[About the Department]

• Mission Statement
• Core Values
• Partnerships
• Department History

Mission Statement

The Department of Health Education at San Francisco State University seeks to promote health and social justice. This goal is advanced through:

• education and applied community-based research;
• student leadership that honors diversity and emphasizes collaboration;
• promotion of a model that examines the relationships of personal, cultural and institutional contributions to complex personal and social issues that impact health.

The ultimate aim of the Department is to:

• explore and implement best practices in public health and holistic health.
• prepare leaders capable of advancing the work of disease prevention and health promotion in culturally appropriate and globally conscious ways.

Core Values

The Department of Health Education has developed a unique learning context designed to prepare students for entry and masters level positions in health and human services careers, including professional health educator, and the emerging field of integrative medicine. This is achieved though:

• exposure to applied scholarship;
• active engagement in student-centered participatory learning,
• innovative pedagogy linking theory and practice,
• the cultivation of team skills, leadership abilities, and effective communication,
• partnering with the university, broader community and health professionals to promote excellence in education,
• diverse leadership that advances individual, social and ecological health,
• an ecological approach, emphasizing the importance of addressing determinants of health at the individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and policy levels,
• a commitment to social justice and cultural competency. (view PDF)

Partnerships

The Department of Health Education, allied faculty and students will serve the campus community and the communities of the Bay Area through developing mutually beneficial partnerships with communities, local health departments, community-based organizations, government, and other public and private institutions.

• Institute for Holistic Healing Studies (IHHS)
• Community Health Works (CHW)
• City College of San Francisco (CCSF)
• The Welcome Back Center of San Francisco
• San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH)
• Our Practice Office connects students with many other community partners for to apply their skills in "real world" settings.

History of the Department of Health Education

The Department of Health Education, originally known as the Department of Health and Safety Education, was organized in 1949 as a department within the Division of Health, Physical Education and Recreation. The primary program areas of the department at that time were: 1) a major and minor in school health education; 2) school health education courses for elementary education majors; and 3) school health education courses designed specifically for physical education majors.

In 1962, with the passage of the Fisher Bill related to the credentialing of teachers in California, health education was recognized as a single subject, and increasing numbers of students majored in health education in preparation for teaching in public schools. In addition to the credential major in health education, the department offered a liberal arts major leading to the Bachelor of Arts degree, continued to offer special health education courses for elementary and physical education majors.

In 1967 the department implemented an undergraduate program in community health education, which currently is the department’s largest program; it has undergone considerable revision since its inception. In 1981 the degree was changed from a BA to a BS, and three concentrations were designated during this time: community health education, allied health and health studies. In 1995 the concentrations were discontinued and the BS modified. In 2001 the BS was reduced from a 136 unit major to a 120 unit major with an emphasis added in community health, school health and holistic health.

In 1992, the Minor in Holistic Health and the Institute for Holistic Healing Studies was relocated from the College of Science to the Department of Health Education. The minor in Holistic Health is one of the largest on campus (an independent program review of the minor was conducted in the spring of 2004 and is available for review). Due to the growing student and community interest in the intersection of community health and holistic health an emphasis in this area was added to the Health Education major.

A major change in the program since the 1997 program review is the establishment, in 1998, of a new Master of Public Health (MPH) degree program to replace the department’s Master’s of Science (MS) program in Health Science. The MPH was in the planning stages between 1993-1998 under the leadership of the Chair and faculty in Health Education and with input from an advisory board comprised of community leaders in public health and SFSU from anthropology, business, nursing and social work. In 1997, the Department was awarded a prestigious Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE) grant to develop a new model for MPH preparation. The first cohort of MPH students entered in the fall of 1998 and graduated in May 2001. The new MPH successfully underwent a separate accreditation process in the academic year 2002-2003 by the Council for Education on Public Health (CEPH). The MPH program received accreditation for five years (the longest time period awarded) from CEPH in the Fall of 2003.

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