Advanced Athletic Training

Program Description

The Master of Science in Advanced Athletic Training is a post-professional degree for certified athletic trainers consisting of 34 credits. The MS program is the only Athletic Training program in the country with MSK Diagnostic Ultrasound courses and one of 8 programs in the country with Kinesio Tape® certification.  Students have the opportunity to learn the innovative knowledge and skills from AT faculty who are at the forefront of their expertise areas.  Dr. Katie Lyman is one of 12 individuals in the world that can certify ATs as CKTPs (Certified Kinesio Taping Practitioner®) and Dr. Kara Gange is the only athletic trainer in the country teaching MSK diagnostic ultrasound.  In addition to new knowledge, students are challenged to examine and compare previous knowledge and clinical practice to the available evidence and implement evidence based medicine.  Finally, students will perform a research study (thesis) in one of the MS AT faculty expertise areas with the result of disseminating the new knowledge and expanding the athletic training body of knowledge.

1. Minimum overall GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.
2. Must be a BOC AT or eligible for the BOC exam and have graduated from a CAATE accredited professional (entry-level) graduate or undergraduate athletic training program.
3. Skype or interview with Athletic Training Faculty.

Admission Acceptance/Denial into the M.S.:

The M.S. application process is a very competitive process. The Application Committee reviews the graduate school and program application and determines if a student is granted an interview. The committee will set up a time with the student to complete the interview process. Criterion that is evaluated includes:  overall GPA, certification status, quality of writing sample, quality of career goal statement, interview, and letters of reference. Exceptions to the requirements can be made upon recommendations from the Application Committee. Acceptance is not guaranteed simply upon satisfactory completion of the requirements. Once the Athletic Training Application Committee agrees to accept the student, the program director notifies the HNES Graduate Administrative Assistant, who notifies the NDSU Graduate School. Students are notified by the NDSU Graduate School of acceptance in the program. This letter should be received approximately 2 weeks after the Graduate School receives notification.

Kara Gange, Ph.D., ATC

North Dakota State University, 2010
Research Interests: Therapeutic Modalities and Diagnostic Ultrasound

Katie Lyman, Ph.D., ATC

University of South Florida, 2014
Research Interests:  Kinesio Tape^®, Manual Medicine, and Emergency Medicine