A great deal of the fall 2013 freshman class enrolled without declaring a major.
However, three particular majors attracted more student interest than ever, seeing the largest percentage increase of enrolled freshmen from fall 2010 to fall 2013: therapeutic recreation, social work and communication sciences and disorders.
Therapeutic recreation, part of the university’s Health, Athletic Training, Recreation and Kinesiology Department, features a web page that describes it as a service that “promotes health and wellness for persons with an illness or disabling condition to fully participate in leisure pursuits or life situations.”
Therapeutic recreation’s enrollment rate, according to Dean of Admissions Sallie McMullin, has risen to 180 percent, rising from five to 14 new freshmen.
Dr. Rená Koesler, coordinator and professor of the university’s therapeutic recreation program, believes students are increasingly drawn to the major because it is “something that’s meaningful to them and that provides them a lifelong opportunity to improve the quality of life for other people. I think [with] the way our culture is moving, many people are seek- ing professions like that.”
Koesler said students in the major “capitalize on direct experience,” participating in hands-on activities in the classroom and going out into the field for first-hand experience. She added that “a student who works best through experience is probably a student that it’s most attractive to, and if they really like people.”
Therapeutic recreation graduates, according to Koesler, have a high rate of obtaining a job within three months after commencement.
Koesler said the most common jobs among graduates are providing recreational activities for senior adults in a nursing home setting, adolescents in a behavioral or psychiatric setting or children in a camp or school setting.
Overall, Koesler said therapeutic recreation majors “have to really believe that what they’re doing does improve their quality of life.”
Koesler said there are currently about 80 students enrolled in the major, but it continues to grow. As for those interested in the program, she said, “If they’re a person who gets bored easily, therapeutic recreation will assure that they will not be bored.”
The number of freshman class social work majors, said McMullin, has gone up from six to 14 between fall 2010 and fall 2013, a 133 percent increase.
The major’s curriculum, according to the social work webpage, “prepares graduates for first-level professional social work practice as practitioners utilizing the generalist perspective base.”
The webpage goes on to say that social work majors often pursue graduate studies after completing the program.
Social work graduates can go on to pursue careers in areas such as adoption, case management, child protection and child welfare, as well as many more concentrations listed on the webpage.
According to the communication sciences and disorders website, the major provides “preparation for students [pursuing] a graduate program in Speech-Language Pathology, Audiology or other related [fields].”
According to McMullin, communication sciences and disorders’ enrollment rate has increased to 67 percent from fall 2010 to fall 2013, bringing in 17 freshmen in comparison to the previous nine.
The program’s Student Opportunities webpage says that students have opportunities to shadow a “licensed, certified speech-language pathologist or audiologist” in locations such as public schools, hospitals, clinics and private practices. This field experience is meant to aid students in meeting national certification requirements.
For more information on the majors featured in this article, visit the program’s respective webpages, talk to the department chairs, professors and students or visit the Academic & Career Advising Center in room G08-A of Lancaster Hall. The resources are endless.
