What is the study of kinesiology? An ASU student explains

ASU student Shannon Moore explains what it means to be a kinesiology major.

As a kinesiology major, you have learned what ‘kinesiology’ means, what the study is, and what the degree can lead to career wise, but, when you tell someone “I’m a kinesiology major” a puzzled look commonly ensues. What is kinesiology exactly? Is it an easy major that you just do to get a degree from some university? Not quite. As featured in The Temple News online, “Not just for jocks: Kinesiology majors work hard for degrees too,” kinesiology is a challenging major that requires work and a true passion for the field.

So to answer the question of what kinesiology is; it is a study that focuses on the body and its movements from psychological, biological, and physiological perspectives. At Arizona State University, the Kinesiology program has three pieces to its mission statement: to promote new knowledge of how the human body responds to movement or exercise; use the knowledge to create an invigorating learning environment for students; and to provide a thorough education that ultimately produces research to better the health of our society.

Kinesiology, one of the most popular majors at Arizona State University was just recently adopted into the School of Nutrition and Health Promotion after the department was disestablished in spring 2010. There are some changes up ahead for the program, now that it is a part of a new college. Freshman entering as kinesiology majors in fall 2011 are headed to the Downtown Phoenix campus to merge with the other majors in the School of Nutrition and Health Promotion. Upon this move, being accepted into the program is becoming more rigorous and the curriculum is changing, slightly.

The program requirements have been revised and are now more geared towards fulfilling prerequisites for physical therapy, but that does not mean that kinesiology majors are limited to a career in physical therapy. Kinesiology promotes careers anywhere in the health field or research for the health fields, exercise, or fitness (to name a few). Even through the changes to the program, it is still helping students to build a strong foundation for their future endeavors in school, work, or research.