Athletic Training Majors
The School of Health, Physical Education and Leisure Services offers a major in athletic training. It prepares students for the National Athletic Training Board of Certification (NATABOC) Examination, as well as for eligibility to earn an athletic training license in the state of Iowa. The curriculum is based on cognitive and psychomotor learning experiences. The University of Northern Iowa’s athletic training education program was accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) on October 19, 2001. The next accreditation review will be in the fall of 2006.
Certified athletic trainers (ATCs) are medical experts in preventing, recognizing, managing and rehabilitating injuries that result from physical activity. Athletic trainers can help the physically active population avoid unnecessary medical treatments and disruption of their normal physically active lifestyle. If the physically active person is also injured, ATCs can also treat the injury and help them return to their normal physical activities.
The American Medical Association (AMA) recognizes athletic training as an allied health care profession. The AMA also recommends certified athletic trainers in every high school because they are recognized as experts in the prevention, evaluation and care of injuries suffered by the physically active population.
As part of a complete health care team, the ATC works under the direction of a licensed physician and in cooperation with other health care professionals, athletic administrators, coaches and parents. The ATC can also build relationships with each individual athlete, which allows the ATC to treat injuries more effectively.
Major:
Athletic Training, B.A.
(Click major/minor/certificate title to see typical courses for the program)
Admission into the Athletic Training Program
Procedures for Transfer Students
Graduates of the technology management program typically find employment in business or industry in such career areas as industrial sales and distribution, training, safety and/or insurance, and technically oriented supervision and management.
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Excellent teaching faculty
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Opportunities to participate in state and national organizations for athletic trainers
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Opportunity to participate in the UNI Student Athletic Trainers Organization (UNISATO)
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Accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs Excellent field experiences in a variety of settings
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Experiential learning experiences with all age groups
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Excellent laboratory settings Consistent high passing rate on the National Athletic Training Board of Certification Exam
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100 percent placement rate of students on graduation
Athletic Training Program Admission
Admission into the athletic training program is competitive and is based upon cumulative grade point average, pre-requisite course grades, application materials, recommendations and interview results. Students must have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.5 and a minimum of 50 hours of observation of a certified athletic trainer in order to apply. Students must apply for admission by March 1 of each year and may apply while enrolled in pre-requisite courses. Notification of admittance will be made at the end of spring semester.Once notified of admittance into the athletic training program, students must provide physician certification that they are physically capable of handling the duties required of an athletic training student. In addition, a two-year (four semesters) minimum time period must be allowed for the completion of the required 800 clinical hours once the student is admitted into the program. All additional requirements and information are available at the athletic training program office.Application procedures Students must complete the application and include the following items:
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One official transcript from each college and/or university attended
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Three letters of reference
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An essay stating why you want to be an athletic trainer, your career goals, and the attributes you possess that will make you successful in life and in athletic training
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Verification of your observation hours
All materials must be submitted by March 1 to:
Dr. Richard B. Williams
Athletic Training Education Program Director
203 Wellness Recreation Center
Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0241
Late applications will not be considered.
Transfer Procedures for Athletic Training
All students wishing to transfer to the University
of Northern Iowa Athletic Training program must first meet all of the
pre-admission requirements. On admission to UNI ATEP, the student may
petition that prior course work and clinical experiences be considered
as equivalents of courses and or clinicalexperiences within the UNI
Athletic Training Education Program. The following are policies and
procedures which will be followed in order to consider transfer students’
prior work.Petition procedures:
The transfer student must submit in writing their request for accepting
previous coursework and clinical experiences.
Included in this document should be the following:
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Name of course, credit hours, professor, institution offered, and name of the UNI course it will be substituting
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A notarized copy of the NATABOC Verification of Supervision form for all previous clinical experiences
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A copy of published course descriptions of all courses
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A detailed copy of a course syllabus for all courses or a letter from the instructor describing in complete detail what the course taught
Course acceptance procedures
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The committee will review each of the course descriptions and syllabi.
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The committee will then compare the said course to the UNI course and determine if they are comparable. The following criteria will be evaluated:
a. Credit hours
b. Content
c. Laboratory experiences -
If the course does not have comparable credit hours, content and laboratory experiences, the course will not be substituted for the UNI course and the student will follow the normal athletic training curricular plan.
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If the course has comparable criterion to the UNI course, the student will then be placed within the curricular plan where appropriate.
Clinical experience acceptance procedures
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The committee will review each of the NATABOC Verification of Supervision forms.
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The committee will then compare the said clinical experience to the UNI clinical experience and determine if they are comparable. The following criteria will be evaluated:
a. Assignment
b. Responsibilities
c. Clinical setting
d. Type of supervision -
If the course does not have comparable assignments, responsibilities, clinical settings or supervision, the clinical experience will not be substituted for the UNI clinical experience and the student will follow the normal athletic training field experience rotation plan.
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If the clinical experience has comparable criterion to the UNI clinical experience, the student will then be placed within the curricular plan where appropriate. Note: The UNI Athletic Training Admission Committee has the right to accept or reject any prior coursework or clinical experience in accordance to the above procedures.
The Wellness/Recreation Center (WRC) serves as the primary instructional and research center of the School of Health, Physical Education and Leisure Services. This bold new facility provides state-of-the-art space for classrooms, laboratories, and faculty and staff offices. Space designed for research, teaching and public service includes the exercise physiology laboratory, biomechanics laboratory, psychomotor behavior laboratory, athletic training laboratory and the wellness resources laboratory.In addition to the Wellness/Recreation Center, UNI is in the process of constructing a new Human Performance Center. This new facility will include an athletic training research laboratory, athletic training teaching classroom, athletic training board room, athletic training cadaver laboratory, state-of-the-art athletic training room, community rehabilitation center and an orthopedic center. This building will tentatively open in November 2004.
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Several full-tuition industrial technology scholarships are available
to incoming freshmen on a competitive basis through the College of Natural
Sciences Mathematics, Science and Technology Symposium. Other scholarships
are available through endowments and industrial donations to students
majoring in Industrial Technology.
More information on department scholarships can found at Financial Aid.