MUNCIE, Ind. – The health education program at Ball State University recently became one of 14 programs nationally and the only one in the state of Indiana to received a five-year accreditation.

Accreditation is awarded by a joint committee of the Society of Public Health Education and the Association for the Advancement of Health Education.

Approval is recognized by the profession as a standard for entry-level health education preparation programs. There are about 300 programs nationally that grant baccalaureate degrees in health education, said Dale Hahn, chair of the physiology and health science department.

Thirteen programs are in accreditation self-study review process, he said.

"During the accreditation process we were told that the program was known as one of the best in the country," Hahn said. "Many of the books used in classrooms across the nation have been written by our faculty, and the national honorary society for the field, Eta Sigma Gamma, was founded and is located here."

By Marc Ransford, Communications Manager