The Kaleva junior is one of many Health Fitness in Preventive and Rehabilitative Programs majors struggling to finish their degree in four years. Johnson also has been waiting to enroll in HSC 310: ECG Assessment since last summer.

“I’m at the end of my junior year,” she said, “and I still can’t get in 310.”

In particular, HSC 550: Stress Test Administration and HSC 551: Stress Test Interpretation are among the toughest to enroll in. For HSC 550, there are three sections offered with a maximum of 14 students, and eight sections offered with a maximum of 14 students for HSC 551.

Students are told in the bulletin about the difficulty of getting into these classes. Some have been on waiting lists for more than two semesters for these courses.

Johnson started a petition to offer more sections during the fall and spring semesters and during the summer. There are currently 227 signatures.

One of those students, Leslie Donovan, still needs to get into HSC 310, a prerequisite for HSC 550 and 551.

“I’ve been on the waiting list for two semesters,” the Orchard Lake junior said.

This has been an issue among students, faculty, and staff since 1999, said Thomas Masterson, Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions associate dean.

Summer offerings

For some students, the solution is offering HSC 550 and 551 during the summer.

“I think it would be beneficial for them to be offered this summer,” Hebert said.

Johnson said if the courses are not offered this summer, the department should have to open more sections. However, many issues may arise for students who do take the courses during the summer.

Jeff Betts, chairman of the school of health sciences, said last summer, for the first time in many years, the department decided to offer HSC 550 and 551 to help seniors get on track. These courses are not being offered for the summer 2010 semester.

Masterson said several students who took HSC 550 and 551 last summer could not find internships and still have not found any up to this semester.

“It might have helped some students,” Masterson said.

When a student signs the health fitness major, the document states an internship is required unless a student is enrolling in graduate school, Masterson said.

Betts said students who took the classes during the summer jumped ahead, but caused those on track to fall behind.

The department has made many changes throughout the years to help students enroll in these courses.

“For many years, 550 was only offered in the fall semester and 551 only in the spring,” Betts said. “That meant if a student didn’t get in to 550 in the fall, they had to wait an entire year to take it the following fall semester.”

In order to fix the issue, Betts added sections of both courses to the fall and spring semester.

Betts said these courses were not intended to be offered during the summer, but it may potentially be an option in the years to come.

Johnson and a few other students affected met Wednesday with Masterson to discuss the petition. Masterson said he would talk to Betts about internships, but it would be a work in progress.

There are limitations on what the department can do to help students, such as the low availability of large lecture halls to up the maximum of students for HSC 550 and 551. Betts said faculty contracts also limit how many classes they can teach.

Betts said the university is allowing the department to search and hopefully hire another anatomist that may help with the current situation.

Both Betts and Masterson understand students’ frustration and are willing to help try to resolve this issue.

“It’s not a quick fix,” Masterson said. “We’re just waiting for state budget to come through to figure out how we’re going to do this.”