Program Overview

Health Professions Student Development Certificate

Program Type

• Certificate

Format

• On Campus

Estimated Time to Complete

• 2-3 semesters

Credit Hours

• 18

Overview

The Health Professions Student Development Certificate facilitates the process of preparing for admission to a health professional school. Not only will students strengthen the basic sections of a professional school application, but they will also be challenged to think critically about their future role in health care.

Why Earn a Health Professions Student Development Certificate?

This undergraduate academic certificate was specifically designed to support the pre-health student at UNT. Preparing for admission to a health professional school can be a difficult and confusing process for anyone. In order to be a competitive applicant for [medical, dental, pharmacy, PA, etc.] school, students need structure, accountability, and small victories along the way.

Certificate Highlights

• Shadowing professionals in your field of interest will not only provide you with valuable knowledge and experience in health care but will also convey your commitment to that particular healthcare field.
• Volunteering and community service are important aspects of professional school applications. Serving others without compensation shows you are passionate and serious about a career in health care. Showing commitment and consistency with your community service will make you stand out, since these traits communicate your passion to help others.
• Students can participate in seminars and workshops, attend an academic fair, conduct mock interviews or enjoy guest speakers.
• UNT's Joint Admission Medical Program is a Texas state-wide program that helps students who are from an underserved or low socio-economic background to become physicians. Students who are selected and maintain will be interviewed by each participating Texas medical school and offered direct admission to one of the medical schools.
• Additional research and learning opportunities are provided through our student chapters of the Beta Beta Beta Biological Honor Society or the Alpha Epsilon Delta Health Pre-Professional Honor Society.
• The Life Sciences Complex, which has Gold-level LEED certification for sustainability, is a living lab with open research spaces that feature rooftop greenhouses.

Career Outlook

This undergraduate academic certificate was specifically designed to support the pre-health student at UNT. Preparing for admission to a health professional school can be a difficult and confusing process for anyone. In order to be a competitive applicant for [medical, dental, pharmacy, PA, etc.] school, students need structure, accountability, and small victories along the way.

Certificate Courses

• Human Diversity for the Helping Professions (3 hrs)
  • Promotes competence in the role of helping professionals with diverse and vulnerable populations. Focuses on sociopolitical, intrapersonal and socio-cultural factors affecting the complexities of the human experience. Enhances self-awareness and explores systematic processes of oppression. Conditions for culturally relevant change strategies and advocacy in a global society are examined.
• Bioethics (3 hrs)
  • Examines the philosophical, social and legal issues arising in medicine, biotechnology and the life sciences. Questions the definition and significance of life and death, the nature of personhood and identity, and the extent of human freedom and individual responsibility. Topics include cloning, gene therapy, xenotransplantation, enhancement technologies, human longevity and transhumanism.
• Multicultural Psychology (3 hrs)
  • Study of various theories and concepts of multicultural psychology, the impact of cultural factors on human behaviors and challenges faced by underrepresented groups in society. Emphasis placed on the development of students’ multicultural knowledge and experience.
• Legal Aspects of Employment Practices (3 hrs)
  • Current legislation and its impact on human resources policy and practices.
• Studies in Literature and Medicine (3 hrs)
  • Interdisciplinary exploration of the relationships between literature and medicine in any historical period.
• Health Communication (3 hrs)
  • Communication in medical settings; origins, nature and impact of communication practices and beliefs in the health-care delivery system; role of interaction on human well-being.