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I believe it was Margaret A. Miller who published recently that “Our sense of professionalism and care for the next generation dictate that we do everything we can to ensure our students’ success.” The ASEP effort to transform exercise science to exercise physiology is part of a broader process of professional change in America. The impetus for this effort has always come from students who have graduated into the scrambled job options that go no where. As a result, students are increasingly perplexed by the diverse academic degrees that have failed to produce viable jobs with professional respect and financial stability.

When you have extreme diversity in academic degree offerings, the content is astoundingly inadequate. My goal in writing this piece is to bring attention to this paradox we find ourselves in. We must make a commitment to change the educational system that has been allowed to exist far too long without a serious evaluation of its problems. One of the challenges is to come to an understanding of what is exercise physiology and who is an exercise physiologist. Another challenge is to agree on a common knowledge base from which consistency and, therefore, accreditation guides our professionalism.

A collaborative environment is the best method of achieving these goals. Exercise physiologists must push themselves to engage in a reflective analysis of the views and assumptions that underpin kinesiology and/or exercise science. Collectively, we must learn from our mistakes. The challenge can be liberating and transformative. With a new model of what is exercise physiology, a new emphasis will be placed on instructional issues. As we champion new thinking that will guide new curricula, we will be less hampered by the inertia of yesterday’s thinking.

Students of the 21st century understand the risks in attending college to obtain an education and a future job. They know that the future is uncertain, but it shouldn’t be impossible. Since they are willing to trust the faculty and the institution, shouldn’t both be responsible to the students? As a faculty member, chair of a department, and as an exercise physiologist, (and, yes, as a parent), I believe we have a tremendous responsibility to our students. We must therefore update our degree titles, curricular objectives, hands-on practices and, in general, revisit the original curricular assumptions to shape a new program of study.

Students who are interested in health, fitness, wellness, rehabilitation, and athletics should understand that these important areas of study and application to society fall within the definition of what is exercise physiology. For example, this is what ASEP has on its home page: Exercise Physiology is the identification of physiological mechanisms underlying physical activity, the comprehensive delivery of treatment services concerned with the analysis, improvement, and maintenance of health and fitness, rehabilitation of heart disease and other chronic diseases and/or disabilities, and the professional guidance and counsel of athletes and others interested in athletics, sports training, and human adaptability to acute and chronic exercise.

Exercise physiologists of the 21st century must be engaged in the change process. They must be willing to take risks on behalf of the students’ academic and professional needs. And, without question, it is imperative that academic departments must support students by providing the very best education and standard of thinking that presently exist. These same departments may very well be held to a high performance and accountability standard as other healthcare departments like physical therapy or nursing. No one is interested in assigning penalties to departments. But, in short, department heads and other administrators along with their faculty should consider the implications in improving the students’ academic status and performance.

The benchmark for effective educational practices has always been linked to the professional organization. The very act of having an accreditation process (http://www.exercisephysiologists.com) should suggest to the administrators that it is educationally purposeful and essential to creating a productive and professionally sound academic degree program with integrity, effectiveness, and respect. It’s possible for institutions to link with ASEP, and it is wise to direct some effort and resources to accreditation.