Nutrition
The nutrition major prepares you to pursue careers in nutrition, dietetics, community health, health education, food justice and advocacy, food industry work, and related graduate programs.
Department of Health & Human Kinetics
Introduction to the Department
The Health and Human Kinetics Department has created innovative courses for each major and minor, helping you prepare to move on to diverse work environments. You will have good options for graduate school or starting a career immediately after graduation.
Department Features
- You may choose to find an internship to gain professional experiences in the area of your choice. Students have interned at NBC Sports, the New York Knicks, the Philadelphia 76ers, the Columbus Crew, the Columbus Blue Jackets, local golf courses, fitness centers, newspapers, and physical therapy clinics.
- The Health and Human Kinetics Program oversees OWU’s student-taught Cooking Matters classes. These classes teach Delaware-area participants how to prepare the food they receive from local pantries.
Follow Us on Facebook
OWU’s Department of Health & Human Kinetics is on Facebook! We post a variety of departmental updates and news related to health, wellness, and sport.
Available Majors
Health & Human Kinetics: General
If you are interested in sports and movement this is the major for you. The faculty have designed this major so you can focus broadly on topics, and therefore be able to enter a work field of your choice.
Health & Human Kinetics: Health Promotion
A major in health promotion will prepare you for graduate study in public health, health program planning, health policy, wellness programs, community health, and dietetics, among others.
Health & Human Kinetics: Sports & Exercise Management
If you choose this track, you will be prepared to enter a career in sport management, marketing, retail, and corporate fitness.
Health & Human Kinetics: Exercise Science
If you choose to major in exercise science you will take coursework that prepares you for advanced schooling in the fields of physical therapy, exercise physiology, biomechanics, and sport and exercise psychology.
Available Minors
Coaching Minor
Requirements
You may chose a coaching minor if you are considering working in an educational environment after graduation. This minor requires six units: HHK 140 or HHK 141; HHK 114 or HHK 231; HHK 260; HHK 286; HHK 343 or HHK 363; and HHK 383.
Exercise Science Minor
Requirements
Six units: HHK 140; HHK 141; HHK 114 or 231; HHK 260; HHK 345 or HHK 352; HHK 355; and HHK 365.
Food Studies (Mentored Minor)
Requirements
Identify an OWU faculty member associated with the Food Studies minor to serve as their mentor; create a proposal, in collaboration with their mentor, to the food studies faculty contacts, outlining courses and projects that fit with their specific interests in food; and complete 5.5 units of coursework.
Jay Martin
Men's Soccer Coach and Professor of Health & Human Kinetics
Coach Martin is the winningest soccer coach in the NCAA. As a professor, he currently teaches Introduction to Sports Management and Management for Sport/Athletic Administration. In 2015, he received a $10,000 grant from the NCAA to study hazing.
Elizabeth Nix
Assistant Professor of Nutrition
Professor Nix is a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist (RDN) from Utah. She is a first year faculty member at Ohio Wesleyan University. Her graduate school work focused on behavioral interventions in college students. She plans to continue research in behavioral interventions to improve the diets of various communities, particularly low-income communities.
Andrew Busch
Assistant Professor of Health and Human Kinetics
Dr. Andrew Busch returned to his alma mater in 2010 after earning his master’s in exercise science with a focus on athletic performance and injury prevention. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and a registered Strength and Conditioning Coach through the National Strength and Conditioning Association. His research focuses on investigating all aspects of human movement relative to injury prevention and performance optimization. He currently teaches courses in exercise science, while serving as the faculty advisor for pre-occupational therapy students, and serving on the university’s institutional review board (IRB). His main research focus lies in pre-participation movement screens and their relationship to injury prediction in athletes. His goal is to bridge the gap from evidence-based research to coaches and trainers; providing practical applications for optimizing the health and performance in athletes and non-athletes alike. After a brief career in professional baseball with the San Francisco Giants organization, Dr. Busch has worked in the fitness industry since 2004, helping individuals of all abilities achieve their goals in dietary, behavioral, and fitness area
Christopher Fink
Associate Professor of Health & Human Kinetics
Professor Fink focuses his teaching in the general areas of health behavior and health promotion, food studies, and qualitative inquiry. In 2015, he was a delegate at the "We Feed the People" expo in Milan, Italy.
Featured Events
OWU hosted the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) Ohio State Conference October 5, 2019
NSCA State Conferences are an exceptional way to learn cutting-edge research and application techniques, along with breakthrough performance methods used by top professionals around the world. Come learn, participate, and network October 5 with fellow colleagues in the Ohio and Midwest region while earning CEUs. All NSCA conferences provide CSCS® and NSCA-CPT® Continuing Education Unit (CEU) opportunities.
Simpson Querrey Fitness Center
Athletic Training
Press Release
A Research Splash August, 2020
Ohio Wesleyan Study Designed to Keep Athletes in the Swim of Things
Andrew Busch ’07, Ed.D.
DELAWARE, Ohio – One of the latest research articles published by the peer-reviewed Sport Journal is authored by four Ohio Wesleyan University alumni – three members of the Class of 2020 and their professor, 2007 OWU graduate.
The 2020 graduates – Morgan Barnard, Tyler Mansfield, and Liz Mayio – were all Health and Human Kinetics/exercise science majors and members of the Battling Bishop women’s swimming and diving team. Busch, Ed.D., was an OWU sports and exercise major and currently is an assistant professor of Health and Human Kinetics.
Their co-written journal article is an exploration of how the Ohio Wesleyan swim team’s 2018-2019 season affected the shoulder strength of both its male and female members. The article, “Gender Differences in Shoulder Strength, Range of Motion, and Functional Movement across a Division III Collegiate Swim Season,” appears in the journal’s July 17 edition. The Sport Journal, founded in 1998, is published by the U.S. Sports Academy in Alabama.
Department Contact Info
Location
Edwards Gymnasium
Ohio Wesleyan University
Delaware, OH 43015
Ohio Wesleyan University
Delaware, OH 43015
P 740-368-3725
F 740-368-3751
F 740-368-3751
Department Contact
Chair: Christopher Fink
Associate Professor of Health and Human Kinetics
Edwards Gymnasium 107-D
740-368-3768
clfink@owu.edu
Academic Assistant: Wendi Kay
Edwards Gymnasium #107-A
740-368-3982
wwkay@owu.edu
Associate Professor of Health and Human Kinetics
Edwards Gymnasium 107-D
740-368-3768
clfink@owu.edu
Academic Assistant: Wendi Kay
Edwards Gymnasium #107-A
740-368-3982
wwkay@owu.edu