Farmington Faculty


Dennis Kamholtz, Ed.D.

Professor and Chairperson - Health Education

Ed.D., S.U.N.Y., Buffalo
M.S., S.U.N.Y., Brockport
B.S., S.U.N.Y., Brockport

In the Classroom: Engaging Students — Setting High Academic Expectations
One of the unique features of Farmington's Community Health Education major is that it challenges students to find their own niche area in the field. And in order to find their niche, Dennis Kamholtz says he likes to continually challenge his students to raise their own expectations and explore different avenues in the program. To do this, Dennis' classroom work includes student-based research and service-learning.

Dennis also regularly brings health professionals right into the classroom as weekly guest speakers, sometimes bringing as many as five guest speakers a week. This kind of face-to-face interaction with working professionals gives students the opportunity to explore dozens of possible career paths while also gaining realistic expectations about the field of health education. Guest speakers include hospital professionals, social service agency workers, school health coordinators, workplace wellness managers, and others who are currently working in the field.

Dennis is quick to note, too, that many of the guest speakers not coincidentally happen to be Farmington graduates — demonstrating the value of the University's Community Health Education program.


Helping Students to Define Their Career Goals
Dennis said students often come into the Community Health Education program as undeclared majors, students who are still trying to figure out exactly what they'd like to choose for a major. They are usually interested in things such as nutrition, exercise, taking better care of themselves, and working with people; but most are unsure how those interests can translate into a career. Dennis’ advice is always the same. He tells those students, "Come into our program and try it out and take some of our courses. From there, it's our job to help you crystallize your career aspirations."


Tailoring to the Individual
Dennis says his students also conduct an ongoing self-evaluation. Part of each class is spent examining issues such as communication, time management, professional conduct and organization. This process helps students identify the workplaces and people they will be best suited to working with in the future.

For instance, if a student wanted to focus on School Health Education, she could take both Community Health Education courses and Education courses, and graduate with a degree in Community Health Education and a Teaching concentration. Another student may pursue a degree in Business Economics and work site wellness programming. Another might combine Community Health Education and Rehabilitation Services. This personalized approach allows students to become more marketable for whatever career they plan to pursue.


Classwork That Helps the Community
In an upper level course called Health Education Planning, students are required to go out into the community, develop contacts, and actually apply a planning model that is used in health education, according to Dennis. Students assess needs, create a plan, and then implement and evaluate that plan in a community setting, he explains. Recent projects included partnerships with two area school districts where Community Health Education students created a physical activity plan for elementary students and a nutritional education program that included a cooking workshop that demonstrated how parents and children can prepare healthy recipes together, said Dennis.


Working Outside the Classroom — Experience Required
Once students have completed all their Community Health Education classes, the final requirement of the program is an on-site internship, usually supervised by Dennis. The semester-long internship is the capstone experience for each Community Health Education senior, according to Dennis. Interns usually work 40 hours a week — just like a real full-time job, he adds. Dennis and his Community Health Education colleagues want their students to benefit from that experience, so they place students in work sites that are consistent with their career aspirations.

Dennis helps students make the initial contact with a prospective intern host organization. The next steps are much like a job interview. The student will take his or her resume and meet with the prospective supervisor. If both parties want pursue the internship, Dennis, the student and the supervisor meet to review all of the responsibilities and the requirements. To ensure the quality and value of the work students are assigned to do as interns, Dennis makes several site visits throughout the internship.


Internships Can Lead to Job Offers
Interns have served at area hospitals, such as Redington-Fairview General Hospital in nearby Skowhegan, Maine where the health education department is run by a Farmington graduate. Farmington's Community Health Education interns have also been hired by a Leeds, Maine-based medical consulting firm that provides wellness programs for Maine construction companies and work sites.

In addition, several workers at the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention started their careers as Community Health Education interns, Denis recalls. Farmington interns are ready to go right to work and the feedback the University gets from their internship supervisors is extremely positive, says Dennis. "Folks love having our students as interns and they love hiring them after graduation," he adds.


Seeing the World and Letting the World See You
Dennis regularly brings six to eight students to the annual professional conference of The American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (AAHPERD) which has been held in San Diego, Boston, Baltimore, Chicago and Fort Worth, Texas.

He says Farmington students are often the only undergraduates to attend these high-level, professional conferences (the meetings are geared toward industry leaders and graduate students). This provides Farmington Community Health Education students with a unique opportunity to meet the leading professionals in the health education field — including the very people who authored their textbooks! Students get to see their textbooks come to life, Dennis says, and students come away with unparalleled insight and contacts in the health field.


A Dedicated Teacher
For many years, Dennis spent summers working as an adjunct professor at Penn State University, teaching graduate courses. More recently he has served as his department’s chairperson; but he confesses cannot wait to return to teaching full-time.

Dennis says his special area of academic interest is the mind and body connection and he is fascinated with how emotional well being can affect physical health, and in finding ways to mitigate the effects of stress. He developed Farmington’s stress management course and when he teaches that course he helps his students understand how to manage their personal stresses.


Outside of Academia — Personal Interests and Activities
When he’s not in the classroom, visiting interns on-site, or doing administrative work in his office, Dennis is probably pumping iron at the University's Fitness and Recreation Center weight room or working out on one of the Fitness Center's many Stairmasters.

He still gets out to Penn Sate every now and again to cheer on Joe Paterno and the Nittany Lions.

Dennis is also an avid golfer and you'll find him at nearby Wilson Country Club or the award-winning Sugarloaf Golf Course. He also enjoys downhill skiing, usually at nearby Sugarloaf ski resort.

But if he has had a particularly a stressful day, you'll find Dennis by the roar and rumble of his motorcycle. He truly enjoys the freedom of the open space and cruising the back roads of Maine during the fall foliage season is the ultimate stress-reliever, says Dennis. Vrooom.


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