Health and Wellness Student Handbook

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Department Office: 366 Riland Building, Long Island
Department Phone: 516.686.3828
Administrative Specialist: Jill Bryne, jbyrn04@nyit.edu
Chair: Dr. Mindy Haar, mhaar@nyit.edu

Welcome

The B.S. in Health and Wellness is offered by the Department of Interdisciplinary Health Sciences and we enthusiastically welcome you to this dynamic major! This program follows all New York Tech policies and procedures and reinforces and expands on information found in the New York Tech Student Handbook.

Introduction

The Bachelor of Science in Health and Wellness offers you an excellent foundation in health sciences as well as liberal arts and basic sciences. It is designed to prepare graduates for entry-level administrative positions in the private and public sectors of healthcare such as the medical centers, clinics, fitness and wellness centers, community health centers, government health departments, the pharmaceutical industry, and the health insurance industry. In addition, coursework includes prerequisites to pursue graduate study in fields that include nursing, health administration, public health, and occupational therapy. Students may also take all prerequisites for the clinical phase of nursing for consideration for transfer to the Nursing, B.S. program

Curriculum

The complete list of all courses needed to complete the degree can here found here. Students considering graduate studies in Physician Assistant Studies or Physical Therapy should major in Health Sciences, B.S. as that major includes the more rigorous science courses required for those fields. The B.S. in Health and Wellness includes all course prerequisites needed to transfer to the clinical phase of the Nursing program (junior year).

Semester Map

View the recommended sequence of completing all courses in the degree. Students may follow a different sequence due to any of the following reasons: not placing into the prescribed math or writing course during the first semester at New York Tech, transfer into this major from another New York Tech major, transfer from another school, and/or unsuccessful completion of one of the required courses.

Advisement with a program advisor can maximize the chance of completing the degree in a timely way. Students who are eligible to transfer to Nursing, B.S. (nursing-intent) should only take the prerequisites for nursing and not the additional health courses.

Advisement

Students who are admitted as first year students are advised initially by the staff of the Undergraduate Academic Advising (UAA). After the first semester, you are advised by a program advisor from our faculty. Students admitted as transfer students usually meet with a program advisor shortly after they are admitted. Students who are nursing-intent should meet with Prof. Laura Friedland, nursing advisor, at the earliest possible point in enrolling in by contacting her at lfriedla@nyit.edu. We encourage all students to meet with a program advisor as early as possible.

Students who are admitted as freshman are advised initially by the staff of the Advisement and Enrichment Center. After the first semester, you are then advised by a program advisor from our faculty. Students admitted as transfer students usually meet with a program advisor shortly after they are admitted.

You can only register after an advisor has "opened" your ability to register and this can only happen after an advisement appointment. Those seeing their advisor during the priority advisement period can register online during their designated "priority time" which increases your chances of getting into courses with limited enrollment capacity. There may be financial blocks as well that can only be removed by the bursar. This includes issues regarding financial aid, missing tuition payments, non-payment of parking violations, and non-payment of library fines. The student must contact the Office of the Bursar to resolve the issue(s) to register on time. The program advisor cannot remove bursar blocks.

To register: Once you've spoken to your advisor about semester classes and they have confirmed that you have been cleared by the Registrar, you will register through my.nyit.edu. For help, see the videos on Schedule Planner to add courses to you shopping cart and then complete your registration. Please check out instructions how to register here. If you have difficulty, you can contact the Student Service HUB or Dr. Haar at mhaar@nyit.edu. (The look of the website has changed slightly but the process is still the same).

While any add/drop changes can be done through the Student Service HUB during the first two weeks of the semester, please note that withdrawal after the second week CANNOT be done on HUB. Students wishing to withdraw from a class should refer to the policy in the Academic Catalog. Withdrawing from a class may have financial aid implication so this should be checked before a withdrawal is made.

Financial Aid

All questions about financial aid should be directed to the Office of Financial Aid. Please note that most aid requires you to be a full-time student which means taking at least 12 credits that are required by your undergraduate major. Taking courses that you need for a graduate program requirement that are not required by our undergraduate degree do not count towards the 12 credits. If you passed a required course but wish to retake it to get a better grade, this course also does not count towards the 12 credits. Plan your schedule for taking additional graduate school requirements and/or retaking courses for higher grades when these courses are in addition to 12 required credits.

Overrides

The number of students in a face-to-face course is limited and may be based on several factors; the size of the classroom, the number of stations in a lab, the nature of the course material, etc. For this reason, if you are closed out of a course, your advisor can't simply "write you in." If the course is a health sciences course, if the classroom can accommodate a few extra students and if the instructor approves, the department may consider giving you an override. If this is not a course offered by our department, permission must be obtained from the department offering the course and our program advisors have no authority in granting an override. (If a paper form is used, however, a signature must be obtained from both a Health Sciences advisor and the department offering the course).

Online courses are strictly limited to 20 students. Permission to add another student to an online course must be obtained not only from the instructor and the department head but from the dean and provost as well. Permission for an online override is only granted when all three of the following conditions are met; the course is required by the degree map, the student is graduating that semester and there is no alternative open section.

Credit Limits

Full time students take between 12–18 credits for the same tuition charge. If you take 19 credits or more, you must pay the per credit fee for the additional credit(s). and must also secure special permission from your advisor. While this decision is often made to try to speed program completion, not being successful in all courses due to the heavy load may then put you at an extreme disadvantage when applying to graduate school.

Blended and Fully-Online Courses

Traditional courses that are three credits usually meet for two hours and 50 minutes each week, usually broken into two, one hour 25 minute sessions. Many have an online area where handouts and information is posted. Blended courses meet in person for half the time of a traditional course (usually for once/week for one hour 25 minutes) and all require additional time for online activities and assignments. Courses that are fully online never meet in the classroom. You are able to access online components of your courses on the first day of school on Canvas. For those using Canvas for the first time, be sure to review the Passport to Canvas Student Training.

Permission to Take Courses Elsewhere

Taking courses elsewhere is usually done during the summer or winter sessions. There are several conditions for taking courses elsewhere:

  1. New York Tech is not offering the course during the summer or winter.
  2. Your program advisor approves. To find out, you can either make an appointment to see your department advisor or emailing your advisor and asking. You must have available the course description from the other institution and if approved, the program advisor signs the form
  3. The department who offers the same course at New York Tech approves. It is your responsibility to get approval from the department that offers the course at New York Tech. If the course is a health course, our department provides this level of approval as well.
  4. The registrar approves. Please note that once you have completed 70 credits at New York Tech, you can no longer take courses at a community college.
  5. The bursar approves. Be aware that aside from paying tuition to the other institution you will have to pay NYIT a fee to transfer the credits as per this form.

Once you've taken the course, you need to request that the institution where you took the course sends an official transcript to New York Tech. Make sure the transcript you request is addressed to "New York Tech Registrar" and not just "New York Tech" since it may then end up in Office of Admissions instead of Office of the Registrar.

Support Through the Semester

Please review the many student resources available. During the semester, students having academic issues are encouraged to contact the department and/or program advisor who may be able to assist. Please call the department office at 516.686.3828 to schedule an in-person or phone appointment to discuss any issue. In addition, the Undergraduate Academic Advising (UAA) offers many additional resources to help students in specific course subjects and in developing study and test-taking skills.

The Counseling and Wellness Center provides individual and group services as well.

Communicating with Instructors and Advisors

You are notified about course matters, department events, advisement, registration, graduation and other matters through New York Tech email. It is your responsibility to check your email. You are expected to correspond with faculty through New York Tech email and these emails should be written in a professional manner. Include the matter you'd like to bring to our attention in your subject line and never leave the subject line blank. Start off with "Dear Prof. ___ "or "Hi/Hello Dr. ___ " rather than "Hey" or have no salutation at all. Use proper spelling and grammar and avoid using abbreviations more appropriate for texting. As instructors teach more than one course, mention which course you are enrolled in. Sign your name and include your id # if appropriate, especially if the email is to an advisor and you have a question about your academic record.

Academic Integrity

The department follows all policies on academic integrity as outlined in the New York Tech Student Code of Conduct.

Attendance

It is your responsibility to be aware of the academic calendar. If you haven't already, please review the New York Tech attendance policy. You are expected to begin attending class as soon as the semester starts and to start logging on the first week in online courses. Instructors are asked to submit attendance records to the registrar after the end of the second week of class. If you don't interact online during that time period you are marked "never attended" and your registration is cancelled.

Withdrawal

Review policy for grades of W (withdrawal) and UW (unofficial withdrawal) that are described here.

Grade Appeal

The department follows the New York Tech Grade Appeal Policy.

Academic Probation and Dismissal

Our program follows all New York Tech undergraduate policies.

Career Guidance

You are introduced to myriad healthcare opportunities in HSCI 195: Professional and Cultural Issues in Healthcare and are encouraged to discuss your goals for employment and/or graduate study in the course of advisement visits each semester. Program advisors can help you realistically match your competencies and interests to rewarding career possibilities. You are also encouraged to take advantage of New York Tech's Office of Career Services and Experiential Education while at New York Tech and upon graduating.

Senior Practicum

During the last year of enrollment in the B.S. Health and Wellness program you enroll in Senior Practicum I which is run by the department in conjunction with CSEE. This course involves completing an internship at a site of your choice. You attend a mandatory orientation session the semester before beginning the internship. At this session, the course instructor and Office of Career Services personnel explain what must be done to secure a site where you can work, in a paid or volunteer position, at least 60 hours during the semester (about 4–5 hours/week). In addition, you meet in class for to reflect on your experiences as well as participate in additional integral projects and tasks that promote professional behavior.

Health Professions Honor Society

Alpha Eta: Each spring the School of Health Professions inducts students from all disciplines into the Alpha Eta Honor Society. To qualify, students must have a 3.5 GPA the last semester of attendance and the recommendation of the department.

Graduate Programs

Program advisors are happy to discuss graduate programs and additional electronic guides have been prepared for this purpose. You are encouraged to check admission requirements for specific programs and schools as standards change from year to year. Aside from prerequisite courses, schools have varying requirements for hours of volunteer and/or paid experience.

Some disciplines solely use a centralized application; some have individual applications. Applications should be made as soon as programs begin accepting them and you should not wait until shortly before the deadline. Many programs start interviewing candidates as soon asapplications start coming in and may fill a class before the deadline is reached. (For example if you are applying for a graduate program that starts September 2018, you should prepare applications summer 2017 and submit by September 2017 even if the due date is Nov 30 or Dec. 31).

Please be aware that while the New York Tech GPA counts only the highest grade when there are multiple attempts to take a course, most graduate programs calculate new GPAs that include all attempts. Some graduate programs also include every course ever taken at every attended institution, even if the courses were not transferred to New York Tech. Some programs also calculate separate GPAs that include just science courses. Some programs have limits as to whether or not they will consider candidates who had to retake a certain number courses or if they received below a certain grade (may be a B- or C+) in any course even if they passed and even if their overall GPA is high.

The B.S. in Health and Wellness includes most prerequisites for professional programs in nursing, public health, and health administration. Students interested in Physical Therapy or Physician Assistant Studies should major in Health Sciences, B.S. which includes almost all prerequisites for those majors. Graduate programs in Occupational Therapy have much variation in prerequisites and individual websites must be checked.

Nursing: Student may consider doing a second B.S. in Nursing after finishing the B.S. in Health and Wellness. (Most programs require a minimum GPA of 3.0 and minimum of C+ in all required sciences). Those qualified may apply to transfer majors to New York Tech Nursing, B.S. while still students in the Health and Wellness, B.S. Our department keeps you informed of what's needed to be done to be considered for each new September and January cohort of the clinical phase of nursing. Eligibility requirements are strictly enforced and are listed here.

Health Administration (MHA) and Public Health (MPH): usually require prerequisite courses that are offered as part of the BS in Health and Wellness program. Programs vary in how much work experience they wish applicants to have prior to starting the program.

As noted previously, if a student receives any type of financial aid, the additional coursework noted above must be taken as part of the 18 elective credits in the program or if the credits are already fulfilled, in addition to 12 credits of coursework that is required by the Health and Wellness, B.S. degree.

Recommendation Letters

If you are requesting a recommendation letter for graduate school or employment from one of our faculty members, please give at least two weeks' notice. The recommendation request should include;

Faculty members are happy to help you and support your success in the process. However, unfortunately when requests are made at the last minute with inadequate information, requests cannot always be accommodated.

Clubs and Student Activities

Participation in clubs and student activities are great ways to develop leadership capabilities, do volunteer work, broaden horizons and make friends.

The New York Tech Student Government Association (SGA) advocates on behalf of student interests and includes senators from each New York Tech division. Our department encourages you to become active and represent the School of Health Professions. Please contact the SGA president to find out how to facilitate election to the student senate and visit the website about events and clubs.