Home > Courses > Certificate & Interdisciplinary Minor Programs > Population Studies Certificate

Population Studies Certificate

Contact: Gordon F. Sutton, Director

Office: 616 Thompson

Phone: 545-4071

E-mail: sutton@soc.umass.edu

The Faculty

Ralph H. Faulkingham, Alan C. Swedlund, R. Brook Thomas (Anthropology); Peter Brandon, Surinder K. Mehta, Suzanne Model, Gordon F. Sutton (Sociology); Piper Gaubatz, (Geosciences); Robert M. Muth (Natural Resource Studies). Other associated faculty: Nancy R. Folbre, Carol Heim (Economics); Stephen P. Coelen (Political Science); James A. Hafner, Richard Wilkie (Geosciences); George Cernada, (Public Health); Sidney Wolf (Regional Planning).

The program in Population Studies prepares undergraduate students for jobs requiring demographic skills or for entering graduate programs in related areas. The program is not a major in itself. It requires 15 semester hours of coursework, some of which may satisify other University and major requirements. Applications of demographic analysis to the problems of human ecology are illustrated in the preparation of state and local population estimates, support of city and regional planning, and execution of environmental impact analysis, as well as in academic study of communities and organizational change.

Successful completion of the program leads to a Certificate in Population Studies attesting to a special competence in the application of demographic skills to solution of problems in population-environment relations. The certificate requirements cover introductory work in population, culture and society, and population and human ecology; then, preparation in demographic methods leads to a choice of course work offered by members of the participating faculty, listed above. Work on the certificate concludes with a seminar in the senior year. The population methods course (SOCIOL 363) satisfies the Analytic Reasoning requirement (R2) in the General Education program. Students enrolling in this course are expected to have a score of 20 on the Mathematics Placement Test (or its equivalent). In the course of their studies, students are urged to become familiar with a computing package such as EXCEL, QUATTRO PRO, or STATA, any of which may be used in their work.

Required Courses

1. Conceptual introduction to demography (SOCIOL 261 Population Studies or equivalent).

2. Population methods (SOCIOL 363 Techniques of Demographic Analysis), offered annually in the spring semester.

3. Topical courses. Two courses involving the application of demography to a special subject matter (for example, SOCIOL 565 Sociology and Ecology of the Community; ANTH 208 Human Ecology; GEO 370 Urban Geography).

4. Seminar. At least one senior or graduate-level seminar on some topic employing demography analysis. If none is available, an independent-study course with a professor qualified in demography may be substituted.

In the cases of requirements 1, 3 and 4, students should seek advice and approval of their choices from the Program Director.

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