Cert
Early Childhood and Family Policy,
This program builds essential skills in policy development, analysis, and communication related to early childhood and family policies. Students will develop an interdisciplinary lens to understand the impact of early childhood and family policies across systems that address issues relevant to young children and family.
Description
The Early Childhood and Family Policy graduate certificate program builds essential skills in policy development, analysis, and communication. Students will develop an interdisciplinary lens to understand the impact of early childhood and family policies across systems that address issues relevant to young children and family including health care, education, child care, family leave, mental health, child abuse and neglect, incarceration of parents, and minimum wage. The importance of the early years and the need for quality services that are distributed equitably and sustainably are integral to a just society.
All coursework for this certificate is completed online through Great Plains IDEA consortium.
Applying for Admission
Standard requirements for all graduate programs
- Application for Admission with $50 non-refundable application fee.
- Transcripts (unofficial): Uploaded as part of application form.
If International: Uploads must include all college- or university-level transcripts or mark sheets (records of courses and marks earned), with certificates, diplomas, and degrees plus certified English translations.
After admission: Official documents are required from all students who are admitted and enroll. Photocopies of certified records are not acceptable. International students enrolled in other U.S. institutions may have certified copies of all foreign records sent directly to the Office of Graduate Studies by their current school’s registrar office.
- If applicant’s native language is not English, verification of English proficiency
is required.
When sending TOEFL scores, our institution code is 6877 and a department code is not needed.
- If applicant is not a US citizen and expects an F or J visa: financial information.
- Applicants must also fulfill any additional requirements the department specifies at the time of application.
Additional requirements specific to this program
- Resume
- Personal Statement addressing two questions:
- What personal and/or professional experiences have led you to want to pursue a graduate certificate in Early Childhood and Family Policy?
- What are your professional goals and how will this certificate help you achieve those?
- 1 Letter of Recommendation
Certificate programs are not considered degree programs, so international students should be aware that admission to this program is ineligible for immigration forms for an F-1 student visa.
Department
Graduate Chair
Note: Students enrolled in academic programs based entirely online are not eligible to apply for F-1 or J‐1 visas, per Department of Homeland Security regulations.
Program Faculty
Katelyn Coburn (bio)
LGBTQ+ family dynamics, Transgender and nonbinary mental health, Religious communities and LGBTQ+ people, The gender binary
Rochelle Dalla (bio)
Professor & Graduate Chair, Familial Dynamics, Intergenerational Family Processes, Support Systems of Women Trafficked into the Commercial Sex Industry (CSI).
Patty Kuo (bio)
Parent-child relationships, Early childhood development, Family dynamics, Salivary hormones, and fathers
Michael Merten (bio)
Adolescent and young adult psychosocial and behavioral outcomes in the context of family and community
Amy Napoli (bio)
Early math, Home learning environment, Parent-child math interactions, Early literacy
Gilbert Parra (bio)
Poverty, Father Involvement, Parenting Stress, Child Development, Neighborhood Disadvantage
Rachel Schachter (bio)
Early Childhood Teachers' Experiences, Professional learning, Instructional Supports, Multiple Research Methods
Julie Tippens (bio)
Refugees, Forced Migration, Humanitarian Aid, Older Adults and Aging, Sexual and Reproductive Health, East Africa, Ethnographic, Visual, and Participatory Research
Julia Torquati (bio)
Infant Mental Health, Parent-child Relationships, Attachment, Social-Emotional Development
Yan Ruth Xia (bio)
Immigrant Youth Behavioral and Mental Health, Adolescent Substance Abuse, Parenting, Chinese families
UNL Graduate Chairs and staff please complete the program update form to provide edits. Updates to graduate program pages are made on an annual basis in conjunction with the Graduate Application for Admission.