CPCS Majors and Concentrations: Putting Learning to Work

Whether you are looking to enter a new profession or to build on experience you already have in public and community service, CPCS offers a selection of relevant and engaging majors that help students prepare for effective practice in a wide range of community and service oriented careers. In many cases, the College provides undergraduate students with a unique opportunity to pursue study in fields generally available only at the graduate level (e.g. Community Media & Technology, Community Planning, Legal Education, Labor Studies).

Integrated with the other aspects of the CPCS curriculum, the majors and concentrations afford students a rich opportunity for professional development within a social justice framework. Whether interested in organizing, direct services, planning, policy or advocacy, the CPCS majors provide students with tools they need for effective practice as well as a critical understanding about the context in which these skills are put to work and the theories that inform practice. CPCS is known for the opportunities it provides students to put their learning to work and to apply theory to practice.

Consistent with the competency-based approach, students have multiple options for developing and demonstrating in the required major area - allowing students opportunities to draw on their current or prior work in these areas and to directly apply their learning to community-based projects or to their own work.

In addition to providing exciting learning options for students, there are close and valued connections between the College and community, including labor partners and human service organizations that help to inform the curriculum at the college and insure that the majors are up-to-date and relevant to current issues and trends in the different fields of study.

The major consists of 10 competencies. The 10 competencies are comprised of 6 competencies from a foundational major and 4 competencies from a concentration (an area of specialization that a student links to a major.) For example: a student majoring in Human Services interested in working with adolescents may choose to link her major with Youth Work. Another student majoring in Human Services interested in managing a non-profit organization may choose to major in Human Services with a concentration in Management. This combination approach allows students maximum flexibility in designing a major that is best suited to their learning and career goals, and offers them a range of opportunities to tailor their learning in directions that make sense for them.