At the start of the fall 2024 semester, it was announced that Chapman’s Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences would no longer be offering the applied human physiology major to incoming students.

Although this major is no longer offered, students who are already majoring in this subject will continue the course requirements for the academic year for the major according to the course catalog. 

Athena Mandi is a sophomore applied human psychology major, making her a part of the last group of students to be a part of this major.

“Being a part of the last year where applied human physiology is offered as a major at Chapman, I think, is pretty nice to think about,” Mandi stated. “I am able to be part of the ‘last class’ of applied human physiology and I feel pretty honored to be a part of it.” 

Mandi explained that she always saw the two majors as very similar to one another and thought that combining the two majors would be beneficial for incoming students.

“I think merging the two majors makes sense because of how similar they were. Although applied human physiology is no longer a major, it is now an area of study within the health sciences major,” Mandi told The Panther. “I think merging the majors overall was a good decision that would benefit future students coming into Chapman who wish to pursue a career in health care.”

Now, instead of applied human physiology being its own major, if students are interested in studying the topic they can do so under the health sciences major. 

Students now have the option to major in health sciences and then choose the applied human physiology area of study in addition to their major. There is a list of classes, electives and psychology classes students can choose from to meet the needs of this additional requirement. 

Ken Sumida, Ph.D., is the former chair of health sciences and explained that every academic program is required to undergo a program review that requires them to create a report on the goals of the curriculum. This is then reviewed by faculty from other universities who then interview members of the department and students. 

“Unfortunately, this occurred during (COVID-19) so everything was done via Zoom. In fact, I held my laptop and used the camera to walk around the labs so that they could see the department facilities.” Sumida explained.

Sumida also detailed the process of what happens once the review of the department is complete.

“The reviewers are then charged with making recommendations on how the academic program could improve that may entail the need for more resources such as laboratory equipment, faculty, staff, etc. as well as suggested changes to the curriculum. They recommended changes to the curriculum and this is the reason why we revised the major,” Sumida told The Panther.

Joyce Yoo is a sophomore applied human physiology major and explained that she understood why the changes were made, but found the process to be a bit confusing.

“Honestly, I am not too surprised by the changes because we have similar tracks and basically take the same classes, so in a sense, I think it is not too bad of a decision to merge the two,” Yoo stated. “It's just I wish they organized it better so that there is a better and more clear or set track for students to follow because everything felt very last minute.”