The department offers comprehensive curricula of undergraduate and graduate degree programs and courses that emphasize the importance of education in the prevention of personal and family problems related to lifestyle and health behavior. Seven areas of specialization are available to the student:

• Dietetics is the profession of utilizing food and nutrition science to both prevent and treat disease and promote a healthy lifestyle. Students learn to practice the principles of nutrition, food science, and food management in an applied setting. The curriculum meets standards established by the Commission on Accreditation of Dietetics Education (CADE) of the American Dietetic Association (ADA) for the Didactic Program in Dietetics (DPD).
• Health promotion enables individuals and communities to increase control over and improve their health. In this graduate-level program, students acquire skills to serve as health educators and health promotion specialists in educational, clinical, occupational, and community settings and for managing a diverse array of health education programs. A highlight of the program is the travel study course, in which students have the opportunity to learn firsthand about health care systems, main health challenges, and cultural influences in other countries.
• Human development and family studies examines human behavior from the perspective of lifespan development and within the context of the intimate environment of the family. As an applied field, it focuses on the illumination of relationships and behavior through application of theories on development and family.
• Nutrition science integrates nutrition with physical and life sciences to promote healthy lifestyles. It has become an increasingly popular route for IU pre-med, pre-dental, and pre-physician assistant students. Nutrition science provides a thorough background in advanced science courses preparing not only nutrition-savvy medical professionals, but also nutrition educators and researchers.
• Public health has the purpose of assessing, understanding, and responding to the social, behavioral, and ecological factors that influence the health of communities throughout the world along with managing the systems that are responsible for protecting the public’s health. Public health professionals work with individuals and communities through government agencies, nonprofit organizations, hospitals, and corporations. Fully accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH), the MPH program concentrates on either social and behavioral sciences or public health administration, with core classes in epidemiology, biostatistics, environmental health, health behavior theory, and health administration.
• Safety and safety management programs develop the skills and professional competencies to support workplace safety and health programs and efforts in both public and private organizations. This program promotes the increasingly important area of safety and health in today’s technological workplace through education; hazard identification, evaluation, and control; and risk management. Safety professionals are the leaders in protecting corporate resources and workers' lives.
• School and college health education provides comprehensive and coordinated programs that promote the health of children and young adults. Students accrue professional skills required to design, deliver, and assess effective health instruction in schools and colleges. Undergraduate students can earn secondary teacher certification in a joint program with the School of Education. The graduate program allows for advanced study, focusing on leadership roles in school health programs and university health centers.