The School of Health Professions is dedicated to training the next generation of healthcare leaders and professionals.
The B.S. in Health Sciences with a Pre-professional Allied Health concentration is for students who wish to pursue a career as a physical or occupational therapist or other allied health professional careers. Coursework includes a strong foundation in science to prepare you for graduate-level coursework in a professional program.
Assistant Professor of Nursing
Coordinator, Online Nursing Programs
When Madeliene Peterson pulls into the Cleveland Clinic parking garage, she knows she’s got to be at her very best for the next 12 hours. People’s lives depend on it.
“It’s very difficult on a lot of days,” says Madeliene, a registered nurse in the cardiovascular ICU. “I have very, very ill patients who could have heart attacks at any given moment.”
Erica Snyder thought she wanted to go far away from home for college. So she left Pittsburgh to study at the University of Alabama.
But by the end of her freshman year, Erica realized that smaller classes and more interaction with faculty were important to her. So the education major transferred to Robert Morris University, just a few miles from where she grew up. And pretty soon, she was traveling again.
Megan is studying early childhood education at Robert Morris. A unique experience came to life thanks to RMU’s Office of Scholar Development, which helped Megan apply for a one-of-a-kind scholarship.
Megan spent the Spring 2019 semester at Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, under the U.S. State Department Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship.
Department Head, Psychology and Health Sciences
Associate Professor of Psychology
Sport and exercise psychology, counseling, student-athlete development
The sport psychology concentration focuses on the mental side of sport and exercise, applying principles of psychology to improve athletic and exercise performance. Students explore how psychological factors affect sport performance and how engaging in sport and exercise impacts a person’s physical health and psychological well-being. The focus is on developing mental skills that improve performance and on assisting athletes struggling with a variety of mental health issues, including performance anxiety, injury, depression, eating disorders, and substance abuse.
Interested in working in mental health? The B.S. in Psychology, Clinical Psychology concentration, exposes students to the different pathways to becoming a mental health professional. In addition to building a foundation in psychology, students in the clinical concentration take coursework to prepare them for graduate training in a counseling-related field. Students in this concentration practice their counseling skills through simulation at RMU’s RISE Center, learn about different assessment measures, and visit on-site with some of our clinical partners.
A young mother walked into Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia panic-stricken. Her infant daughter, cradled in her arms, was motionless. Dana Davis ‘18, then a nursing intern from Robert Morris University, was among the first to intercede. “The baby was barely breathing,” says Davis. “She was almost blue.” Davis escorted the mother into the trauma unit while the child was taken into surgery. “They hit the ‘code’ button, and once they hit that button, everyone comes running,” she says. Hours later, the baby was OK.
