West Virginia University will become the first college or university in the state, and one of only three in the country, to offer a personal trainer minor. The program, approved by Faculty Senate today (April 10), paves the way for the program to begin this summer.
Other schools offering the unique minor are Mesa State College in Colorado and SUNY -Plattsburgh in New York .
Purdue University is the only higher education institution offering an undergraduate degree in personal fitness training.
WVU ’s new program, offered through the School of Physical Education , is intended to prepare students for a professional career in designing and conducting comprehensive and individualized exercise programs, said clinical instructor of fitness and wellness Nancy Naternicola.
The minor requires 15 hours of fitness and health-related courses with grades of C or better.
Coursework includes components of exercise, nutrition, anatomy, fitness field testing, fitness management, exercise programming, injury prevention, emergency procedures and instructional techniques, among others. Several of these courses will be offered beginning this summer.
The program, open to all WVU students, is an outgrowth of the WVU Nutrition and Wellness Initiative, a task force initiated in 2004 by WVU President David C. Hardesty.
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Gerald Lang and Dean of Physical Education Dana Brooks have been particularly supportive of the program, Naternicola noted.
Personal trainers will be one of the top 10 health professions in demand in the near future, Naternicola said, noting that having a personal trainer minorcombined with already offered majorscould lead to some unique career opportunities.
For example, a business major could get a personal trainer minor and open a fitness center, or an engineering major could earn a personal trainer minor and develop fitness equipment, she said.
Personal trainers have to identify behavior change and risk factors, develop testing and design a curriculum to meet a client’s needs,Naternicola said.Our program will focus on that, and also require a 100-hour fitness internship at a number of campus sites.
The program also prepares students to become nationally certified as personal trainers through the American Council on Exercise, the only non-profit accredited by the National Organization of Certifying Agencies (NOCA).
The ACE exam is offered at WVU the Saturday before finals week in the fall and spring semesters, and draws potential personal trainers from colleges and universities throughout West Virginia and surrounding states.