The mission of the Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation (HPER) embraces the mission of the College of Education and Grambling State University; the commitment to academic excellence, quality assurance, and accreditation of degree programs, as well as preparing competent, skilled young professionals in health and physical education, and leisure studies through undergraduate degree programs, and sport administration through a graduate degree program.
The purpose of the department is to prepare program graduates for the world-of-work in the disciplines of health and physical education, leisure studies, and sport administration. Health and physical education majors will graduate as certified K-12 teachers, having passed PRAXIS; leisure studies major s will graduate as certifiable professionals, having to pass post-graduate certification examination by NCTRC or NRPA; and sport administration majors will graduate competent to meet position expectations in middle management sport/athletic positions.
Degrees Offered: The department offers two undergraduate degrees and one master’s degree. Undergraduate degrees are: 1) Health and Physical Education and 2) Leisure Studies, with concentrations in general recreation and therapeutic recreation. The master’s degree is: Sport Administration.
The master’s degree in Sport Administration is the only master’s degree program located at a historically black college or university in the Nation. The origination year was 1974. The program has produced 15 doctoral students and three attorneys, not to mention the many teaches, coaches and sport/athletic administrators in school systems, colleges and sport businesses, as well as semi-professional and professional arenas.
Faculty Achievements:
The Department of HPER has a stellar, diverse faculty. The composition is 47% females; 53% are males; 41% have the terminal degrees, 18% are Caucasians and 82% are African Americans. Over the past five years, the faculty has presented research and scholarly papers at state, district, national and international conferences. In several instances, undergraduate and graduate students have been conference co-presenters. Currently, there are research projects underway pertaining to sport vision, hand/eye coordination and drug and alcohol prevalence on campus. Approximately, $575,000 in grant funds has been received. In May 2003, a rural health grant was funded for four year at almost $200,000 per year. Faculty awards, honors and certificates from professional organizations have been many. Like students, the faculty is encouraged to strive to be the best that they can be.
Accreditation:
The Department of HEPR maintains the distinction of having the first recreation degree program accredited at a historically black college or university. The Recreation Careers Program (now the Leisure Studies Program) was nationally accredited by the Council on Accreditation in 1986. The same distinction exists for the physical education program. Its national accreditation was achieved in 1989-90. The National Association for Sport and Physical Education through the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education accredited the program. Additionally, the program also meets state standards set by the Louisiana Department of Education, Office of Teacher Certification. Program accreditation is a department commitment.
Student Activities:
The department actively involves students in a variety of activities and programs. Students are encouraged to become members of the HPELS Majors’ Club (Undergraduate), Delta Psi Kappa, Beta Mu Chapter (Undergraduate/Graduate), Sport Leaders Association (Graduate), the Louisiana Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (HPERD), the Louisiana Recreation and Park Association (RPA), the American Alliance of HPERD, and the National RPA. Students are actively involved with other campus organizations (e.g., Student Government Association, Who’s Who, Fraternities, Sororities, etc.) and activities (e.g., student-athletic trainers, student-athletes, etc.).. They are encouraged to be on the President’s List, the Dean’s List and the Honor Roll. For the past 12 years, one of our health and physical education majors has been the recipient of The Outstanding Physical Education Major of the Year Award sponsored by the National Association of Sport and Physical Education. For the 2003 year, our major was the only Award recipient from the State of Louisiana. Our graduate students have been more active with presenting at state and regional conferences. Six of them recently received a sponsored trip to the U.S. Olympics Training Center, Colorado Springs. We encourage our students to team with faculty on research projects, grant writing activities, writing papers for presentations and other scholarly endeavors. Each year students and faculty participate in the annual department volleyball tournament.
