A new health sciences degree completion program planned for this fall at the University of Vermont will be an undergraduate major offered entirely online.

UVM’s Health Sciences degree completion program is designed for undergraduates and working adults interested in health careers not specific to patient care. The online program is for students who previously earned at least one year of college credit but did not complete a baccalaureate degree. 

Offered by the UVM College of Nursing and Health Sciences in collaboration with UVM Continuing and Distance Education, the program prepares students for non-clinical careers in a variety of healthcare fields including public health, environmental health, and animal health, as well as for post-baccalaureate professional health programs. The major emphasizes field experience through formal internships, research, and local or global service.

“We want to attract former UVM students who did not complete their bachelor’s degrees, to provide an academically rigorous option for community college graduates, or to meet the needs of working adults for whom traditional campus programming is not an option,” said Patricia Prelock, dean of the UVM College of Nursing and Health Sciences. “A unique focus of this major is its emphasis on field experience through a mixture of formal internship, research, and service locally or globally. The program is expected to help meet workforce needs in the State of Vermont and the New England region.”

The program offers students the flexibility to complete their degree at their own pace and take required courses in any order. The conceptual foundation for the major is the One Health Initiative, a movement to forge co-equal, all-inclusive collaborations among health providers and scientists in human, animal and environmental health. Graduates will be qualified to fill various jobs requiring an understanding of health, the healthcare system and the basis of disease.

Twenty-five students will be accepted into the program. The application deadline for fall enrollment is June 15.

For more information, visit learn.uvm.edu.