College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences 2015-2016 Catalog

253 examine specific professional, ethical, and legal issues associated with couples work. Issues of diversity and a commitment to multicultural exploration are demonstrated and interwoven throughout all discussions as students explore specific areas of work with couples such as extra-marital affairs, intimate partner violence, divorce, step-parenting, and health and illness. Offered winter term. SFTM 6570 – School-based Family Counseling This course offers training to work in educational setting utilizing a brief, solution oriented, and strength-based approaches to school issues. Also, this course will assist those therapists seeking a certified educational planner credential. Co-requisite with SFTM 6300. Offered summer term. SFTM 6630 – Grief and Loss The personal beliefs and philosophies regarding dying, loss, and death are explored. Bereavement across the life cycle, including developmental issues relating to adults and children and their understanding of loss are reviewed. The manner in which other cultures create meaningful rituals for life and death will be presented. Offered summer term. SHSS 6620 - Academic Writing (Elective) This writing course is a user-friendly seminar on how to write clear, unpretentious academic prose. Technical issues are covered that include sentence structure, punctuation, tenses, idea development and presented in a non-technical manner. The focus includes strategies for creating and editing manuscripts and for researching, organizing, and writing literature reviews. Offered each term. Core Courses M.S. in Gerontology GERO 5200: Concepts and Controversies in Aging This course will provide a focus on the major concepts and controversies currently being debated in the field of gerontology. Students will explore concepts of aging, health care, and society; some of the social and economic outlooks for our aging society; and the life course perspective. Topics will include health care rationing, elder abuse and neglect, the right to die, changing notions of retirement, creativity and aging, old age and the quest for meaning. 3 credits GERO 5300: Humanities and Aging The study of the humanities reflects a fundamental question, what does it mean to be human? Studying the humanities provides the student of gerontology with a framework in which to think and learn about aspects of being and becoming an older human that are less accessible through a biological, psychological, or social lens. The humanistic approach in the study of aging includes a variety of subjects, for example: life review, identity (especially as it pertains to people with Alzheimer's disease and other cognitive limitations), and spirituality, to name a few. 3 credits GERO 5400: Sociology of Aging for Future Leaders This course will provide a sociological perspective on the aging process and tools to effect change. Students will examine the impact of social policies, and the social and cultural conditions that shape the life course of older adults as individuals and as groups. As future leaders in the field, this class will seek to provide the student with an ability to critically analyze the policies and institutions that provide care and services to older adults, i.e. long