Dr. Shellie Acocello, Program Director
(423) 425-4733 or email at Shellie-Acocello@utc.edu
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) offers a Commission on Accredditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE) accredited, Graduate Athletic Training Program (GATP) in the Department of Health and Human Performance. The Athletic Training, Master of Science is a 64-hour, non-thesis program that provides students with an effective blend of classroom information, clinical experiences, and research aimed at preparing students for the prevention, management, and rehabilitation of injuries and illnesses incurred by the physically active. The program is designed to meet the criteria for the Board of Certification examination. Additionally, the program emphasizes advanced theoretical, clinical, and research skills essential for working with the physiological and biomechanical aspects of sports injury, illness, and performance.
Students who have completed a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited four-year institution, and who have completed the five pre-requisite courses, are eligible for consideration for admission to the UTC GATP. Currently, we do not require a specific undergraduate degree for program admission, but a strong background in basic sciences is desirable.
Required and preferred pre-requisite courses include:
- Biology (separate from A&P; 4 credits required, 8 credits preferred)
- Chemistry (4 credits required, 8 credits preferred)
- Physics (4 credits required, 8 credits preferred)
- Anatomy and Physiology (4 credits required, 8 credits preferred)
- Psychology (3 credits required)
- *Kinesiology or Biomechanics (preferred but not required)
- *Exercise Physiology (preferred but not required)
All students interested in this degree program must make a formal application to the Graduate School and to the GATP and follow the prescribed course of study.
* For the most up-to-date and comprehensive information about the GATP, admissions, faculty and facilities, please refer to the Athletic Training Education Program website: www.utc.edu/gatp.
Admission to The Graduate Athletic Training Program
Submit all of the required materials directly to ATCAS (https://atcas.liaisoncas.com/applicant-ux/#/login ). Upon acceptance, students will then submit an application to The Graduate School. An applicant for admission to the Athletic Training degree program must meet the following requirements:
• Completed and signed application form provided by UTC
• Payment of $35 domestic; $40 international nonrefundable application fee
• Graduation from a regionally accredited institution of higher education
• A minimum grade point average of 2.75 on all undergraduate work taken toward the baccalaureate degree or a 3.0 in the last 60 credit hours
• Official transcripts from ALL colleges and universities attended
• Three professional letters of recommendation
• A letter of interest (cover letter)
• A resume or curriculum vitae
• A personal statement
• Course descriptions of all pre-requisite course work*
• Preferred, but not required: An official report of the applicant’s score on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), taken within the last five (5) years
*A course description from a syllabus or the catalog should be submitted electronically to your ATCAS application. Transcripts will not meet this requirement. The decision as to whether the respective course meets the prerequisite requirement will be made by the Program Director, who may request a course syllabus to make this determination. To graduate in the two-year time span, students must have already completed specific prerequisite courses prior to enrolling in certain classes in the program. Failing to complete all five prerequisite courses prior to the required program courses may extend the course of study to three years. These requirements must be fulfilled for program completion and to be eligible to register for the Board of Certification (BOC) national examination.
Retention
A student admitted to The Graduate School must maintain a 3.0 grade point average on all courses taken for graduate credit. In the event the student fails to meet this standard, one of the following actions will be taken:
Probation
A student will be placed on academic probation whenever the grade point average falls below 3.0 on courses completed for graduate credit.
Dismissal (Academic)
Once placed on probation, students must raise their institutional cumulative GPA to 3.0 or higher by the end of the next two terms of enrollment (counting the entire summer as one term). Students will be academically dismissed if they fail to achieve this institutional cumulative GPA within the two semester probationary period OR if they fail to achieve a 3.0 in either probationary semester.
Dismissed students may appeal to the Graduate Council for readmission. Upon readmission, students may resume graduate study with the same continuation standards.
Program of Study
Students must submit a Program of Study during the first semester of graduate coursework. The Program of Study consists of all core courses and any electives and establishes the courses the student must take for partial fulfillment of the degree requirements. The Program of Study form is located at https://www.utc.edu/document/103381.
Admission to Candidacy
The Application for Admission to Candidacy is typically filed in the semester prior to a student’s anticipated graduation semester. The student must have at least a 3.0 GPA on all coursework to file for admission to candidacy. Please refer to Admission to Candidacy section. The appropriate form may be obtained from the Graduate School Web site at https://www.utc.edu/research/graduate-school/student-resources/forms.
Graduation
In order to be eligible for degree conferral, the candidate must have completed all coursework as specified on the approved Application for Admission to Candidacy form, with no course with a grade below C presented for the degree and with a minimum average of B on each of the following: a) all coursework taken for graduate credit at UTC; b) all coursework transferred to UTC for graduate credit; and c) all coursework completed to fulfill the approved Program of Study. The same credits may not be used toward two master’s degrees.
*The Graduate Athletic Training Education Program (GATP) reserves the right to establish and enforce retention requirements above and beyond those established by The Graduate School, as stated in the GATP Policy Manual.
Clinical Education Requirements
Once notified of admittance into the GATP, students must meet specific requirements prior to beginning the clinical education component of the program.
Students in the GATP will be working in a variety of health care settings. The UTC GATP has established guidelines which comply with the CAATE accreditation standards, as well as the recommendations of the University Health Services. Students must fulfill these requirements before any clinical experience in order to start the clinical education component of the curriculum.
Admitted students must complete the following clinical health and liability requirements:
• Medical history and physical examination
• Annual Flu Shot
• Verification of meeting the GATP Technical Standards
• Proof of vaccination to measles, mumps and rubella
• Varicella zoster
• PPD for Tuberculin testing (required annually)
• Tetanus (please provide date of last booster)
• Criminal background check
• Negative drug screen
• Purchase individual student professional liability coverage in the minimum of $1,000,000 per incidence/occurrence and $3,000,000 annual aggregate
• Completion of HIPAA/FERPA/Confidentiality Training
• Completion of OSHA/Blood-Bourne Pathogens Training
Additional information regarding the above requirements can be located on the GATP website www.utc.edu/gatp under Pre-Clinical Health Requirements. Failure to satisfy the clinical health and liability requirements may result in dismission from the UTC GATP.
Clinical Education Description
The clinical component of the GATP includes a minimum of five (5) semester rotations under the direct supervision of a preceptor at the University or affiliate sites. The clinical education will include integration of skills into the clinical setting during supervised patient care.
Students are assigned to preceptors who provide health care to patients in a variety of clinical settings. Students will be assigned to learn under the guidance of a preceptor who will be physically present on-site.
Students will complete rotations on and off campus and will gain experiences with different populations, both genders, varying levels of risk, as well as equipment intensive and general medical type experiences.
There will be options available for interested students to gain experience in an industrial health care facility, orthopedic surgery, or a sports medicine rehabilitation clinic. Other sites may be substituted, either in full or part, for the industrial health care or rehabilitation clinic, as they are available and educationally stimulating. Formal evaluations of student progress and performance will be completed by the supervising preceptor, at the end of each clinical experience.
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