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Find Your Fit Penn State is a large community, but it is a community. Health and Human Development can help you connect, meet people, get involved, and get comfortable.
JumpStart JumpStart combines a dynamic two-day retreat for first-year students with a seven-week, first-year seminar that is designed to launch your transition to college life by connecting you with a network of peers, student mentors, faculty, and alumni.
Interest Housing The Health and Human Development Interest House in Beaver Hall is designed for students who are exploring health-related majors or who are committed to healthy living. Residents strive to follow a balanced lifestyle of physical, emotional, social, academic, spiritual, and intellectual well-being. Yoga, stress management, nutrition, and physical fitness programs are offered to residents.
Advising and Student Services The Student Services Center is home to academic advising for students. It offers resources and advising for students to explore majors, minors, careers, and information on college policies and procedures.
“My personal and professional goal in life is to become a positive, influential teacher of young children.� Maddison Booge, Human Development and Family Studies
Meet People Socialization Build relationships with your classmates and your instructors with events like the Dean’s Ice Cream Social, Take a Professor to Lunch, Exercise is Medicine, Research Night, the Involvement Fair, Majors Night, and the Education Abroad Fair.
Diversity The College of Health and Human Development embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion as core values in both its mission and vision. Our goal is to empower a broadly diverse generation to become leaders and scholars who promote human health, development and quality of life throughout the lifespan.
LEAP Start your Penn State career in a small-college atmosphere. LEAP is for first-year students and provides the chance to begin their journey at Penn State University Park by way of a learning community.
Student Organizations You have the opportunity to get involved. This might be in one of our college organizations or in one of the many department or student organizations. A sample of some of our student organizations:
The college offers 9 majors that are consistently ranked among the top of their kind in the nation.
HHD Student Council HHD Honor Society Biobehavioral Health Society National Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association Health Policy and Administration Club Penn State Hotel & Restaurant Society HDFS Undergraduate Student Organization Kinesiology Club Student Athletic Training Club Student Nutrition Association Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management Student Society
Grow Your Experience Beyond the Classroom
Research
Strengthen your skills and knowledge with learning opportunities in the workplace. All of our programs have dedicated internship coordinators and advisers who can help you find just the right fit for your educational and professional goals. Our students graduate with real-world experience with employers who may offer future career opportunities.
As an undergraduate in the College of Health and Human Development, you will have the opportunity to work with some of the brightest and most wellrespected researchers in the world. Research experiences can last a semester or throughout your entire Penn State career and can complement classroom experiences and help form connections with faculty members in your respective field of study.
Class projects connect you to alumni and industry partners who provide challenging problems for you to solve.
More than 1,000 of the college’s students participate each semester in service-learning activities that bring them into direct contact with patients, clients, and consumers.
Working with faculty mentors, you can engage in active learning in the laboratory, local communities, and throughout the world. Through these experiences, you share in the excitement of discovery, develop important skills, and explore career choices.
“The student engagement opportunities that RPTM provided have been extremely beneficial. I was able to interact with professionals in the field and build great friendships with my peers.” Cassaundra Soars, Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management
Build Your Network Alumni Mentoring The College of Health and Human Development Alumni Mentoring Program connects students and alumni by matching students who are juniors in their major with professionals who can offer advice and information about career options or other issues relevant to particular fields. The mentoring program includes an initial orientation and a goalsetting, face-to-face meeting, followed by fifteen months of ongoing interactions. Students can explore internships, course choices, and plans after graduation with their mentor. Many of our students have returned to be mentors, reflecting the value of the program to both students and alumni.
Women’s Leadership Initiative The Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) was conceptualized and is supported by alumni of the college and women leaders throughout the nation. WLI provides opportunities for emerging women leaders to develop the core values, attitudes, and competencies that are the foundation of quality leadership.
Explore Your World Global Health Minor The Global Health Minor is designed to give students exposure to issues affecting the health of various populations in the world. Offered by the Department of Biobehavioral Health, any Penn State student can apply to be part of the minor. Emphasis is placed on encouraging students to more fully recognize the global interconnectedness of current population health problems and to think critically about how particular global health challenges might best be solved. The minor supports the goals of those who are planning careers in research and teaching or in health services, be it in universities, government agencies, international agencies, non-governmental organizations, or private industry.
On average, more than 2,500 Penn State students take part in study abroad programs each year.
Study Abroad There are more than a dozen faculty-led study abroad programs offered through the College of Health and Human Development. These opportunities are led by faculty from the departments of Biobehavioral Health; Health Policy and Administration; Human Development and Family Studies; Kinesiology; Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management; and the School of Hospitality Management. Most programs are open to students from any major in the college. These opportunities can take you around the world to places such as South Africa, Costa Rica, England, Italy, China, Fiji, Australia, Japan, France, Chile, Spain, and many more. Program lengths range from a week to an entire semester.
“Going to Tanzania was a life-changing trip. Even when I wasn’t doing fieldwork, it was still a learning experience to be engrossed in the culture.� Marc Neith, Biobehavioral Health
Penn State also offers numerous other study abroad courses through Global Penn State where you can study in more than 200 locations in nearly sixty countries.
Nearly 10% of the students who take part in study abroad programs are Health and Human Development students.
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