Pictured from left: Division of Sports Medicine Director Steve Westering, MA, ATC (BSAT ‘94), and UND Athletic Director Brian Faison

The University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences is playing an integral part in UND’s five-year transition to Division I sports.

“You bet, a top sports medicine and athletic training program is an essential ingredient in successful Division I athletics,” says UND athletic director Brian Faison. “And my experience around the country tells me that at UND, we have one of the very best and truly unique sports medicine-athletic training programs.”

For Division of Sports Medicine Director Steve Westering, MA, ATC (BSAT ‘94), that’s welcome reassurance but not really a surprise.

“Since the inception of the current program in 1991, we have tried to provide quality education and service,” says Westereng, who also is the principal athletic trainer for UND football. He notes that the mission of the Division of Sports Medicine—which is part of School of Medicine’s Department of Family and Community Medicine—is to serve the region through provision of education, research and service in sports medicine.

“We recognize that sports medicine is a multidisciplinary field involving many facets of the health care community,” Westereng says. The Division provides direction for the Bachelor of Science in Athletic Training degree program, a fourth-year medical elective in sports medicine, and residency training in sports medicine. Service components of the Division are handled through the athletic training services provided for UND athletics and the Center for Sports Medicine, a clinical practice in sports medicine for student-athletes as well as the general public. Research and continuing education are vital aspects of the Division to improve the quality of care for athletes regionwide.

The UND Athletic Training Program, a part of the Division of Sports Medicine,
“was the first undergraduate athletic training program in the country to be located in a medical school,” Westereng notes. “We’re also actively involved in the education of family practice residents in the area of sports medicine.”

As the University’s athletics enter the new era of Division I across the board (UND men’s and women’s hockey are already Division I programs), the medical school’s sports medicine program is likewise preparing for some changes.

“We’ve already started recruiting and hiring additional staff to tackle our new Division I-related needs,” Westereng says. That’s basically building on a sports medicine and athletic training program with a well-grounded reputation. The Task Force report on the Division I move indicated that UND already matched up well with Division I institutions in various key measures, such as the number of sports UND offers, the quality of facilities available to UND athletes, and the support systems—including sports medicine—that UND already has in place.