Help families deal with life’s greatest challenges.
If you are interested in making a real difference in people’s lives, Child and Family Studies is an excellent major to pursue.
Graduates possess the competencies to work with a wide variety of audiences (i.e., children, teens, couples, young adults, seniors) in both prevention-based and intervention-focused occupations that strengthen individuals, families and communities.
When you major in Child and Family Studies at Ashland University, your coursework goes way beyond lectures and textbooks. You will conduct a personal research project on a subject of your choosing, undertake a professional internship in the field and participate in hands-on service learning in the community. In short, you will immerse yourself in the program mind, body and soul. Ashland is one of the few programs in Ohio to meet the standards of a Certified Family Life Educator program and you will have the opportunity to gain this designation through your studies.
|
What You’ll Love About the Child and Family Studies Major:
- You’ll receive lots of one-on-one attention from professors who get to know you well in our small classroom environment.
- You’ll complete a personal research project such as these recently undertaken by Ashland University students: Cultivation of Emotions Within a First Through Third Grade Classroom, Job Stress and How It Relates to Marital Satisfaction and The Parental Role in Career Choices of Adolescents. View the 2010-11 Research Projects
- You’ll pursue a curriculum that offers several clear career paths as well as insights into achieving a more satisfying family life yourself.
- You’ll have numerous opportunities that allow you to evaluate different career paths, including an interview with a professional, an internship (view 2010-11 internship opportunities), being a service learning volunteer (view 2010-11 service learning opportunities), presenting a family life education program and many volunteer opportunities.
- You’ll have the opportunity to earn the Certified Family Life Educator designation, a credential that establishes professional credibility by specifying that the standards needed to provide family life education have been met.
|
Reach Your Career Goals
|
A Child and Family Studies major prepares you for a wide range of careers including:
- Activity director for senior facility
- Adoption examiner
- After-school program director
- Birth-to-three service coordinator
- Camp director
- Child care center or preschool director
- Childcare consultant
- Child development coordinator
- Child/family researcher
- Child life specialist
- Child welfare professional
- Extension agent
- Family life counselor/educator
- Foster care professional
- Head start service provider
- Resource teacher
- Program coordinator for adult advocacy program
- State child care licensing specialist
- Teen parent educator
- Youth program director
- Mediation
- Child and Family Advocate
|
|
Professors Who Enjoy Mentoring Students
- Professors are actively engaged in research and they welcome student involvement, which can be a real asset to your résumé if you go on to graduate school.
- Professors enjoy working one on one with you and will be deeply involved in coaching you on your research project and consulting with you on your career plans.
- Professors are excellent classroom instructors who teach every class. You are never taught by graduate students or teaching assistants.
|
Gain Real World Experience
|
As a Child and Family Studies major, you will participate in an internship in a social service agency, county extension office, abuse center, hospital, preschool, senior center or other programs that helps strengthen individuals and families. The choice of internship depends on your specific career interests.
Recent internships have included:
- Court-appointed Special Advocate Intern Richland County Juvenile Court
- Intern at Lakewood Hospital Child Care Center
- Social Services Intern Medina County Job & Family Services
- Tsunami Assistance Intern
- Helping women and children bound in the cycle of poverty at the Beatitude House in Youngstown
- Intern at Ashland Care Center, providing information and referrals for pregnancy, parenting support and adoption agencies
- Social Services Intern at St. Francis Nursing Home in Tiffin and Anchor Lodge Nursing Home in Lorain
- Afterschool Program Coordinator at Shreve Elementary
- Training and Mentoring Assistant at Boy's Village, helping boys and girls involved with the juvenile justice system
- Help Me Grow Early Intervention Program Home Visitor for Geauga County
- Administrative Intern at Christian Children's Home of Ohio, working with children in need and offering foster and adoption services
- Catholic Charities Services Corporation Program Assistant
- Intern at The Domestic Violence Center in Mansfield
- Summit County Battered Women's Shelter Youth Advocate Intern
- Program Manager for the Society for Handicapped Citizens in Medina County
- Childcare/Administrative Intern for Christian Children's Home of Ohio in Wooster
- Loudonville Public Library Children's Librarian Intern
In addition, our students each complete a service learning project such as developing educational materials that are given to parents at schools and daycare centers, assisting at the Women, Infants, Children (WIC) office or Ronald McDonald House and other activities that make a difference in the community.
|
|
Interesting Classes You May Take
- Child Development — Explore the factors involved in the physical, language, cognitive, social, and emotional development of children, both typical and atypical, from birth through age eight.
- Marriage and Family Relationships — Examine the modern American family beginning with courtship and continuing through subsequent phases of the family lifecycle.
- Adult-Child Relationships – Study adult-child relationships within the context of the family, school, and community. Learn basic child guidance techniques and view child and adult behavior as part of a broader context.
- Stress Management — Undertake an analytical study of stress and its impact on the individual with emphasis on the identification of the various stressors that influence the individual and ways to reduce or eliminate them.
|
Organizations for child and family studies Majors
- Kappa Omicron Nu Honor Society
- FCS Club – All FCS majors are invited to participate in FCS Club. The club meets regularly for social, service and professional activities. A faculty advisor works with the club. You have an option to be a student officer and help plan and carry out events or to just come and join the fun while getting acquainted with other students in the department.
- National Council on Family Relations
|
|
