Our faculty, staff, and students would like to welcome you to the Department of Health and Exercise Science, which is housed in the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences. I hope that you can use our website to thoroughly explore all of our programs, get to know our faculty, and discover the many research opportunities available through our department.
We are very proud of our department, as well as our academic and research programs. Our programs integrate the biological, physiological, medical, and behavioral sciences as they relate to physiological responses to exercise and human health. We have developed an excellent core of faculty in the areas of exercise physiology and health promotion and we take pride in the fact that all of our faculty are involved with both the undergraduate and graduate programs. More information about our faculty and their area of expertise is available on their individual pages listed on our Faculty page.
Our undergraduate program attracts students who have diverse interests. We encourage undergraduate participation in the Honors College, departmental research projects, internships, and membership in professional organizations and societies as a means of enhancing their basic academic preparation. Students who graduate from our undergraduate program have successfully entered many professional and graduate programs and found employment in areas like strength and conditioning, fitness centers, pharmaceutical sales, and wellness programs.
Our graduate program offers master's degrees in health promotion, exercise physiology, health and exercise science (an interdisciplinary degree that incorporates both health promotion and exercise physiology), and sports data analytics. We also offer separate doctoral programs in exercise physiology and health promotion. All of our graduate programs have a strong emphasis on research experiences that help develop competent and independent researchers in exercise physiology and health promotion. Our MS graduates have been very successful in entering Ph.D. programs, entering many of the allied health professions, and finding employment in fitness and clinical settings. Our doctoral graduates have gone on to post-doctoral experiences in some of the best labs in the country, found academic positions in many excellent universities around the country, or found employment in corporate settings. Our graduate programs have excellent collaborative efforts with some of the programs at the OU Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City, as well as departments on the Norman campus.
The University of Oklahoma, the flagship university of the state, is a doctoral-granting research institution. Norman is a great college town with a vibrant atmosphere and is within 30 minutes of Oklahoma City. If you have any questions regarding our programs, please contact our Undergraduate Academic Advisors, our Undergraduate Program Coordinator Mrs. Donna Tall Bear (dmtallbear@ou.edu), or our Graduate Liaison Dr. Dan Larson, (larsondj@ou.edu).
Michael G. Bemben, Ph.D.
David Ross Boyd Professor, C. B. Hudson Presidential Professor, and Department Chair
