From the Department Head
Howdy! Welcome to the Department of Kinesiology & Sport Management (KNSM) at Texas A&M University.
KNSM has outstanding faculty, staff, students, and facilities and has been consistently recognized as one of the nation’s largest and best programs in our field. Our faculty and students are actively engaged in the practice and study of physical activity, sport and health that is making a national and international impact.
The department is comprised of four divisions including Health Education, Kinesiology, Sport Management, and the Physical Education Activity Program (PEAP). Department majors prepare for careers in allied health, athletic training, applied exercise physiology, basic exercise physiology, community health, clinical exercise physiology, motor behavior, motor neuroscience, school health (teacher certification), sport management, sports pedagogy (teacher certification), and sports physiology. Our allied health, motor behavior, basic exercise physiology, and applied exercise physiology programs provide relevant preparation and opportunities for students to take necessary pre-requisites for seeking entry into professional schools like nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, dentistry, and medicine or graduate study in our fields.
The department also has minors in coaching and sport management; emphases programs in sport conditioning and sport leadership; and, offers health & fitness activity courses that serve all students at Texas A&M University. The department is home to one Institute, three Centers, and 17 research and teaching labs that conduct basic and applied research designed to improve quality of life in healthy and diseased populations ranging from children to older adults. Undergraduate and graduate students are actively engaged with faculty in research and service activities.
The department has become a university leader in a number of areas including being ranked first at Texas A&M University in class count (over 1,700 per year) and student enrollment (3,948 majors and about 430 minors). The department generates over 98,000 student credit hours and 205,000 weighted student credit hours each year, which consistently ranks us among the top three departments at the University. According to the latest National Research Council (NRC) ranking of doctoral programs, our doctoral program in Kinesiology was ranked as high as 2nd nationally (the highest rated Ph.D. program at Texas A&M) and other national organizations have ranked our Health Education and Sport Management programs among the top programs nationally. The National Academy of Kinesiology recently ranked our doctoral program in Kinesiology tied for 7th nationally with the University of Florida.
We are very proud of the contributions our students, faculty, and staff have made in positioning our department as not only the largest in the nation, but also one of the best! We hope that our website helps you gain insight as to the many outstanding faculty, programs and activities within KNSM.
Gig’em!