By Jessica Dillon
Staff Writer
A health science major, pending state approval, will be offered at St. Bonaventure University beginning in the fall of 2017.
With health-related majors in high demand, the university has recognized a need to break into the field but has struggled to determine the best course of action to establish a health care program, said Joseph Zimmer, Ph.D., university provost and vice president for academic affairs.
“For the last 10 years, St. Bonaventure has been talking about how to get into the health care field,” said Zimmer. “The easiest answer as to why we never had a nursing school or any health care program is that we were founded as a men’s college during a time when nursing was not traditionally considered a male profession.”
But in recent years, the university’s lack of a nursing school has affected enrollment, he said.
Claire Watson, Ph.D., chair of the physical education and sports studies programs and executive director of St. Bonaventure’s Allied Health Initiative, said she has seen students deterred from Bonaventure because health science offerings were lacking.
“We have had students that have gone other places because something was missing when they were looking into the school, or the courses weren’t appropriate, or we had to send students to other places to get the courses they needed,” Watson said.
In 2015, with Bonaventure’s pre-med program gaining a strong reputation, university officials saw the opportunity to push for other health-related programs.
Throughout the fall of 2015 and the spring of this year, Zimmer worked with a researcher to determine what programs would be beneficial to the university.
Together, they formed the idea to offer an Allied Health Initiative, he said.
“It’s not like we don’t have any health programs, but 48 percent of ACT takers list health care in their top five career choices,” Zimmer said. “That’s pretty powerful.
When I went to school in 1981, engineering was huge. Everyone was telling their kids, ‘Go be an engineer,’ because there was going to be a huge need for them. That’s what health care is now. Parents are telling their kids, ‘This is a nice job, it’s steady work and it’s helping people.’”
Zimmer said the program will ultimately provide students with undergraduate and graduate experiences in health sciences and Allied Health sciences.
“This Allied Health Initiative is a significant part of our strategic plan we had approved this fall by our Board of Trustees,” Zimmer said. “This is a visionary look at creating a sustainable Bonaventure for the future. We have to be able to live and adapt to environmental changes in order to meet the needs of students and this is a major way of doing it.”
Zimmer said he expects the major to draw in new students.
“Because we don’t have a strong reputation in this field in this particular area. You start small,” Zimmer said. “We’re aiming to get 15 new students who are interested in health care for the fall semester. Beyond that, it goes upwards toward 30 a year. “
Though he makes conservative estimates, Zimmer said he is hopeful for the future of the program.
“Part of our research shows that these programs are the ones that fit us best,” Zimmer said. “With our faculty expertise, our location, the availability of these programs in the area, the fact that we’re a traditional four-year residential college experience and that we’re a D1 experience, which isn’t always true of the programs that have health care, we’re hoping the whole package of Bonaventure could be very attractive to someone who wants the full college experience.”
dillonj15@bonaventure.edu
