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Yitza Arcelay Rojas

Senior Contributing Faculty

College of Health Professions

School of Health Sciences

Degree Program M.S. Health Education and Promotion

Dr. Arcelay-Rojas lives in Albuquerque, NM. She received her EdD in Curriculum and Instruction at the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico in May 2014. Dr. Rojas has a Master in Public Health Education (MPHE), and is a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) since 2003. She has a B.S. in Biology, University of Puerto Rico. She currently serves as contributing faculty in the College of Health Sciences at Walden University and has served in this role since 2015. Dr. Rojas has taught Human Development; Human Sexuality; Counseling Skills for Health Educators; Health, Safety, and Nutrition; Health Promotion; Health and Illness Through the Life Cycle; Environmental Health; Well-being and quality of Life; Essential Concepts in Health Sciences at other colleges and universities since August 2004. In addition, she serves as dissertation committee member in the role of Chair and URR. In the past, she worked as coordinator of the School Health Education Program at the Inter American University of Puerto Rico. Professionally, Dr. Rojas has worked as a Public Health Educator for the Department of Health of Puerto Rico where she provided education about HIV/STI prevention. Furthermore, Dr. Rojas has worked in different settings as a childbirth and lactation educator. She also designed and developed a mental health promotion curriculum. She has experience in qualitative research method skills including the use of focus groups in health, curriculum, and education.

Courses Taught

HLTH 6110 - Exploring Health Education

HLTH 6475 - Program Design, Implementation and Evaluation

HLTH 6030 - Socio-Ecological Perspectives (Master level)

HLTH 8030 - Socio-Ecological Perspectives (doctoral level)

HLTH 6800 - Capstone

HLTH 8205 - Assessing Community Needs

HLTH 9101 - Dissertation

HLTH 8551 - Preparing for Dissertation

Education

EdD, Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico - Ponce, PR United States

MPHE, University of Puerto Rico - San Juan, PR United States

BS, University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez, PR United States

Awards / Honors

Certificate of Teaching Excellence: School of Education, 2010

Faculty Excellence Award, Walden University, 2021

Publications

Deiter, S., Arcelay Rojas, Y. A. (2021). Food Insecurity Experiences of Idaho Head Start Families. Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences.

Arcelay Rojas, Y. A. (2018). Using Focus Groups to Explore Sources of Self-Efficacy in Puerto Rican Preservice Teachers. Journal of Educational Research and Practice.

Arcelay Rojas, Y. A., Avilés-Garay, E. J. (2014). Pre-service teachers' knowledge and experiences regarding the application of practices that promotes educational resiliency. Revista Actualidades Investigativas en Educación.

Arcelay Rojas, Y. A. (2019). Exploring Puerto Rican preservice teachers’ resilience: A focus group study.. Journal of Educational Research and Practice.

H. Arroyo, Arcelay-Rojas, Y. A., Arcelay Rojas, Y. A. (2010). Grado de Bachiller en Artes en educación con concentración en salud escolar de la Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico.

Arcelay Rojas, Y. A., Jackson, C. (2021). Experiences of African American women living with herpes simplex virus 2. . Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences.

Presentations

Arcelay Rojas, Y. A. (2018). Building resilience:  Implications for students and educators . Puerto Rico TESOL Southern Chapter Conference.

Arcelay Rojas, Y. A. (2016). Conocimientos y experiencias de candidatos a maestros sobre la aplicación de prácticas promotoras de resiliencia educativa.

Arcelay Rojas, Y. A. (2002). Opinions of health professionals about the older adult's sexual health.