Advanced Practitioner - MS Exercise Fitness, & Health Concentration

The Advanced Practitioner concentration is designed for students with prior education in exercise science, kinesiology, athletic training or a related field.

Students enter the program during the Fall semester and are full-time students until they graduate. The degree promotes scholarly inquiry and cultivates ‘research-savvy practitioners’. All students are required to complete core courses (see degree requirements below). Students must also complete elective courses and a capstone thesis or research project. Advanced Practitioner students often receive graduate assistantships to work both at Mason and in a variety of positions in the surrounding area.

Advanced Practitioner Degree Requirements

All students are required to complete core courses. Students must also complete elective courses and a capstone thesis or research project.

Required Core Courses (15 credit hours)

• EFHP 610: Advanced Exercise Physiology (3 credit hours)

• EFHP 611: Movement and Fitness Assessment (3 credit hours)

• EFHP 612: Scientific Foundation of Applied Kinesiology (3 credit hours)

• EFHP 640: Principles of Strength and Conditioning (3 credit hours)

• EFHP 620: Research Methods for Applied Kinesiology (3 credit hours)

Advanced Practitioner Concentration (APRC) Full Time Cohort

• EFHP 613: Advanced Applied Biomechanics (3 credit hours)

• EDRS 620: Quantitative Inquiry in Education (3 credit hours)

• EFHP 690: Scientific Communications Seminar (1 credit hour)

• EFHP 599: Independent Study EFHP (1 - 3 credit hours) (Must register for 3 credits)

• EFHP 614: Advanced Exercise Nutrition (3 credit hours) OR EFHP 618: Exercise and Sport Psychology (3 credit hours)

Research Project or Thesis Option including EFHP 598 Special Topics

Students must take:

• EFHP 598: Special Topics (1 - 6 credit hours) (Must register for 3 credits)

And either:

• EFHP 798: Project OR EFHP 799: Thesis (Must register for 3 credits)

My overall experience in the MS EFHP Program and Mason can be described with two words, challenging yet rewarding. I was forced to expand my knowledge and my thinking to because a more research-savvy practitioner which has made me a better athletic trainer and a better teacher today.

Total: 36 credits

NOTES

In the Thesis Option, students complete EFHP 598 (3 credits) and EFHP 799 (3 credits). Students develop independent research proposals. Then, in consultation with the EFHP Graduate Coordinator, students select two additional faculty members to form a three-member thesis committee. One committee member may be selected from faculty outside of the program. Students may not register for thesis credit until the student’s thesis committee and the EFHP Graduate Coordinator have approved a proposal. Once the committee approves the proposal, students register for thesis credit and conduct their independent research projects.

In the Research Project Option, students complete EFHP 598 (3 credits) and EFHP 798 (3 credits). In the special topics course, students conduct a directed research project with an EFHP faculty member that is aligned with the faculty member’s research agenda. Then, in the project course, students work with the EFHP faculty member to develop a paper and presentation in the format of submission to a peer-reviewed journal and presentation at professional conferences, respectively.