Master of Science in Human Development and Family Studies

at University of New Hampshire - Durham Campus USA

Our M.A. in Community Development (MCD) will equip you for a myriad of careers and jobs while preparing you through real-world training and connecting you to community-based partners. You’ll learn the basis of community engagement and establish a foundation in sustainable and effective community development practices while learning to apply these skills across different sectors, including housing, health, finance, business development and more.

The purpose of the communication major is to prepare students to engage more knowingly with the communicative patterns, problems and practices that they will encounter in their personal, professional and civic lives. This purpose requires that students learn to move beyond commonplace and conventional understandings of "communication" and acquire sophisticated perspectives — workable orientations — for describing, analyzing, reflecting upon and engaging with those patterns, problems and practices. Accordingly, the major not only acquaints students with a variety of empirical, critical, historical, theoretical and pragmatic perspectives on communication phenomena, but encourages them to formulate workable orientations of their own for engaging with communication issues and questions. Students who graduate with a communication major are prepared to become thoughtful and proficient "communication decision-makers" during their postgraduate lives.

The German major is offered by the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures. This program is of interest to the following groups of students:

• Those who have a special interest in the German language, literature and culture.
• Those who intend to enter fields in which a background in foreign languages and cultures is desirable, such as business, engineering, the sciences, law, international affairs, government service and international service.
• Those who plan to teach German in secondary schools. Since most secondary schools require their teachers to teach more than one subject, students planning to enter teaching at this level should plan their programs carefully. They should combine a major in one culture and language with a minor or at least a meaningful sequence of courses in another subject. Dual majors also are possible. For certification requirements, see the section coordinator.

All German majors are strongly encouraged to double major or include a relevant minor in their studies.

The Department of History at the University of New Hampshire offers an option in Museum Studies for students pursuing the Master of Arts degree in history. The Museum Studies program combines practical museum experience with solid academic training to prepare students for a variety of positions in museums and other forums for public history. Located near the seacoast of New Hampshire and southern Maine, within easy driving distance of Boston as well as much of central and northern New England, the University of New Hampshire is ideally situated to take advantage of its close proximity to numerous historical sites and museums.

The statistics M.S. consists of graduate-level training in classical and modern methods of statistical analysis and provides a solid background in the foundations and application of these tools. With the number of jobs in data science and related technology fields growing exponentially, you’ll be well equipped for a range of positions drawing on your statistical modeling and computing skills.

The Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Biomedical Sciences (MCBS) in the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture (COLSA) offers the professional M.S. in  Bioinformatics. This non-thesis degree program addresses the growing workforce and educational needs of the life science industries (including biotechnology, environmental and agricultural sectors). The M.S. in Bioinformatics provides continuing and accessible graduate-level education for individuals from broad socioeconomic backgrounds currently in the workforce, as well as for UNH undergraduate students seeking to enroll in an accelerated Master’s program, and to gain enhanced knowledge and specialized skills prior to entering the workforce.

The goal of the UNH BSEP program is to produce broadly-trained engineers who can provide solutions to today’s challenging problems in support of a technologically evolving society. The core of the program is based on interdisciplinary training, complemented with a deeper understanding of the physical principles needed to support careers in engineering,  engineering research or, perhaps, further training in systems engineering. The program balances depth and breadth in skill development; flexibility and functionality are what drive the program in the sense that 1) the particular focus is based on the student’s interests, and 2) the breadth of the course selection is guided by the post-graduation goals of the student (e.g., employment versus graduate school).

The M.A. program in sociology will provide foundational training in critical thinking and research and a deeper understanding of the social causes and consequences of human behavior. You’ll build skills in data analysis, research design and sociological theory, and engage in research on topics such as environment and social change, gender, race and inequality, family, social demography, and stress and mental health. Our master’s program culminates in an original research thesis project, and these analytical and research skills will prepare you for a wide range of careers in research, education, health and human services, law, business, public policy and government.

Matriculating students should have strong aptitudes in mathematics and science along with imagination, spatial and graphic abilities, communication skills, and creativity. Students then follow a four-year program that conforms to the guidelines of, and is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, the global accreditor of college and university programs in applied and natural science, computing, engineering and engineering technology.  ABET accreditation assures that programs meet standards to produce graduates ready to enter critical technical fields that are leading the way in innovation and emerging technologies, and anticipating the welfare and safety needs of the public.

The first two years of the program provide the necessary technical knowledge in mathematics, chemistry, and physics, while introducing and developing problem-solving techniques in eight courses tailored to civil engineering students. The junior year provides courses in each of the civil engineering sub-disciplines, providing students with skills in each and allowing students to determine which they wish to pursue further. The senior year is flexible, allowing students to choose where to focus attention by selecting from more than forty elective courses in civil and environmental engineering.

The Option in Public Policy and Sustainability (B.A. degree) examines the factors that influence economic, social, and environmental outcomes, such as unemployment, poverty, economic inequality, health disparities, technological innovation, and pollution. Students will develop the institutional knowledge and theoretical perspective to understand the impact that decisions of individuals, firms, communities, and governments have on such outcomes. Students will analyze the impact of specific government policies and potential reforms, theoretically and empirically.

This option is designed for students seeking careers in policy analysis and research positions at government agencies; think tanks such as RAND Corporation, Urban Institute, and Mathematica Policy Research; consulting firms such as Abt Associates; and non-governmental organizations.