A student running on a treadmill in a kinesiology lab
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Health & Wellbeing: Undergraduate Minor

In this one-of-a-kind minor, students are introduced to health and well-being through a wide spectrum of topics involving elements of genetic, biological, psychological, behavioral and social practices and processes.

At a Glance

Program Results

Undergraduate Minor

Health & Wellbeing

Best Suited To

This minor is open to students across the University.

Program Type

  • Full Time

Location

  • In-Person

Application Deadline

  • Spring entry: Oct. 1
  • Fall entry: Feb. 1

Credits

19

About This Program

  • The health and wellbeing minor is an organized concentration by which students can gain deeper knowledge and explore links among the various topics within health and wellness across academic units, and be recognized for having completed substantive coursework by obtaining an academic minor.
  • The courses in this program are designed to assist students in obtaining scientific knowledge related to health and well-being to promote intelligent decision-making. The minor amplifies the curriculum for students who wish to work in health and mental health professions or hope to be engaged in public policy related to health and well-being.
  • Course topics include nutrition, exercise, mindfulness, healthy environment, psychology, public health policy, and more.

Six schools across the University of Virginia have joined forces to create this minor that helps view this topic from a wide spectrum. UVA students enrolled in this minor have unprecedented access to classes in the following schools:

  • The School of Education and Human Development
  • College of Arts & Sciences
  • School of Medicine
  • School of Nursing
  • School of Architecture
  • Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.

You can start early-you do not have to be officially admitted into the minor to start taking courses.

  • First- and second-year students are encouraged to start taking courses in the minor as soon as possible.
  • All approved health and wellbeing minor courses taken prior to being admitted into the minor will transfer in and will be counted towards the minor when you are officially admitted.
  • Courses taken in the minor cannot be counted toward fulfillment of the student’s major or another minor.
     

Program Overview

Students interested in officially being admitted into the health and wellbeing minor must have declared a major, and have earned at least 60 credits with grades of C or better and a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or higher.  

Coursework

The 19-credit undergraduate minor in health and wellbeing will include courses distributed across three broad academic domains:

  1. Physical health and wellbeing;
  2. Emotional/mental health and wellbeing
  3. Health policy and healthy environment

Students will be required to complete one required foundation course under each of these three domains, for a total of nine credits. The foundation courses are designed to engage students in obtaining relevant scientific knowledge related to health and wellbeing to promote intelligent decision-making that can be used to improve their quality of life. For the remaining nine credits needed to complete the minor, students take elective courses within any of the domains to deepen their knowledge base in a specific area of interest.

Culminating Seminar

  • Students will enroll and complete a one-credit culminating seminar at the end of the minor or concurrently during the semester they complete the minor coursework.
  • The culminating seminar will be taught by the Department of Kinesiology and will be cross-listed in each participating department so that each unit receives credit for their respective students.
  • The culminating seminar will consist of a series of seminars designed to have the students discuss, synthesize, and apply what they have learned from this multidisciplinary minor on health and wellbeing and then demonstrate this knowledge via either an individual or small group poster presentation given at an annual spring conference on health and well-being.

Program Faculty

All Program Faculty
David A. Edwards

David A. Edwards

  • Associate Professor
  • Director of Undergraduate Program
Arthur L Weltman

Arthur L. Weltman

  • Professor of Kinesiology
  • Professor of Medicine

Contact Us

For questions about declaring this minor, reach out to start a conversation with the academic services team.

Curriculum

The information contained on this website is for informational purposes only. The Undergraduate Record represents the official repository for academic program requirements. These publications may be found at https://records.ureg.virginia.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=61&poid=8828.