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In a recent online brief, the Health and Well-being major, housed in the College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences, was identified for its cutting-edge degree-certification pathway. The article, by Higher Ed Dive, focused on four-year schools that are embedding industry credentials into their programs to prepare graduating students for the workforce.

“Combining industry certifications and college degrees is advantageous for everyone,” Valerie Wayda, CPASS associate dean for undergraduate education academic affairs, said. “CPASS strives to blend innovation within the college to ensure student success.”

Samantha Strejeck earned two degrees from West Virginia University, a Sport Management MS (May 2017) and Strategic Communications with a concentration in Public Relations, minor in Leadership Studies BS (2015). Strejeck talks about her passion for sports, experiences as a CPASS sport management student and her internships with WVU Athletics. Strejeck, who grew up in Annapolis, MD, explains how experiential learning opportunities at WVU helped launch her career in the professional sports industry.

Read below to learn how Samantha Strejeck turned hands-on learning experiences while at WVU CPASS into establishing her career goal in social media in sports and then landing her dream position with the NFL.

An ongoing collaboration with the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute (RNI) and the Human Performance Innovation Center (HPIC), which allows CPASS students to gain practical learning in support of classroom work, has taken another step in growing this unique educational experience and partnership.

Guy Hornsby, assistant professor, Coaching and Performance Science, recently received an adjunct faculty appointment with RNI and the HPIC. "This partnership establishes a more formal relationship between CPASS and RNI HPIC that I believe creates a nice bridge between the two programs. It is particularly attractive for our coaching and performance science students working in the HPIC lab and in sport science roles with WVU athletics,” Hornsby said.

Two CPASS graduate students attended a virtual experience titled A Long Talk About the Uncomfortable Truth. The format featured a three-day course focusing on discussions about race and diversity. The purpose of the session is to erase racism and dismantle systematic oppression in America. 

WVU recently welcomed 29 new Fellows to the graduate student community. These first-year Fellows will begin building groundbreaking research projects once they arrive on campus this fall semester. Three CPASS graduate students also received Fellow awards.

Currently, more than 70 graduate students are attending WVU through one of seven highly competitive Fellowship programs. Stellar incoming PhD students, as well as other doctoral and MFA students, are nominated for these prestigious awards by program coordinators.

A group of sport management master’s students shifted their end-of-semester research presentations into a lesson in virtual partnerships — and it’s paying off.

CPASS Associate Professor Floyd Jones explains how the semester-long sport industry partnerships with graduate students worked in the realm of remote collaboration.

The Center for Active WV began with a handful of CPASS faculty who felt called to respond to several growing health crises in West Virginia — crises that involve increasing rates of adult and childhood obesity and all of the accompanying health issues, from diabetes to heart disease.

Eloise Elliott, Ware Distinguished Professor of physical education teacher education, says they saw many other centers around the University having a real impact on communities in the state and beyond and knew this might be one way to move the needle. Lacking the initial funds to create a University center, the faculty launched the College-based version in the hopes of gaining enough financial traction down the road to move into full University center status in the future. Their hope in a nutshell? “To encourage people across the University as well as decision-makers across the state to focus on physical activity,” Elliott says. “It emerged out of a passion for getting more people to become active and improve their lives.”

Although many West Virginia University students are in a virtual learning environment this semester, CPASS Sport Management Club members continue to participate in especially engaging virtual sessions with industry professionals to develop connections in the field they love.

“My goal is to help students learn from industry professionals and to guide them in understanding that everyone’s path is different. Everyone has diverse experiences. We want to take advantage of the opportunity offered through the SM Club to speak with these individuals,” Natalie Gerber, SM Club president, explained.

A CPASS faculty member is evaluating ongoing efforts of a mini-grant program that funds projects across the state with an emphasis on obesity and chronic disease prevention and management.

Peter Giacobbi, associate professor, CPASS sport and exercise psychology, is a co-investigator on two West Virginia Prevention Research Center (WVPRC) contracts. Giacobbi is Affiliated Faculty with the WVPRC and is a contributor on the two evaluation contracts with the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health (WVBPH). In addition, Neel Rao, CPASS alumnus, was hired as program assistant on the two recent contracts. The purpose of the first contract is to evaluate mini-grants supported through the WVBPH’s Division of Health Promotion and Chronic Disease (HPCD).

Thanks to an innovative partnership with the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute and collaborations with WVU Athletics, CPASS students are getting hands on experience.

The new CPASS program in coaching and performance science sprang from the cutting edge of both high-performance athletics and recreational sport. One of the only undergraduate programs of its kind in the country, coaching and performance science offers students three areas of emphasis: coaching and leadership, strength and conditioning and applied sport science. “That is incredibly unique,” says Guy Hornsby, assistant professor of athletic coaching education. “I am not aware of such a push to do this at the undergrad level anywhere else.”