Erie Community College, State University of New York

PHYSICAL EDUCATION STUDIES

Program Description

The mission of the Associates in Science - Physical Education Studies degree program is to provide our students with a solid foundation of learning experiences which will enable them to seamlessly transfer into a four-year program pursuing a career as a Physical Education Teacher or Health Educator. The curriculum accomplishes this task by providing a unique set of courses which were written incorporating the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) Standards for Pre-service Physical Education Teachers. These specialty Physical Education courses are then merged with a strong base of courses designed to meet the SUNY General Education requirements. Finally, students learn first-hand about their career path by shadowing professional educators engaged in the field in Western NY schools. Taken together, this coordination of learning experiences will lead to solid transfer opportunities at four-year institutions in the Physical Education / Health Education specialty areas.

Estimates from various national and state sources predicting available teaching positions in NYS and throughout the U.S. are strong in this field through the year 2011 due to an increase in new positions and the expected number of retirees. After graduation from ECC, it's clear that a student in this career field should pursue a bachelor’s degree program that will allow him/her to graduate with teaching certifications in Physical Education & Health. After that point, those who pursue their Master's degree in a Special Education curriculum will continue to be the most in demand.

The Health, Physical Education and Recreation (HPER) Department offers a wide range of Health, Physical Education, Therapeutic Recreation and Recreation courses on all three of Erie Community College’s campuses. This allows our students to experience a wide variety of course offerings tailored to their specific career goals.

As the site for the 1993 World University Games, Erie Community College has world-class Athletic facilities and has recently provided the HPER department with the financial resources to acquire cutting edge physical education equipment for our student’s use. This allows our students to learn on state of the art technology and equipment that they will be expected to use when they enter the workforce.

For more information, you can contact any one of the HPER faculty or call our South Campus office at 851-1745. (E-mail: HPER@ecc.edu).

Degree: Associate in Science
Hegis: 5299.30
Curriculum Code: 1485
Total Degree Credits: 69.0 – 70.5
Campus Location: City, North, South
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