A new 13-credit online Youth Development Graduate Certificate program is being offered through NDSU’s Office of Distance and Continuing Education. The graduate certificate is offered online to help meet the demand for graduate education for youth development professionals.
The program examines the fundamentals of youth development and the youth development profession. Students will explore the ethical, professional and historical elements of youth development as it has evolved toward professionalization. Other topics include:
- Major issues and transitions of adolescents,
- Influence of home, school, peers and other forces,
- Adolescents and their families,
- Current issues, such as youth violence, faced by today’s youth,
- Societal and cultural impacts on youth and
- Federal and state policies related to youth.
NDSU has offered a master’s degree option in youth development for several years. Joel Hektner, associate professor of human development and family science, said, “The department recognized that not all professionals working in the field have a need for the full degree. In order to offer the most flexibility and the widest range of options, we thought it would be useful to offer youth professionals a focused series of graduate-level courses in the field and to document this education with a graduate certificate.”
Students in the program may choose to continue their studies with the online M.S. in Human Development and Family Science: Youth Development option.
For more information about the online Youth Development Graduate Certificate go to http://ndsu.me/dceydgc or call 701-231-7015.
NDSU is recognized as one of the nation's top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.