Health & Human Services
The University of Maine at Farmington's Health & Human Services cluster includes a number of high quality academic offerings that have at their core a dedication to helping others. These include our majors in Community Health Education, Community Health Education with a teaching concentration, Psychology, Rehabilitation Services, and Special Education; plus innovative Interdisciplinary Studies concentrations in: Business Psychology, Outdoor Recreation Business Administration (ORBA), Rehabilitation Administration, and Social Enterprise.
Each of these areas is a profession that focuses on people, young and old — their strengths, abilities, thought processes, and choices. It is a field dedicated to understanding people of all abilities or at-risk conditions to function effectively in their living, learning, and working environments.
Community Health Education
Health care, health promotion, and disease prevention — among every age segment — is an issue of growing worldwide importance, making the need for community health educators greater than ever. Community Health Education combines classroom-based research, on-campus work opportunities, and other projects led by faculty with a range of specialties including nutrition, stress management, human sexuality, environmental health, disease prevention and health promotion. Farmington is one of only a few colleges to offer a bachelor's degree program in Community Health Education.
Community Health Education – teaching concentration
The Community Health Education – teaching concentration program is designed to prepare you to teach health in
K-12 classrooms in Maine and in approximately 30 other states. Similar to the Community Health Education
major, this program has a strong focus on working with children and their families on a range of important
health-related issues. Farmington is one of only a few colleges to offer a bachelor's degree in Community Health
Education with a specialized teaching concentration.
Psychology
Our popular Psychology program provides a strong foundation in Psychology where creative thinking and intellectual
independence are encouraged. Exciting course work and supportive faculty help prepare you for careers in all areas
of psychology as well as social work, human services, research, business, law. Our Psychology graduates have gone on
to some of the nation’s top graduate schools.
Rehabilitation Services
In Rehabilitation Services, you’ll learn to work with individuals and groups across a wide range of ages,
limiting conditions and disabilities. You can specialize in areas such as occupational therapy, addiction, mental
illness, behavioral problems, mental retardation, aging, therapeutic recreation, expressive arts, career services
and more. Graduates of Rehabilitation Services have worked in a variety of social service settings: occupational
therapy, counseling, case management, social work, human services, mental health, community support services,
employment services, family services, and many attended some of the finest graduate school programs in the nation.
Rehabilitation Administration
Our interdisciplinary Rehabilitation Administration program examines all aspects of Rehabilitation Services, but
with a special emphasis on the administrative aspects of the health and human services fields: grantwriting,
developing state and federal policies, successfully implementing and delivering services to local communities and
area health service providers, and more.
Business Psychology
Farmington's interdisciplinary Business Psychology program combines the teaching of psychological dynamics and
solid business practices, allowing you to become effective and savvy businessperson in today's global market.
Business Psychology helps you to gain a deeper knowledge of human behavior — which in turn allows you to
better understand what motivates people to buy products and services.
Outdoor Recreation Business Administration (ORBA)
Over the past year, we worked closely with our partners in recreation and tourism to develop an innovative new
recreation-related interdisciplinary program: Outdoor Recreation Business Administration (ORBA). It combines
courses in Business plus courses from Geography and Recreation. It also has a broad four-season focus with an
emphasis on business — taking a decidedly hands-on approach to include internship opportunities
that focus on the outdoor recreation segment of the tourism industry, particularly in western Maine.
Special Education
Teaching children and youth who have disabilities requires specialized skills and a strong desire to help others.
Our Special Education major prepares future teachers of children and youth who have mild to moderate disabilities
in the areas of emotional disturbance, learning disabilities, and mental retardation. Farmington's Early Childhood
Special Education program prepares future teachers to work with young children with special needs.
Social Enterprise
Our interdisciplinary Social Enterprise program deals with important global issues such as health, education,
civic engagement, human rights, economic development and the environment. Those who choose the Social Enterprise
program adapt principles from several distinct areas: Entrepreneurship, Nonprofit Administration, Management,
Social Activism and Social Accountability and channel them as a way to make positive social change in the world.
