The Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences is offering a new master’s degree in athletic training, the first of its kind associated with an osteopathic medical school in the country.
The athletic training degree program was relocated from OSU-Stillwater to the west Tulsa location, and the graduate program will be the first in a new School of Allied Health at the OSU Center for Health Sciences.
“Athletic trainers are health-care professionals who collaborate closely with physicians and other health-care providers to optimize activity and participation of athletes, patients and clients,” Center for Health Sciences President Kayse Shrum said in a statement. “The move to OSU Center for Health Sciences will help enhance the program by promoting early collaboration between our medical students and students in the athletic training program.”
Athletic training encompasses the prevention, diagnosis and intervention of emergency, acute and chronic medical conditions involving impairment, functional limitations and disabilities.
The master of athletic training degree, which replaces a similar undergraduate program offered by the College of Education at OSU’s Stillwater campus, is the only athletic training program in the state aligned with a medical school and the only one in the country aligned with an osteopathic medical school, said Bruce Benjamin, Center for Health Sciences vice provost for graduate programs.
“Locating the program at OSU Center for Health Sciences will help establish the program as a leader in athletic training due to the collaboration opportunities available with the College of Osteopathic Medicine,” Benjamin said. “With changes in the field and accreditation requirements, it makes sense to align this allied health program as part of our medical school and health sciences graduate programs.”
The first group of seven graduate students began the 53 credit hour program in June. Faculty in the athletic training program in Stillwater are transitioning to the OSU Center for Health Sciences in Tulsa to launch the program.
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