivery, and evaluation of individual and group interventions/programs that are consistent with evidence based social and behavioral theories.
- You will learn health education and program evaluation concepts, examine evidence and research-based content and apply learning behavior theory constructs to health and well-being activities.
- Demonstrate the ability to assist with health, physical, nutrition, behavioral screenings or policy analysis to plan and manage a safe and effective health promotion program for both healthy and health-impaired individuals.
- You will acquire a knowledge base in nutrition, physical activity, and health law including screening and assessment and utilize this knowledge in health and well-being dissemination or implementation science activities.
- Develop skills and experience necessary to promote program services to appropriate community recipients including the ability to categorize subsets of the worksite/organization population and identify appropriate intervention strategies for each subset.
- You will be able to describe and conduct needs assessments and apply findings appropriately. Also, you will demonstrate the acquisition of marketing concepts to a health and well-being problem.
- Apply the requisite skills to plan and conduct inquiries into problems and outcomes used to develop and manage health and well-being activities, programs and campaigns.
- You will apply behavior change theory concepts and research and evaluation criteria to examine, critique, and assess health and well-being programs and activities.
- Collaborate with multiple disciplines to promote and administer health related research, activities, and policy at the organizational, community, state, and federal level.
- You will develop verbal and written communication strategies and skills and apply them to tasks involving collaboration, interpretation, and critical thinking for health and well-being activities. Also, be well versed in health and well-being policy development and strategic application at multiple levels of governments and organizations.
- Design and execute a comprehensive project or research-based inquiry relevant to the health promotion industry.
- You will integrate your learning in a research, inquiry, or review project on a topic pertinent to designing, planning, implementing, evaluating, managing, or marketing health and well-being.
Career Opportunities
The health and well-being management program prepares graduates for careers that provide services to enhance employee health and consequent workforce productivity, including:
- Administrator or manager of a health and well-being program/initiative for government, industry, or organizational entities.
- Health and well-being educator/communicator, instructional program designer, developer, or implementer.
- Preparation for future medical and dental education, doctoral training in fields related to nutrition, health promotion, exercise science, and public health.
English Language Requirements
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