Analysis of how individuals/families use interpersonal, economic, natural, and community resources to make decisions, solve problems, and achieve central life purposes.

Analysis of personal/family financial management principles. Financial planning of savings, investments, credit, mortgages, and taxation. Life, disability, health, and property insurance. Public/private pensions. Estate planning.

Family financial issues are studied with an emphasis on the role of the financial counselor. This course emphasizes the development of professional skills for assisting individuals and families to cope with financial concerns in their day-to-day lives. This course includes an optional service-learning component where students will work throughout the semester with local non-profit organizations focused on financial literacy, financial counseling, financial curriculum development, and/or researching financial resources. This course will require students to produce video recordings. At minimum students will need recording equipment that captures both video and audio. The resulting file will need to be uploaded to the internet. Laptops with webcams and smart phones with video capabilities should be sufficient for this purpose. Equipment and training are available from the Library's SMART Learning Commons.

Systematic preparation for upper division education, research/field internships, and career possibilities in Family Social Science.

This course will focus on preparing students to work with families in a community context. Central themes of the course include strategies for family and community engagement, understanding how families interact with community organizations and institutions, how to mobilize family and community assets, and collaborating with families to create systems change and build positive community resources. The course will pose questions for students about the roles of family professionals in supporting families in community contexts. The course will utilize readings about best practices in family and community engagement, both from the family studies literature and from cutting edge community-based organizations. Students will participate in a community project with a community organization that focuses on supporting families. This will enable them to attend community meetings, shadow family/community liaisons, and better understand the interface between families, community organizations, and institutions. Class assignments will allow students to engage in reflective practice and pull learning from their community-based experiences. They will learn concrete skills like meeting facilitation through a workshop format.