San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913

The Daily Aztec

San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913

The Daily Aztec




San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913

The Daily Aztec

Health communication major first in CA

Cristal Mejia, Staff Writer

Health communication will be the newest major added to the San Diego State General Catalog next fall. It will be the first and only undergraduate health communications major offered in California.

“The area of health communication is probably the fastest growing research and teaching area within the field of communication in the country and some of the leading scholars in that area are at San Diego State University, Director of the School of Communication, Dr. Bill Snavely, said regarding the emergence of the major. “So it’s a natural progression from what they do in their scholarship to bringing it to the classroom.”

The major has been in development for several years, with the initial process of collecting data and putting courses together beginning in 2006 and the first proposal starting to move through in 2007.

Dr. Patricia Geist-Martin is one of the faculty members who helped put together the health communication major and design the courses. She is currently teaching the health communication introductory level course and will be teaching “Communicating Workplace Wellness” next semester.

Geist-Martin said that student reaction has been very positive in regard to the announcement of the new major and that many of her students have been expressing curiosity in a health communication minor.

“I tend to teach juniors and seniors and they’re already so far along in that communication major that they’re not in a position to now declare health communication, so they’re wondering if having taken 12 units of health communication courses could constitute a minor, and at this point we don’t have that yet,” Geist-Martin said.

There are no plans currently in place to introduce or approve a minor in health communication. As of now, students are being encouraged to minor in other curricula such as public health and mass communication.

“We’re also getting a lot of interest from the health industry in the San Diego area,” Snavely said. “A number of health professionals have indicated that they are really excited about this program.”

“There are now around the country about a dozen, that I’m aware of, masters degrees in health communication in the nation,” Professor Peter Andersen, Ph.D. said. “But there is only one other undergraduate degree in health communication so we’re hoping for us to be a feeder school into those masters programs around the country where students are getting advanced training in Health Communication.”

The field of health communication offers various career opportunities. Students who declare this major can anticipate working on health research projects, working for hospitals or The National Institute of Health, or working as consultants to improve doctor-patient interaction.

“We believe that a large portion of growth in jobs for communication majors will be in health communication,” Andersen said.

Andersen, who is one of the other faculty members who pushed for the approval of the major, is currently teaching a health communication campaigns course and will be teaching “Risk and Crisis Communication” next fall.

Although students will not be able to declare the major until next fall, there are students who are currently enrolled in courses that apply to the major. These students have the choice of applying these courses to either their general communication major or to the new major next fall.

In addition to the currently existing introductory course in health communication, the new major will offer a set of new courses such as “Risk and Crisis Communication,” “Patient-provider Interaction,” “Politics of Health Communication,” “Health Communication and Culture” and “Communicating Health and Well Being at Work.”

“One of the things that I’m finding just with my teaching so far and even my work with health communication issues is that it’s very much an interdisciplinary topic, and I think with this major you will see us connecting more frequently and in a deeper way with other majors on campus such as public health, nursing, psychology, sociology and women’s studies,” Geist-Martin said. “So it’s all very much an opportunity to enhance our interdisciplinary research and teaching.”

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San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913
Health communication major first in CA