Undergraduate Minor in
Population Studies
College of Social Sciences and Public Policy
Website: https://popcenter.fsu.edu/
Director: J. Taylor (Sociology); Professors: Brewster (Sociology), Burdette (Sociology), Davis (Sociology), Sanyal (Sociology), Schmertmann (Economics), M. Taylor (Sociology), J. Taylor (Sociology), Tillman (Sociology); Associate Professors: McFarland (Sociology), Waggonner (Sociology); Assistant Professors: Hauer (Sociology); Assistant Teaching Professors: Felkner (Urban and Regional Planning); Professors Emeriti: Carlson (Sociology), Eberstein (Sociology), Nam (Sociology)
This multidisciplinary minor provides an overview of population studies, a field that is concerned with the size, composition, and distribution of human populations—globally, nationally, and locally—and with how and why these characteristics change. Populations change in response to fertility, mortality, and migration, but contemporary population research stretches the field beyond these three variables to encompass a broad range of related topics, including family structure, health, the environment, and socioeconomic development. Through the coursework for this minor, students will realize the impact of population variables and processes on nearly every issue of public concern, including population aging, rising health care costs, national security, the economy, and climate change. A minor in population studies will complement majors in the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy, but students in other majors, including Environmental Sciences and Policy, will find it useful as well.
Requirements
The minor in Population Studies consists of fifteen semester hours of coursework comprising nine hours of required coursework and six hours of electives.
Required core (three courses):
All students must take:
ECP 3113 Economics of Population
GEO 1400 Human Geography*
SYD 3020 Population and Society
Electives (two courses):
The remaining six credit hours may be selected from the following courses:
GEO 3502 Economic Geography
OR
ECP 3302 Economics of Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment
SYD 3600 Cities in Society
OR
URS 1006 World Cities: Quality of Life*
OR
GEO 4602 Urban Geography
OR
ECP 4613 Urban Economics
SYP 3730 Aging and the Life Course
GEO 1330 Environmental Science*
*Course also may be counted toward student's Liberal Studies requirement.
All courses must be completed with a grade of "C–" or better. For more information, contact Dr. John Taylor, Director, Center for Demography and Population Health.