Proposal to Establish the School of Health, Physical Education and Leisure Services as a Separate Administrative Structure Under the Office of the Vice President of Academic Affairs

This proposal calls for the establishment of the School of Health, Physical Education and Leisure Services (HPELS) as a separate administrative structure under the Office of the Vice President of Academic Affairs. Currently, the alignment of the School of HPELS within the College of Education (COE) is not a favorable match for either unit. The School of HPELS is concerned with promoting such goals as community livability; enhanced quality of life; healthy and active lifestyles; and prevention, care, and rehabilitation of injuries to the physically active, whereas programs in COE are focused on teaching in the schools. Separation of the School of HPELS from the COE will enable the COE to more effectively focus faculty and administrative attention and resources on the teacher education program, and will enable the School of HPELS to focus on community based programs.

The following points are offered in support of this strategic realignment:

• The predominant focus of the COE is traditional K-12 public education; the predominant focus of the School of HPELS is diverse settings and populations in non-school settings such as public health, environmental health, youth serving organizations, community park and recreation departments, medical and rehabilitation facilities, corporate settings, therapeutic recreation services in hospitals and institutions, and the travel and tourism industry;
• The theoretical, philosophical, and foundational underpinnings of disciplines within the School of HPELS are not drawn from the same body of knowledge as those in the COE;
• In the main, the professional nomenclature, professional organizations and societies, and accrediting bodies of disciplines within the School of HPELS are not aligned with teacher education;
• Focus of scholarship in the School of HPELS is diverse, reflecting the broad span of settings and program foci of the School of HPELS;
• The experiential learning components of the School of HPELS are found in community settings including government, non-profit, public health and corporate settings, compared to COE experiences primarily in the K-12 setting; and
• There is a mutual lack of understanding of the curricular needs between the School of HPELS and other units within COE.

This reorganization can be achieved by changing the reporting structure of the Director of the School of HPELS so that the position reports directly to the Office of the Vice President of Academic Affairs. Departmentalization of four divisions in the School of HPELS—Athletic Training, Health Promotion and Education, Leisure Youth and Human Services, and Physical Education—is desirable although not necessary.

This proposal more appropriately aligns the teacher education programs in physical education and health education with the structure and pedagogy of similar teacher education programs throughout the University in departments such as art, biology, business, history, mathematics, physics and many others as described on page 47 of the 2004-2006 University of Northern Iowa Catalog.

Repositioning of the School of HPELS under the Office of the Vice President of Academic Affairs would require establishment of an independent budget outside the COE, and a realignment of the University’s governance structure to provide representation on faculty committees. Approving this proposal results in no significant budget implications for the University as a whole. In the current economic climate, the School of HPELS is not proposing to be a separate college, therefore the Director of the School will not become a Dean under this proposal. Separation of the School of HPELS from the COE at this time merely realigns units in order to provide greater focus and attention to academic programs and interests of the traditional K-12 teacher education programs within the COE and to enable the School of HPELS to focus attention on its community based programs.

Respectfully submitted,
Larry Hensley
Sue Joslyn
Mick Mack
R. Biff Williams
Joe Wilson

Percentage Teaching Majors by Division (.pdf)

Examples of Undergraduate Teaching Majors (.pdf)