Physical Education Associate of Arts degree
Contact: Jaime Tigue, 732-6479 or jtigue@csi.edu
Transfer: Students completing an Associate of Arts degree in Physical Education are prepared to transfer to a Bachelor degree program offered at Idaho’s four-year colleges
Degree Types: Associate of Arts (AA) degree, which requires a minimum of four semesters.
Degree Description: The Physical Education Associate of Arts degree introduces students to careers in athletic training, exercise science, recreation, and sport management (students choose one component area). The goals of the degree are to help students earn an Associate of Arts degree and to successfully transfer to a four-year program. Students take courses from the CSI general education core as well as specific program requirements in Physical Education.
Careers: The Physical Education AA degree is designed to prepare students to transfer to a Bachelor degree program in Idaho while gaining an insight to and skill development in one of the component areas described below.
Athletic Training:
- Career opportunities for athletic trainers are good. Approximately 25,000 athletic trainers are employed in the United States. Employment of athletic trainers is expected to grow about 27% through 2014.
- The certified athletic trainer is a highly educated and skilled health sciences professional specializing in athletic health care. In cooperation with physicians and other allied health personnel, the athletic trainer functions as an integral member of the athletic health-care team in secondary schools, colleges and universities, sports medicine clinics, professional sports programs, and other health-care settings.
- Depending on the employment agency and location, starting salaries in athletic training range from $22,000 to $35,000 a year. With a master’s degree, a person can start from $30,000 to $36,000 a year. There are athletic trainers who work for professional teams and earn from $75,000 to $125,000 a year. The benefits received as an athletic trainer may include paid vacation, health insurance, and pension plan.
Exercise Science:
- Career opportunities for graduates in exercise science are good. Career opportunities include corporate fitness, fitness leadership, wellness director, sports medicine, health and fitness educator, sports nutritionist, personal trainer, physical/occupational therapist, researcher, and strength and conditioning coach.
- The exercise science degree provides excellent preparation for professional and graduate schools. Most positions sought by students in the scientific and medical professions will require some type of advanced degree. Many graduates go on to chiropractic, physical therapy, physician assistant, podiatric medicine, and osteopathic medicine programs in addition to medical, dental, optometry, pharmacy schools. Graduates also seek advanced degrees in Kinesiology, Exercise Science, or related fields.
- Starting salaries at the bachelor's or master's degree range from $25,000 to $50,000, depending on employment and location. Starting salaries with a Ph.D. range from $35,000 to $70,000. The benefits received in an exercise science career may include paid vacation, health insurance, and pension plan.
Sport Management:
- Career opportunities in sport management have grown dramatically in the past decade. Some sport management titles include program directors in community sport programs, marketing and promotions director, academic services for student-athletics, corporate sales director, director of ticketing and finance, sporting goods sales representative, intramural director of campus recreation, facilities coordinator, athletic director, compliance director, athletic business manager, and fitness manager.
- Job responsibilities vary with the type of organization, area of the sport industry, and level of management. All involve business aspects of sport, and normally include 40 - 60 hour work weeks, including night and weekend hours of employment. Helpful transferable skills include communication, time management/organization, decision making, public speaking, writing, research skills, computer skills, and problem solving.
- Entry-level jobs offer a variety of starting salaries and offer excellent opportunities for rapid advancement. Some graduates may follow up the sport management degree by going to graduate school for a master's and/or doctorate or by attending law school to become sport agents. Depending upon the type of organization, area of sport industry, level of position, and level of degree, salary ranges are from $18,000 to $80,000 or more.
Recreation:
- Career opportunities in recreation can be found in a variety of areas such as private and commercial recreation, community recreation and youth agencies, recreational sports, recreational leadership, and recreational administration. Specific jobs include the areas of public recreation (municipal, provincial or federal government agencies); agency recreation (YMCA, YWCA, Boys and Girls Clubs); commercial recreation (golf courses, spas, fitness centers, racquet clubs, ski resorts, consulting firms); corporate recreation (corporations and industries providing employee recreation/fitness programs); special needs recreation (hospitals, senior citizens' homes, institutions and agencies for persons with disabilities); outdoor recreation (outdoor centers, residential camps, nature centers); and open space recreation (parks services, open space playgrounds, forestry and environmental services).
- Recreation workers may work in a variety of settings, for example, a health club, ski resort, hospital, cruise ship, boys and girls club, city recreation, college campus, or recreational park. Most persons in the field work about 40 hours a week, which may include some night and weekend work and irregular hours. A bachelor's degree and experience are preferred for most recreation supervisor jobs and required for most higher level administrator jobs. However, increasing numbers of recreation workers who aspire to administrator positions obtain master's degrees in recreation or related disciplines. Certification in the recreation field also may be helpful for advancement. Helpful transferable skills include communication, time management/organization, decision making, writing, computer skills, and problem solving. Persons planning a recreation career should be outgoing, good at motivating people, and sensitive to the needs of others. As in many fields, managerial skills are needed to advance to supervisory or managerial positions. College courses in management, business administration, accounting, and personnel management are helpful for advancement to supervisory or managerial positions.
- Overall employment of recreation workers is expected to grow about 9-17% for all occupations through 2014. People will spend more time and money on recreation, spurring growth in civic and social organizations and, to a lesser degree, State and local government. Much growth will be driven by retiring baby boomers, who, with more leisure time, high disposable income, and concern for health and fitness, are expected to increase their consumption of recreation services. Job growth also will be driven by rapidly increasing employment in nursing and residential care facilities. Depending upon the type of organization, area of industry, level of position, and level of degree, salary ranges are from $18,000 to $36,000 or more.
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