This major introduces students to the scientific study of the life, development, and socialization of children and adolescents. The Child and Adolescent Studies Program is an interdisciplinary undergraduate program that prepares the student for a wide range of research, assessment, evaluation and management opportunities in institutions and agencies serving children and adolescents, such as: juvenile correctional institutions, Head Start administration and programs, counseling centers, children’s hospitals and hospices, daycare centers, schools, social welfare agencies, adoption agencies, youth centers, clinical settings, street outreach, transitional living, entrepreneurship, and more.
Majors are required to earn at least a “C” in all courses in their major. Seniors are also required to perform one semester (150 hours) of field placement. After completing ENGL 101 and ENGL 102, Expository Writing and Argument and Research, students must take and successfully pass the Bowie State University English Proficiency Examination. Transfer students who complete their English composition requirements must take the English Proficiency Examination during the First semester of enrollment at the University. Exceptions to, or substitutions for, the following major requirements are considered only through a formal process of departmental recommendations. To receive a degree in Child & Adolescent Studies, the student must complete 120 hours.
The Child and Adolescent Studies Program provides:
- Small classes
- Integration of learning to experience
- Day, evening, and SUMMER classes
- Courses to enhance parenting and professional skills
- Counseling and training services for students, incarcerated mothers and welfare to work mothers, and others
- Cultural pedagogical models
- Cultural coping strategies
- Indigenous storytelling