Aquaculture and Aquatic Resources MS at University of Maine

The family and consumer sciences education program is designed to prepare students for teaching careers in middle and high school family and consumer sciences; adult- and community-based education; Extension Service; educational support services such as curriculum development and media, business, government, human services; and other fields. It includes coursework in all family and consumer sciences content areas and required professional education courses.

The program meets Texas standards for the Family and Consumer Sciences Composite Certificate that qualifies individuals to teach all family and consumer sciences courses offered in Texas secondary schools. Texas has a critical shortage of teachers, and the demand for family and consumer sciences teachers remains strong.

The Bachelor of Science degree (B.S.) in Honors Sciences & the Humanities (HSH) with a concentration in Medicine, Global Health, and the Humanities is designed for capable, curious students who are interested in pursuing a broad and challenging course of study that will prepare them for a variety of careers and a lifetime of active citizenship. The degree encourages pre-med Honors students to broaden their educational experiences in order to become more competitive applicants to medical schools and eventually more employable professionals. While targeted to a pre-med audience, it could also have relevance to other Honors students pursuing related pre-health occupations (i.e., nursing school, physician’s assistant studies, healthcare administration). Through a profound exploration of the intersections between health, healing, and the humanities, graduates will be able to better communicate the compassion, creativity, and innovation of scientific thinking in humanistic terms. Many university graduates change careers several times during their lives, and the field of medicine is not exempt from this reality. Therefore, this degree also emphasizes marketable skills that are portable, such as critical thinking, writing, and problem solving, that ready students for a broad range of career options.

From a foundation of research and theory, this degree focuses on development across the life span (prenatal to late adulthood) in the context of couple, family, and peer relationships as well as community influences. This program focuses on intrapersonal (e.g., personality, cognition), interpersonal (e.g., relationship conflict, self-disclosure), and societal (e.g., race-ethnicity, social class) influences as they affect personal and family well-being and development.

Many courses offer perspectives on interpersonal and family behavior through development of the infant, child, adolescent, young adult (dating, early marriage), middle-aged adult (divorce-remarriage, parenthood), and older adult (widowhood, grandparenthood). Some courses also focus on important social issues that affect individual and family functioning (e.g., violence, public policies). Courses at the upper-division level provide professional training for students seeking employment in such diverse occupations as child advocacy, early intervention, youth development, human resources, social services, and social justice. In addition, HDFS is an ideal foundation for further study in areas such as allied health, nursing, medicine, law, education, and other related graduate programs.

Service and research skills are also enhanced by opportunities to observe and interact with infants, toddlers, and young children in the Child Development Research Center and TTU Center for Early Head Start. The centers are accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Students are required to pass a background check before working in these areas. Supervised experiences with community groups provide opportunities for interaction with older children, adolescents, couples, families, and elderly adults. These experiences assist students in understanding developmental stages of human behavior and interpersonal relations as they occur in professional settings.

Enrollment in the department is based on a 2.5 GPA. To continue enrolling in human development and family sciences courses, students must maintain a GPA that meets or exceeds this standard. In addition, transfer students must have a 2.5 GPA.