The concentration in early childhood education focuses on the application of principles derived from child and family studies to the educational programs for young children. Students selecting this concentration have an opportunity to participate in preschool programs at the Bernice M. Wright Cooperative Nursery School and at the Early Childhood Education and Day Care Center and to develop skills for supervision of pre-service or paraprofessional teacher trainees. For students majoring in child and family studies, career opportunities lie in programs and agencies concerned with day-care or other preschool activities, family life education, family planning, gerontology, or other community services. This interdisciplinary degree is designed flexibly to meet the career interests of individual students. It provides for specialized study and research in child development, family studies, or marriage and family therapy.
Students concentrate in one area and take supportive courses in the other.
They may also choose supporting courses outside the college in education, psychology, the social sciences, and women's studies. This degree prepares the individual for college teaching, research, and administrative positions in human service agencies. A maximum of 30 credits including master's thesis may be transferred to Syracuse University, providing the transfer courses fulfill requirements for the student's program. The second research tool may be chosen from those areas most appropriate for the student's proposed doctoral research, including clinical methods, computer programming, foreign languages, historiography, participant observation-naturalistic observation, psychological testing, and social survey techniques. A three-semester course in research design is also required.