Health Administration MHA

"WVU will ALWAYS be my home among the hills!"

Corey Edmonds chose WVU Online because he was a busy working professional and it allowed him to further his education without having to sacrifice the career progress that he had already made.

"The MHA online program is designed for working professionals and is very student-centric. Now that I have graduated from an online program, I recognize that there are so many benefits that you often don't experience in on-campus courses."

"Since graduating, I have continued to move up the career ladder within my organization with future growth opportunities aplenty."

Corey says the Master of Health Administration prepared him for his career by equipping him with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform confidently and efficiently as a healthcare administrator.

"In my professional life, the skill that I have found most useful is my ability to look at things through a very subjective lens," he says."

"The temptation to submit to your knee-jerk reactions and emotions is often too much to overcome. My education at WVU has taught me to be very subjective and to make sure I do my research so that I can make well-informed decisions."

"I promise all my students that I will see them successfully through my courses, provided they are determined to put in the work and effort."

"I originally thought I was going to run nonprofits, and thus pursued graduate degrees in social work and public administration."

His first job after graduate school involved establishing a research program for the WVU Department of Emergency Medicine, where many of the projects sought interventions to reduce suffering and increase the quality of care.

After 19 years conducting research in Emergency Medicine, Steve accepted a faculty position in the WVU School of Public Health in 2018. Since joining Public Health, he has developed a teaching style that is student-centered.

He believes learning does not take place in the context of anxiety and fear.

"My first teaching philosophy is related to this. No student should ever have any fear about failing if honest effort and engagement are put forth,” he says. “I encourage them to reach out to me at any time for assistance."

Another part of his teaching philosophy: Laughter is the best medicine.

"In my undergraduate classes, I have become somewhat known for my historically bad dad jokes," he laughs.

"Co-learning is a gift. As much as I am excited to have the opportunity to serve as your instructor, I am equally excited to learn from you."

"To succeed in my classes, students must be curious, eager to learn, and get their ‘hands dirty’ by practicing the concepts and utilizing their skills."

France Weaver decided to study Health Economics because it allows her to combine her two interests: the rigor of the field of economics and figuring out the complexity of human behaviors.

"The field of health services administration offers me the opportunity to do research in health economics and transfer my expertise to and mentor future health administrators," she says.

In her classes, she makes sure her students embrace the subject matter and she helps them take ownership of their learning.

"I am a strong believer in students sharing their understanding and building each other up," she says. "I make sure they stay on the right track and learn all that they need to learn, while encouraging them to work together and learn from each other."

France does not see much difference between teaching on campus versus online.

"In both modes, I emphasize the importance of developing skills through applications. I supply diverse avenues to learn and apply the materials, because some students are visual, while others are auditory, hands-on, or reading/writing learners," she says.

Her classes include hands-on activities, guest speakers, videos, exercises, real-world case analyses, articles, and slides.

"To succeed in my classes, students must be curious, eager to learn, and get their ‘hands dirty’ by practicing the concepts and utilizing their skills," she says.