F&M Certificates
What Is a Certificate?
Certificates are supplemental educational pathways you can pursue at F&M. Certificates
are not tied to your major or minor, but are credentials you can add to your resume
to demonstrate a specialized level of training and education in a particular area.
There are several certificates available at F&M, each one an incubator of innovation
exploring a new field of study that uniquely blends perspectives from multiple disciplines.
To complete a certificate, you must fulfill specific, for-credit activities (such
as courses or internships), similar to your major and minor course requirements.
Diversity and Equality in Education
Disciplines: Philosophy, Sociology, and internship for credit in Lancaster schools
Pairing philosophy and sociology, this certificate builds a multifaceted foundation in the study of education. You will philosophically investigate important civic issues while using a sociological lens to analyze the structure and dynamics of educational systems. Hands-on experiences are an important aspect of this certificate. Through a for-credit internship, you will work with students in Lancaster County schools, experiencing firsthand the lived effects of socially patterned inequalities while exploring educational principles regarding learning and equality.
Sustainability Planning
Sustainability planning is an increasing need in the marketplace. This certificate provides the glue that bonds biology; earth and environment; and business, organizations and society to prepare students interested in careers in sustainable practices. The four courses in this certificate provide opportunities for you to acquire skills in on-the-ground communication; policy analysis; research methods; risk assessment; sustainability metrics, tracking, and reporting; sustainability philosophies and techniques; and more. Applying what you’ve learned in the field, you are also encouraged to pursue hands-on experiences through internships or independent research projects.
Legal Studies
This certificate enables you to engage and evaluate legal discourse and argument as informed citizens. You will build a foundational understanding of the legal field through a blend of government; business, organizations and society; American studies; economics; English; and philosophy. Drawing upon exploration of legal doctrines, reasoning, and policies in both public and private law, you will critically examine legal controversies from literary, economic, philosophic, and cultural perspectives. In addition to your course work, you will participate in F&M’s Mock Trial Program, through which you’ll gain hands-on experience, bolster your understanding of the justice system and hone your persuasion skills through team competition.
Health Humanities
Health humanities is a growing field at the intersection of humanistic scholarship and health professions. This certificate blends rich perspectives from several academic fields to explore questions of health (including mental health and public health), illness, medicine, and disability. You’ll study broader questions of health from three key perspectives: historical, ethical, and literary/cultural.
Social Entrepreneurship
Disciplines: Entrepreneurship, Earth & Environmental Science, Environmental Studies, Sociology
Are you interested in having a positive impact on the world around you? Social entrepreneurship leverages best practices in innovation, social change, and startups to address the social issues that matter most to you. Through this certificate, you will learn how to become aware, recognize, and think critically about societal problems and needs in the world around you; develop your entrepreneurial mindsets and techniques to create solutions that are sustainable over time; and apply what you learn in a hands-on project.
Language and Communication
Combining linguistics and philosophy, you will explore foundational questions about linguistic structure, meaning, and communication. You will investigate the cognitive dimensions of language, the social-political dimensions of language, and how the study of language connects to philosophical questions concerning the nature of truth, logic and knowledge.
Social Justice
This certificate synthesizes critical perspectives on the social systems and structures through which dynamics of power and inequality are created, maintained, contested, and transformed. At the intersections of race, gender, socioeconomic class, and sexuality, you will have the opportunity to meaningfully engage with historical and contemporary issues germane to struggles for equity and justice between and across social identity groups.
Arts for Social Change
Disciplines: Sociology, Anthropology, Film, Music, Theatre, Dance
This certificate will help you deepen your understanding of the arts as mediums for impacting culture, community, politics, education, and more. Arts for Social Change spans F&M’s dynamic arts disciplines, uniting the ethos of community-building with artistic practice that foregrounds innovation and action.
Animal Husbandry & Primate Training
This certificate develops your abilities to care for animals professionally as well as to reflect on your experiences as an element of humans’ relationships with the natural world. You will learn fundamentals of behavior and conditioning in the classroom, engage in hands-on animal care and primate training, and have the opportunity to view your work in a broader ethical, cultural, and social context. You will demonstrate your expertise by creating specific enrichment and training plans.
F&M students pay keen attention in Associate Professor of Philosophy David Merli's Biomedical Ethics class. The class is required for a certificate in Health and Humanities. (photo by Deb Grove)