The Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington is renaming and transitioning the Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Studies and honing its focus and mission to become the Department of Health & Wellness Design.

The Indiana University Trustees gave final approval to the name change on May 5, 2020. The school has already begun the process of rebranding the department and you will continue to see changes across the summer. This change aligns the department with a forward-thinking and innovative public health model that leverages the dedication, expertise, and passion of our exceptional faculty.

Our new Department of Health & Wellness Design will focus on infusing health, happiness, and well-being into organizational structures where people live, work, govern, and play.

Health needs and challenges evolve, as does our school. The power of purposeful design to enhance human health has never been more relevant. The emphasis of the department will include behavioral health economics; policy; empathetic leadership, human-centered design, and management; lifestyle technology and informatics; and social entrepreneurship. The Department of Health & Wellness Design will strive to educate and prepare the next generation of leaders to maximize the human experience and empower people to live well.

Students will have the option of diverse and exciting career paths in the fields of health care management, recreation therapy, state and local parks and recreation, and tourism, hospitality, and event management and in the business, government, public health, nonprofit, university, and research sectors.

The department joins our other academic units which include the departments of Applied Health Science, Environmental and Occupational Health, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and Kinesiology.