Follow
There are a number of health science degrees available in Florida. Offered at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, they present a full course of study that will help people to enter a rewarding career in which they can be of service to others in their communities. A partial list of such programs appears below, presenting information about the host school and the program itself.
Barry University
Barry University identifies as a Catholic institution, founded in 1940 in Miami Shores as Barry College for Women. Billing itself as a liberal arts institution, the school iterates a series of core commitments, as well, devoting itself to knowledge and truth, an inclusive community, social justice and collaborative service. It is a residential, coeducational college, offering a variety of housing options and student activities; current enrollment approaches 9,000, with some 2,100 faculty, staff and administration employed. In addition, it reports having been recognized by Forbes Magazine as a top college for three consecutive years leading up to 2013.
Master of Science in Health Services Administration Program (M.S./H.S.A.)
The Master of Science in Health Services Administration (M.S./H.S.A.) Program at Barry University graduates informed, ethical, highly competent leaders in the critically needed area of oversight of health programs. Through flexible schedules of study with academics and professionals, students learn to negotiate the complex issues surrounding health care decisions effectively and ethically with cultural sensitivity. The program lists coursework in “management, marketing, epidemiology, strategic planning, finance, and continuous quality improvement,” in addition to information management, relevant laws and policies, issues of long-term care and flexible special topics and advanced studies classes. This evidently makes for well-rounded graduates who will be able to handle any of the challenges health care administration may present and who can specialize more narrowly in areas amid that general study. This is ensured through a 17-course, 51-credit curriculum including a foundational principles course, a capstone project (akin to the traditional master’s thesis) and multiple internships.
Contact
Natural Health Sciences Hall 234
11300 NE 2nd Avenue
Miami Shores, FL 33161-6695
305-899-3237 or 305-899-3167
hsa@mail.barry.edu
Website
Florida A&M University (Agricultural & Mechanical)
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University is a historically black university founded in 1887. FAMU, as it is commonly known, has some 11,000 students taught by 700 faculty and bills itself as “Florida’s Opportunity University,” “the only historically black university in the eleven member State University System of Florida.” Accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, FAMU “offers 54 bachelor’s degrees, 28 master’s degrees, three professional degrees and 12 doctoral degrees.” It is recognized and praised, among others, by US News and World Report and Forbes.
Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences, Pre-Physical Therapy Concentration
The FAMU School of Allied Health Sciences reports offering coursework culminating in a Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences with a concentration in pre-physical therapy, one meant to graduate students who can successfully work in the health care field or go on to graduate study in health care generally and physical therapy specifically. It also serves as an option for potential students of other professional programs who completed preliminary coursework but were not admitted into the programs of their choice. The concentration is designed to admit directly into the graduate physical therapy program FAMU offers (a professional doctorate), so those students who wish to pursue physical therapy at the graduate level are urged to concentrate thusly. Coursework offers the general education expected of baccalaureate degrees in the first two years before moving to specialized coursework in fundamental medical principles, introductions to relevant laws, aging and disability studies and rehabilitation.
Contact
School of Allied Health
334 Palmer Ave
Lewis-Beck Building Suite 306
Tallahassee, Florida 32307
850-599-3818
sahs@famu.edu
Website
Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences, Pre-Occupational Therapy Concentration
The FAMU School of Allied Health Sciences reports offering coursework culminating in a Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences with a concentration in pre-occupational therapy, one (similarly to the pre-physical therapy concentration) meant to graduate students who can successfully work in health care go into graduate study in general health care or occupational therapy. It also offers an option for potential students of other professional programs who completed preliminary coursework but were not admitted into the programs of their choice. The concentration aids admission to the graduate occupational therapy program FAMU offers (a Master of Science in Occupational Therapy), so those students who wish to pursue occupational therapy at the graduate level are urged to concentrate thusly. Coursework offers the general education expected of baccalaureate degrees in the first two years before moving to specialized coursework in fundamental medical principles, introductions to relevant laws, aging and disability studies and promotion of health.
Contact
School of Allied Health
334 Palmer Ave
Lewis-Beck Building Suite 306
Tallahassee, Florida 32307
850-599-3818
sahs@famu.edu
Website
Florida Gulf Coast University
Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) is a member of the State University System of Florida and describes itself as a comprehensive university established to serve the southwestern Floridian community. FGCU is “accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award associate, baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral degrees” and offers 51 undergraduate, 28 graduate, and 2 doctoral degrees, as well as one specialist program. Enrollment exceeds 14,000 students, with 490 faculty and 677 staff. Student service to the community is emphasized, and FGCU has attracted more than $174 million since its opening in 1997.
B.S. in Health Science
FGCU offers a B.S. in Health Science as a web-based, distance-learning curriculum (it may be supplemented with on-campus coursework) to provide students the skills needed to enter the health care workforce and to supplement the skills of those already in it. Two concentrations are available: Health Science and Health Services Administration. The former requires the student to hold an associate’s in a health field or other eligibility for licensure; the latter does not. Required courses include general education requirements as well as classes in fundamental principles, information management, research methodology, epidemiology, ethics, and basic laws and policies. The Health Science concentration emphasizes educational services, while the Health Services Administration concentration emphasizes management approaches. Electives include courses in aging. Program-specific learning outcomes include discussing health care provider roles, how social contexts shape health care and legal and ethical concerns, as well as researching health science problems and their solutions and communicating them effectively.
Contact
Department of Health Sciences
College of Health Professions and Social Work
Florida Gulf Coast University
10501 FGCU Blvd. South
Fort Myers, FL 33965-6565
239-590-7495
tburkett@fgcu.edu
Website
M.S. in Health Science
FGCU offers an M.S. in Health Science to expand the opportunities available to bachelor’s students. It aims to graduate health care leaders, offering two concentrations to do so: Health Professions Education and Health Services Administration. The former focuses on teaching teachers, the latter on management approaches. Coursework is completed via distance learning; students sit for a common body of courses (covering research methodology and legal and ethical concerns) as well as those for their concentrations and a summative project, which may be a capstone, internship or thesis. Courses specific to the Health Professions Education concentration include teaching methods, assessment methods and curriculum development; those for the Health Services Administration concentration include managerial methods, information systems and human resource concerns. There are no explicitly listed learning outcomes, but enhancement of those listed for the B.S. in Health Science noted above can be assumed as relevant instructional goals.
Contact
Department of Health Sciences
College of Health Professions and Social Work
Florida Gulf Coast University
10501 FGCU Blvd. South
Fort Myers, FL 33965-6565
239-590-7495
tburkett@fgcu.edu
Website
Adventist University of Health Sciences
Formerly Florida Hospital College of Health Sciences, Adventist University of Health Sciences is a Seventh-Day Adventist institution located next to Florida Hospital in Orlando. It emphasizes the idea of healthcare as a form of ministry, providing an explicitly religious underpinning to its curricula. The underpinning informs its student service offerings and campus life, as well, with much being made of the availability of religious services and groups. The school reports being “accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award Certificates, Associate’s, Baccalaureate’s, and Master’s degrees” and “a candidate for accreditation…to award doctorate degrees.”
Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences
Adventist University of Health Sciences offers a Bachelor of Sciences in Health Sciences to prepare graduates for acceptance into graduate and professional degree programs. Three tracks are available: Science, for those going into graduate school in sciences, health care or therapy; Allied Health, for those holding or pursuing an associate’s in a clinical field; and Management, for those going into a non-clinical healthcare field or graduate study of healthcare administration. Each requires student to complete a core of general education coursework that includes religious studies as well as a set number of elective hours. The Science track adds 32 hours of science courses that may be selected from among chemistry, biology and physics. The Allied Health track adds 15 hours of science and 17 derived from the major field of the required associate’s. The Management track adds 15 hours of science and 18 in accounting, economics, finance and marketing.
Contact
671 Winyah Drive
Orlando FL, 32803-1226
407-303-7747
Website
Florida International University
Florida International University (FIU) is a top-tier public research university in Miami. It has two primary campuses and five subsidiary locations; the main campus is Modesto A. Maidique. Enrollment tops 50,000; more than 11,000 graduate annually. FIU is “accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award associate, baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral degrees.” US News and World Report notes that the school has one of the ten best international business programs and is first in the US in awarding bachelor’s and master’s degrees to Hispanic students; 61% of the student body is Hispanic.
Health Services Administration
FIU offers a Bachelor of Health Services Administration (BHSA) meant to suit graduates to entry-level healthcare management positions or post-baccalaureate study. It notes an emphasis on professional and leadership ethics and communication, cultural sensitivity and the ability to use reliable data to drive decisions. Fully half of its curricular offerings are available online each term; those offerings require students to complete the common general education requirements as well as twelve hours of electives, courses in statistics, accounting, computing, fundamental health services principles, ethics, leadership, communication, legal issues, interdisciplinary work in aligned fields and an internship or other approved summative elective. Notable is a policy regarding program dismissal; two failed courses or one course failed twice excludes a student from continuing. The insistence on general competence suggested thereby improves the quality of the program. Notable also is the foreign language requirement, which suits the avowed international character of FIU.
Contact
Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing & Health Sciences
Health Services Administration
Modesto A. Maidique Campus – AHC 3, Rm. 320
11200 SW 8 Street
Miami, FL 33199
305-348-4513
sbarbera@fiu.edu
Website
Keiser University
Based in Fort Lauderdale and with campuses around Florida and abroad, Keiser University is “accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award certificates and degrees at the associate, baccalaureate, masters, and doctoral levels”; Keiser offers 5 doctoral, 2 specialist, 17 master’s, 26 bachelor’s and 37 associate’s degrees. It works on an unusual, focused, one-class-at-a-time schedule, with each student taking a single class for four weeks before moving on to another. A private career university, it enrolls some 17,000 students and employs over 3,000 staff across its locations.
Health Science, BS
Keiser offers a Bachelor of Science in Health Science directed at those with earned associate’s degrees who wish to expand upon their knowledge and skills, including interdisciplinary skills, for career advancement or in preparation for graduate study. Offered at fifteen of Keiser’s venues, including online, the degree is framed in terms of courses past the associate’s. Students in the program are required to have been in the workforce for at least six months and to have completed at least 24 hours of general education coursework, including writing, mathematics and economics before entering the program. They must take coursework in healthcare finance, cultural concerns, program administration, management, curriculum development, epidemiology, marketing and ethics as well as upper-level coursework in information systems, oral communication, writing and critical thinking. The coursework supports healthcare leadership abilities; understanding political, legal and ethical issues that impact healthcare; expanding interdisciplinary understanding and collaboration; and developing healthcare providers’ ability to educate.
Contact
Keiser University, Ft. Lauderdale
1500 NW 49th Street
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33309
954-776-4456
Website
It is always useful to look further into programs and course offerings, as well as graduates and honorees of the programs, as there is only so much an individual program’s or school’s site will say. Hopefully, this partial list of health science degree programs in Florida will serve as a helpful starting point for those investigations.
