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College of Health Professions
School of Health Administration

SOHA History

Old Main

History

Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University) started a Bachelor of Science in Health Professions (BSHP) with a specialization in healthcare management in 1974 and officially created the Department of Healthcare Administration in 1976. In 1982 the specialization was changed to a major in healthcare administration. In 1998 the BSHP degree was changed to a Bachelor of Healthcare Administration (BHA) degree with a major in healthcare administration. Over 1,000 students have graduated with an undergraduate degree in healthcare administration from Texas State University. The degree was first certified by the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA) in 1990 and has been continuously certified as one of only two certified undergraduate degrees in healthcare administration in the state of Texas.

A Master of Science in Health Professions (MSHP) with a major in allied health management was approved in 1978 and in 1983 the major in allied health management was changed to healthcare administration and majors in allied health education and allied health research were added. In 1998 the MSHP in healthcare administration was changed to a Master of Healthcare Administration (MHA) degree with a major in healthcare administration; the MSHP degree in allied health research was changed to a Master of Science (MS) in health services research, and the allied health education major was changed to healthcare human resources. Over 550 students have graduated with graduate degrees with majors in healthcare administration, health services research, allied health education, and healthcare human resources. In 2010, the decision was made to discontinue the major in healthcare human resources due to declining enrollments and to initiate an MS in human resources in the McCoy College of Business.  This was followed by the elimination of the major in health research in 2014.

Organizationally, the above referenced degrees and majors were offered by two departments in the College of Health Professions--the Department of Health Services Research and the Department of Healthcare Administration. In order to be more efficient, the departments were combined into the School of Health Administration in 2007.

In 2017, the University asked SOHA to write a proposal for a Bachelor of Science with a major in Health Sciences. The purpose of the degree was to provide a path to graduation for all pre-clinical students because only a small percentage of them are accepted into their program of choice. The BS-HS started in 2019 and immediately graduated 6 students. Since then, hundreds of students have graduated with this degree. Because all pre-clinical students are coded with this major, it has grown to the second largest program in the university (2000+ students).

In Fall 2023, the BS-HS program was moved to the Dean's Office.