M.A. Family Community Services

The Master of Arts in Family Community Services is a collaborative, multi-institutional program offered totally online. This degree is designed to provide a research-based perspective to understand individual, family, interpersonal and community dynamics across the lifespan. Students will acquire knowledge and skills related to the design, implementation, sustainability and leadership and management of family and community services programs.

The College of Social Science, in collaboration with Innovative Digital Education Alliance (IDEA), offers this program with all course work delivered via the Internet/World Wide Web by faculty from multiple land-grant universities: Michigan State University, Kansas State University, University of Missouri, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Oklahoma State University, and South Dakota State University.

The program is available only online and only under Plan B (without thesis). Each student’s course of study must be developed and approved in consultation with the academic adviser. The student must complete a total of 36 credits, of which 30 credits is course work required by Innovative Digital Education Alliance (IDEA) consortium, distributed as follows:

Core courses (30 credit hours):
Administration and Management of Human Services Programs
Crises Across the Lifespan
Family Dynamics
Family Resource Management
Foundations and Principles of Family and Community Services
Interpersonal Relationships
Lifespan Development
Parenting Education
Program Design, Evaluation and Implementation7
Resilience in Families
Additional course work (6 credit hours).
This enrollment will vary at each institution. At Michigan State University, students will fulfill this requirement by enrolling in course work approved by the student’s academic adviser.
Pass a final oral examination or evaluation. This will include a formal presentation by the student on a topic determined by the student and the academic adviser.

For the most up-to-date information, visit the registrar's website.

Michigan State University is a member of the Innovative Digital Education Alliance (IDEA). This multi-state alliance of accredited universities offers fully online undergraduate and graduate degree programs in the human sciences. Universities share knowledge through a body of faculty with expertise in the fields. This allows each campus to contribute unique course offerings to the degree programs and students have access to experts in the field regardless of location. For instance, MSU faculty in the area of early care and education have been awarded grants to study and create innovative online learning strategies to work with children.

The Innovative Digital Education Alliance (IDEA) (https://www.idea.edu/) is different than other online universities in that:

The curriculum is developed by inter-institutional faculty teams at Research 1 institutions. The degrees are not just a collection of classes.
All courses and programs receive full institutional review prior to implementation and meet the rigorous institutional academic standards of all member schools.
Courses are taught by professors with expertise and research interests in content areas.
Students seeking admission must meet institutional admissions standards.

In addition to Michigan State University, other participating institutions in these programs include:

Colorado State University
Iowa State University
Kansas State University
Montana State University
North Dakota State University
Oklahoma State University
South Dakota State University
Texas Tech University
University of Missouri-Columbia
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

For more information please contact:

Meagan Rau, MSU Innovative Digital Education Alliance Campus Coordinator

Address: 552 W. Circle Drive, 14 Human Ecology Building

Phone: 517-432-2266

Email: gpidea@msu.edu

M.A. Family Community Services

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