Introduction

Please click here to see Sociology department information.

Families are a fundamental part of society. Sociology approaches families by focusing on relational processes like support, socialization, conflict, and intimacy in interactions among family members. It also views the family as a major social institution that interacts closely with others, including education, law, healthcare, religion, the economy, criminal justice, and welfare. The family in its varied forms is key to understanding how inequality is experienced and reproduced in society, as substantial responsibility for caring, nurturing, and raising others is delegated to families.

The Department of Sociology's Families and Social Welfare Certificate provides students a foundation for understanding the complex role of families and family members at multiple levels, as well as the social systems and organizations responsible for supporting families and individuals. The content and methods courses will prepare students for direct service positions working with individuals and families (e.g., human and social services), or research, policy or advocacy positions addressing family issues (e.g., housing, violence and abuse, parenting, social welfare). Students earning the certificate also will be well-positioned to pursue advanced degrees in social work, public health, counseling, law, sociology, or related disciplines.  

Upon successful completion of the certificate, students will:

• Recognize the diversity of family structures within and across cultures

• Understand the theoretical perspectives explaining family behavior and relationships, and those addressing differences in the institution of the family across cultures and over time

• Be familiar with current trends in family structure, and recent research on family functioning and well-being, and how family research informs advocacy and policy work, and social welfare programs

• Be able to apply the technical skills of their methodological training to conduct analyses about families and family life, and outcomes assessments for social welfare programs aimed at helping families

• Engage in original research projects involving family-related issues

Program Delivery

• This is an on-campus or online program.

Declaring This Certificate

Students interested in completing this certificate should complete this form: CLAS Undergraduate Certificate Intent to Declare Form, which requests that the certificate be added to your student record. Once added, you will be able to run a certificate degree audit. The certificate degree audit should be used in collaboration with the Certificate Advisor to ensure successful completion of the requirements.

Students should then work with Maren Scull (maren.scull@ucdenver.edu) – the certificate advisor, to ensure completion of all certificate requirements.

Eligibility: While housed in Sociology, the study of families and social welfare is in fact a multidisciplinary field that draws from diverse liberal arts fields, including Psychology, Political Science, Communications, and History, among others. Thus, CU Denver undergraduate students in any discipline can enroll in the certificate program. The certificate is also available to non-degree-seeking students who already have earned a BA or BS degree, either at CU Denver or elsewhere.

Completing This Certificate

Students must also complete the CLAS Undergraduate Certificate Completion Verification Form, before graduation, in order to confirm completion of their certificate. The certificate advisor will confirm that your certificate has been successfully completed, and will work with campus partners to apply the certificate to your transcript.

Students must fill out the Certificate Completion Form before the deadlines below, to ensure the certificate is applied to your transcript correctly. If you are a non-degree seeking student, please fill out this form in the term in which you intend to complete your certificate.

Spring semester – April 1
Summer semester – July 1
Fall semester – November 1

These program requirements are subject to periodic revision by the academic department, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences reserves the right to make exceptions and substitutions as judged necessary in individual cases. Therefore, the College strongly urges students to consult their advisor to confirm the best plans of study before finalizing them. 

General Requirements

Students must satisfy all requirements as outlined below and by the department offering the certificate. 

• Click here for information about Academic Policies. 

Certificate Requirements

1. Students must complete a minimum of 15 credit hours from the approved courses below.

2. Students must complete a minimum of six upper-division (3000-level and above) credit hours chosen from the approved courses below.

3. Students must earn a minimum grade of C- (1.7) in all courses that apply to the certificate and must achieve a minimum cumulative certificate GPA of 2.0. Courses taken using P+/P/F or S/U grading cannot apply to certificate requirements.

4. Students must complete all 15 credits applied to the certificate at CU Denver chosen from the approved courses below. If students have completed a course required for the certificate elsewhere, they may add the needed credits in the form of additional elective credits drawn from the approved elective courses.

Certificate Restrictions, Allowances and Recommendations

1. The certificate will be awarded at the end of the semester in which the student completes all required courses for the certificate.

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Complete the following required courses:		11
SOCY 3115 & SOCY 3119	Quantitative Methods & Analysis and Qualitative Methods 1
SOCY/WGST 3700	Families and Society
Complete two of the following elective courses: 2		6
ANTH 4200	Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective
COMM 1041	Interpersonal Communication
COMM 3275	Family Communication
COMM 4262	Mediation
ECON 1010	Economics of Social Issues
ECON 3100	Economics of Race and Gender
ECON 4210	Public Finance
ETST 3125	Multiracial Families and Communities
ETST 3230	African American Family
HDFR 2000	Introduction to Family and Community Services
HDFR 3250	Families in Global Perspectives
HDFR 4010	Family and Cultural Diversity
HDFR 4040	Latino Families in School and Communities
HDFR 4045	Abuelos (Grandparents) Latino Families
HDFR 4075	Family Policy & Law
HDFR 4260	Family Systems and Social Justice
HDFR 4300	Families in Later Life
HDFR 4888	LGBTQ Family Systems
HIST/WGST 3343	Women & Gender in US History
HIST 4222	U.S. Society and Thought to 1860
HIST 4223	U.S. Society and Thought Since 1860
HIST/WGST 4303	Sex and Gender in Modern Britain
HIST 4492	United States History, 1919-1945
HIST 4493	United States History, 1945-1973
HIST 4494	Red and Blue America: U.S. History, 1973-Present
PBHL 4110	Public Health Perspectives On Family Violence
PHIL 3200	Justice, Freedom, and Power: Social and Political Philosophy
PSCI 4085	Comparative Governance: Environment and Society
PSYC 3205	Human Development I: Child Psychology
PSYC 3215	Human Development II: Adolescence and Adulthood
PSYC 3235	Human Sexuality
PSYC 3405	Family Psychology
PSYC 3612	Domestic Abuse
PSYC 4485	Psychology of Cultural Diversity
SOCY/WGST 3010	Sociology of Human Sexuality
SOCY/WGST 3080	Sex and Gender
SOCY/WGST 4270	Social Meanings of Reproduction
SOCY 4640	Sociology of Childhood and Adolescence
SOCY/WGST 4780	Violence in Relationships
Total Hours		17

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Students may substitute two approved methods courses in their major discipline, one on quantitative methods and one on qualitative methods. Questions about eligible methods course substitutions should be directed to the criminology certificate advisor. Alternative courses may reduce the required course credit hours from 11 to 9.

• SOCY 3115 Quantitative Methods & Analysis substitutions may include ECON 3801 Introduction to Mathematical Economics, ECON 3811 Statistics with Computer Applications, GEOG 2080 Introduction to Mapping and Map Analysis, GEOG 4080 Introduction to GIS, MATH 2830 Introductory Statistics,  PHIL 2441 Logic, Language and Scientific Reasoning, PHIL 3440 Introduction to Symbolic Logic, PSCI 3011 Research Methods, PSYC 2090 Statistics and Research Methods, PSYC 3090 Research Methods in Psychology.
• SOCY 3119 Qualitative Methods substitutions may include COMM 4221 Research Methods: Qualitative, PBHL 4031 Ethnographic Research In Public Health

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Prerequisites may apply.

To learn more about the Student Learning Outcomes for this program, please visit our website.