Enrollment at DePaul’s recently formed College of Science and Health (CSH) continues to reflect growing interest in the physical and health-related sciences, with double-digit student gains in many of the college’s schools and departments.

CSH’s enrollment for the winter quarter totaled 2,108, a 43 percent jump over enrollment five years ago. Psychology and biology are the two most popular areas of study, with 1,007 and 482 students enrolled, respectively.

The third most popular major, with 250 enrollees, is the newly created multidisciplinary health sciences degree, which was established in response to student interest in expanding opportunities in health care careers and the need for undergraduate programs that prepare students for the dynamic nature of modern health care delivery.

“DePaul’s new health sciences degree was designed to address the increasingly complex and multidisciplinary nature of health care and health sciences,” said Dorothy Kozlowski, chair of the health sciences department at CSH. “The degree is fairly unique among undergraduate programs, and we’re training students in both the biosciences and policy work because that is how the health care industry is evolving.” 

Although science and math studies have traditionally been dominated by male students, DePaul’s CSH has seen very strong enrollment among female students. For the winter quarter of 2012, 70 percent of enrolled undergraduates were women. Students of color were also strongly represented in CSH degree programs and constituted 39 percent of undergraduate enrollees.    

The health sciences degree prepares graduates to choose from a wide array of potential health and science career options, from medicine and nursing to health care administration and policy.

“We are delighted by student interest in our new health sciences degree,” said Jerry Cleland, interim dean of CSH. “Though we knew the degree was responding to a rapidly emerging need in the education marketplace, these enrollment figures are significantly outpacing our original estimates. We have seen our new health sciences majors coming from a variety of backgrounds, with students transferring into the program from other schools. The college is expanding course offerings to meet the student demand.”

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences was transformed into two new colleges at DePaul in 2011 when the former College of Liberal Arts and Sciences divided into the College of Science and Health and the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.

About DePaul

With more than 25,000 students, DePaul University is the largest Catholic university in the United States and the largest private, nonprofit university in the Midwest. The university offers approximately 275 graduate and undergraduate programs of study on three Chicago and three suburban campuses. Founded in 1898, DePaul remains committed to providing a quality education through personal attention to students from a wide range of backgrounds. For more information, visit www.depaul.edu.