Undergraduate minor in family social science
Preparing students for the future
Enhance your major and future career with an undergraduate minor in family social science. A minor will give you a fundamental understanding of parents, children, and families that will complement any career that works with people, from business to government to healthcare, law, and more. These minors will help you develop applied skills in case management, counseling, and financial counseling, as well as how to ethically and effectively work with communities.
Choose from four options:
If working in schools, clinics, social services, healthcare, or similar fields is your goal, you will need to connect with communities and work alongside families to co-create programs that work for them. The family and community engagement minor teaches you practical skills for engaging with families and community organizations. You will gain insights into the systems and policies affecting communities and learn how to collaborate with families to make a real difference.
In the first course, FSOS 2107: Preparation for Family and Community Engagement, you will learn how to work with families and communities by focusing on their strengths and assets. Through workshops and interactive activities, you will build concrete skills, including leading community discussions, mapping out community resources, and making community spaces more accessible. Plus, you’ll get an introduction to key nonprofit skills, like basic grant writing and program evaluation.
Within the coursework you will also learn about family strengths and cultural diversity, governmental policies and their consequences for diverse families, the impact of immigration on family relationships, and stressors that place families at risk across the lifespan (such as poverty, war/civil conflict, disability, social disparities/discrimination, and family separations).
The Family Social Science minor planning document can help you to plan your minor coursework. Questions? Please reach out to Kirsten Collins, departmental advisor, at coll0260@umn.edu
The family therapy minor gives you the basics you need for a career as a marriage and family therapist or any job where you help families. Coursework will develop your counseling micro-skills and how to communicate empathy to connect to clients. This minor will prepare you for future graduate study in counseling related programs, from K-12 counseling to couple/marriage and family therapy.
The first class you’ll take, FSOS 2101: Preparation for Working with Families, gets you started in the helping professions. Assignments will get you thinking deeply about your own family, identity, values, empathy, and career goals. This course sets you up for advanced classes, research projects, and internships. Additional coursework will help you understand the link between theory and practice as it relates to family therapy and ethical principles relevant to couple/marriage and family therapy.
The Family Social Science minor planning document can help you to plan your minor coursework. Questions? Please reach out to Kirsten Collins, departmental advisor, at coll0260@umn.edu
The family financial studies minor will prepare you to help families and individuals achieve their financial goals. You will learn to analyze how people use their resources to make decisions and solve problems. You will develop skills on basic money management, including savings, investments, credit, mortgages, taxes, various types of insurance, pensions, and estate planning. Plus, you'll explore how race, power, and systemic inequalities impact access to and use of economic resources in the U.S.
In the final course, FSOS 4153: Family Financial Counseling, you’ll focus on the role of a financial counselor, studying real-life family financial issues. You’ll develop professional skills to help people manage their day-to-day finances. Once you have finished this course and 1000 volunteer hours in financial education or counseling, you can apply to take the exam (at a substantial discount) to become an Accredited Financial Counselor (AFC). There's also an optional service-learning component where you can work with local nonprofits on financial literacy, counseling, curriculum development, or researching financial resources—hours that can count toward your AFC certification.
The Family Social Science minor planning document can help you to plan your minor coursework. Questions? Please reach out to Kirsten Collins, departmental advisor, at coll0260@umn.edu
A family social science minor will deepen your understanding of parents, children, and families in today’s complex world. Focused on the fundamental building blocks of society – couples and families – this minor complements any career that works with people.
Coursework covers a range of relevant topics like interpersonal communication, the impact of social policies on individuals, couples, and families, as well as strategies for supporting diverse families. You will explore how culture, economics, and politics influence family life, and gain insights into human behaviors and relationships that can help you connect with clients, patients, and colleagues on a deeper level – invaluable in any career.
By adding this minor to your studies, you are enhancing your academic profile and equipping yourself with skills and knowledge that are practical and applicable in everyday life. Whether you're negotiating a business deal, providing health care, crafting legislation, or advocating for social justice, the practical and applicable skills gained from a family social science minor will make you more empathic, effective and impactful.
The Family Social Science minor planning document can also help you to plan your minor coursework. Questions? Please reach out to Kirsten Collins, departmental advisor, at coll0260@umn.edu
Career options
A minor in family social science from one of the top programs nationwide will complement any career path–from business to medicine, to law and public policy, to engineering and the sciences.
International opportunities
You have the option of fulfilling coursework or internship requirements on campus, in the Twin Cities, or during sponsored learning abroad programs, as well as national student exchange programs.
Questions?
Please contact us with questions:
Margaret Kelly
Director of undergraduate studies
deleh003@umn.edu
Kirsten Collins
Senior undergraduate advisor
coll0260@umn.edu