MARYVILLE, Mo. – Northwest Missouri State University celebrated the opening of its School of Health Science and Wellness Tuesday with a grand-opening ceremony and ribbon-cutting.

Northwest’s Board of Regents gave the University its approval in June to launch the School. Beginning this fall, the academic entity is operating as a free-standing, interdisciplinary unit.

The school brings together 33 health science and wellness programs that previously were spread across multiple departments at the University. The programs are designed to prepare students to pursue graduate studies in health sciences as well as manage and provide preventative health and wellness care and services.

Previously, the school was known as the Department of Health and Human Services and operated within the structure of Northwest’s College of Education and Human Services. Now, its curriculum and instruction originates from a variety of areas including the departments of Natural Science and Behavioral Sciences.

“This just didn’t come about,” Northwest President Dr. John Jasinski said. “We’ve been listening. We’ve been learning. We’ve been gathering information from a variety of inputs, and it was very clear that there are significant education needs across health science and wellness.”

Programs offered through the School of Health Science and Wellness include:

· Pre-professional programs in chiropractic, dental hygiene, dentistry, medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, optometry, pharmacy, physical therapy, radiology and respiratory therapy

· Wellness-based bachelor’s degree programs in foods and nutrition: dietetics, physical education and recreation

· Master’s programs in applied health science, physical education, recreation and sport psychology