Health Promotion

About Health Promotion

Do you enjoy helping others improve their lives? Want to be a part of one of America's fastest growing professions?

What do health educators do?

  • Promote healthy people in healthy communities
  • Promote physical and mental health
  • Prevent disease, injury, and disability

Where do health educators work?

  • Large corporations
  • Health agencies (local, state, federal)
  • Work sites
  • Schools and universities
  • Health care settings; hospitals
  • Public policy advocacy and lobbying
  • Epidemiology; outbreak investigation

What would I be doing as a health educator?

  • Planning, conducting, and evaluating health promotion programs
  • Smoking cessation
  • Physical activity and nutrition programs
  • Mental wellness
  • Disease awareness
  • Disease screening services
  • Injury prevention
  • Drug and alcohol prevention
  • Sexually Transmitted Disease education, prevention, and screening
  • Advocating or lobbying
  • For public policy changes
  • To provide a health-supportive environment
  • To pass health-conscious laws
  • Could be local, state, or national governmental levels
  • Teaching in a school, community, or university setting
  • Epidemiology
  • Investing disease outbreaks
  • Current disease investigation

Many other exciting opportunities exist in health promotion and health education!

What type of salary could I earn doing this?
National average: ranges from $40,000 to $50,000. Salary can vary according to area of practice, region, and employer.

How do I become a health educator?
MSU offers a Master's of Science program in health education/health promotion. Requires a minimum of 33 credit hours

Upon completion of the program, will I be required to obtain further certifications to practice?
Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) certification is available through the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing

CHES certification is not mandatory but highly recommended

Program Coordinators:

Dr. Barry P. Hunt, Ed.D
Professor
E-mail: bhunt@fsnhp.msstate.edu
Phone: 662-325-7230

Dr. Ron Williams, Jr., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Email: rwilliams@fsnhp.msstate.edu
Phone: 662-325-0401