Learning and Assessments for Pre-Professional Health Sciences

Selections within the program (abbreviations):
Pre-Dental Hygiene (PDHY)
Pre-Health Information Management (PHIM)
Pre-Dentistry (PDEN)
Pre-Medicine (PMED)
Pre-Medical Technology  (PMT)
Pre-Occupational Therapy (POTH)
Pre-Optometry (POPT)
Pre-Pharmacy (PPHA)
Pre-Physical Therapy (PPTH)

These pre-professional health science program selections are all non-degree programs at Tennessee Technological University.  The purpose of these programs is to provide the undergraduate coursework that satisfies the professional school admission requirements for each of these program selections.

Program Outcomes

1.  Have 10% of the students in these programs admitted into a professional health science program each year.

2.  Institute a plan for selective admission into the pre-professional health science programs from the Arts and Sciences Student Success Center program.

Learning Outcomes

1.  At least 10% of the pre-professional health science students will demonstrate sufficient academic competence in coursework at TTU to be admitted into a professional health science program.

2.  Pre-professional health science students will be able to demonstrate satisfactory academic performance in their progress through a professional school.

3.  At least 40-50% of all pre-professional health science students will participate in the Chemical-Medical Science Club in order to broaden their knowledge of health science careers.

Assessment Methods

1.  Assessment will include determining the number of students admitted into professional health science programs and those participating in the Chemical-Medical Science Club.

2.  Assessment will also be made from data on the numbers of students who are pre-professional health science enrollees and the number in the Student Success Center enrollees who are interested in the health sciences.

3. Another assessment method will be to compare the number of students admitted to given professional health science school with the number completing that professional program selection.

Process for Analyzing and Using Assessment Results

The pre-professional health science advisors supervise the application process and keep records on application and admission into and graduation from professional schools.  This data provides information of the effectiveness of our programs.

Assessment Results

The number of enrolled pre-professional health science majors varies from term to term.  Generally, there is a net influx of new enrollees in the fall term each year because the number of first year students.  The enrollment number typically falls for the spring term due to attrition resulting primarily from the rigorous course requirements for admission into professional school.

n.a. = historical data is not available for these years

Data in the table above indicates a gradual increase in enrollment for the fall terms of this 5-year period.  The number of students admitted into a professional health science program in each of these years is equivalent to at least 10% of the total fall enrollment.  Historically, with very few exceptions, all of those students admitted into professional school have completed their respective program.

Keeping track of the number of Chem-Med Club members annually and comparing it to the total number of pre-professional health science enrollees are data that have not been collected previously.  Participation in the club provides information that is helpful to pre-professional health science advisees in that it affords knowledge about all health science areas and permits the development of interactions with their peers and established professionals. 

Prior to the fall of 2005, all students desiring to enroll in a pre-professional health science program were permitted to do so. Beginning with the fall 2005 academic year specific academic criteria were set for those students desiring to enroll in a pre-professional health science program.  Students who did not meet these criteria were directed into the General Health Science (GHS) advising program of the University Student Success Center.  This program is intended to provide education and information on academic programs other than the pre-professional health sciences.  A GHS student may come into a pre-professional health science program at a time later in his/her academic career with evidence of competitive academic performance.  Since this is a new initiative, there are no data to indicate the effectiveness of these criteria.

These data help the pre-professional health science advisors monitor the status of these programs.  Attendance at advisor conferences by the pre-professional health science advisors and continuous interaction with professional school representatives are methods of keeping abreast of changes in the clinical program requirements.  The information concerning such changes is passed on to the pre-professional health science students.