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Find Your FitPenn State is a large community, but it is a

community. Health and Human Development can

help you connect, meet people, get involved, and

get comfortable.

JumpStartJumpStart combines a dynamic two-day retreat for

first-year students with a seven-week, first-year seminar

that is designed to launch your transition to college life

by connecting you with a network of peers, student

mentors, faculty, and alumni.

Interest HousingThe Health and Human Development Interest

House in Beaver Hall is designed for students who

are exploring health-related majors or who are

committed to healthy living. Residents strive to follow

a balanced lifestyle of physical, emotional, social,

academic, spiritual, and intellectual well-being. Yoga,

stress management, nutrition, and physical fitness

programs are offered to residents.

Advising and Student ServicesThe Student Services Center is home to academic

advising for students. It offers resources and advising

for students to explore majors, minors, careers, and

information on college policies and procedures.

“My personal and professional goal in life is to become a positive, influential teacher of young children.”

Maddison Booge, Human Development and

Family Studies

The college offers 9 majors that are consistently ranked among the top of their kind in the nation.

SocializationBuild relationships with your classmates and your

instructors with events like the Dean’s Ice Cream Social,

Take a Professor to Lunch, Exercise is Medicine, Research

Night, the Involvement Fair, Majors Night, and the

Education Abroad Fair.

DiversityThe College of Health and Human Development

embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion as core values

in both its mission and vision. Our goal is to empower

a broadly diverse generation to become leaders and

scholars who promote human health, development and

quality of life throughout the lifespan.

LEAPStart your Penn State career in a small-college

atmosphere. LEAP is for first-year students and

provides the chance to begin their journey at Penn

State University Park by way of a learning community.

Student OrganizationsYou have the opportunity to get involved. This might

be in one of our college organizations or in one of the

many department or student organizations.

Meet People

A sample of some of our student organizations:

HHD Student Council

HHD Honor Society

Biobehavioral Health Society

National Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association

Health Policy and Administration Club

Penn State Hotel & Restaurant Society

HDFS Undergraduate Student Organization

Kinesiology Club

Student Athletic Training Club

Student Nutrition Association

Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management Student Society

Grow Your ExperienceBeyond the Classroom

Strengthen your skills and knowledge with learning

opportunities in the workplace. All of our programs

have dedicated internship coordinators and advisers

who can help you find just the right fit for your

educational and professional goals. Our students

graduate with real-world experience with employers

who may offer future career opportunities.

Class projects connect you to alumni and industry

partners who provide challenging problems for

you to solve.

Research

As an undergraduate in the College of Health and

Human Development, you will have the opportunity

to work with some of the brightest and most well-

respected researchers in the world. Research

experiences can last a semester or throughout

your entire Penn State career and can complement

classroom experiences and help form connections

with faculty members in your respective field of study.

Working with faculty mentors, you can engage in

active learning in the laboratory, local communities,

and throughout the world. Through these experiences,

you share in the excitement of discovery, develop

important skills, and explore career choices.

More than 1,000 of the college’s students participate each semester in service-learning activities that bring them into direct contact with patients, clients, and consumers.

Build Your NetworkAlumni Mentoring

The College of Health and Human Development

Alumni Mentoring Program connects students and

alumni by matching students who are juniors in

their major with professionals who can offer advice

and information about career options or other

issues relevant to particular fields. The mentoring

program includes an initial orientation and a goal-

setting, face-to-face meeting, followed by fifteen

months of ongoing interactions. Students can

explore internships, course choices, and plans after

graduation with their mentor. Many of our students

have returned to be mentors, reflecting the value of

the program to both students and alumni.

Women’s Leadership Initiative

The Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) was

conceptualized and is supported by alumni of the

college and women leaders throughout the nation. WLI

provides opportunities for emerging women leaders to

develop the core values, attitudes, and competencies

that are the foundation of quality leadership.

“The student engagement opportunities that RPTM provided have been extremely beneficial. I was able to interact with professionals in the field and build great friendships with my peers.”

Cassaundra Soars, Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management

Explore Your WorldGlobal Health MinorThe Global Health Minor is designed to give students

exposure to issues affecting the health of various

populations in the world. Offered by the Department

of Biobehavioral Health, any Penn State student can

apply to be part of the minor.

Emphasis is placed on encouraging students to

more fully recognize the global interconnectedness

of current population health problems and to think

critically about how particular global health challenges

might best be solved.

The minor supports the goals of those who are

planning careers in research and teaching or in

health services, be it in universities, government

agencies, international agencies, non-governmental

organizations, or private industry.

Study AbroadThere are more than a dozen faculty-led study abroad

programs offered through the College of Health and

Human Development. These opportunities are led by

faculty from the departments of Biobehavioral Health;

Health Policy and Administration; Human Development

and Family Studies; Kinesiology; Recreation, Park, and

Tourism Management; and the School of Hospitality

Management. Most programs are open to

students from any major in the college.

These opportunities can take you

around the world to places such as

South Africa, Costa Rica, England, Italy,

China, Fiji, Australia, Japan, France,

Chile, Spain, and many more. Program

lengths range from a week to an entire

semester.

Penn State also offers numerous

other study abroad courses through

Global Penn State where you can

study in more than 200 locations in

nearly sixty countries.“Going to Tanzania was a life-changing trip. Even when I wasn’t doing fieldwork, it was still a learning experience to be engrossed in the culture.”

Marc Neith, Biobehavioral Health

On average, more than 2,500 Penn State students take part in study abroad programs each year.

Nearly 10% of the students who take part in study abroad programs are Health and Human Development students.

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