Insights into Healthy Aging: Promoting Healthy Minds, Brains & Lives
Undergraduate Certificate
of All Higher-Ed Institutions
-Center for World University Rankings, 2022
In Best Value Among Arizona's Public Universities
- Payscale, 2022
Quick Facts
College of Science
Program Details
The size of the baby boomer generation — born between 1945 and 1965 — is reshaping America's older population. Due to this dramatic shift, there is a growing need for skilled workers knowledgeable about the aging process.
The Insights into Healthy Aging Undergraduate Certificate program provides you with an in-depth understanding of the dynamic dimensions of the aging process. This certificate focuses on approaching aging biologically, psychologically and socially in the context of the individual and society.
Experts in gerontology will guide you as you develop a deeper understanding of how aging impacts the health, well-being, and quality of life of older adults. In this program, you will learn to identify myths that perpetuate erroneous stereotypes of older adults and engage with individuals of the aging population. You will utilize gerontological frameworks to examine human development and aging. You will learn to relate psychological, biological, and social theories to understanding longevity, adaptation, heterogeneity, inequality, stability, and changes in aging.
You will also learn to identify practical solutions to enhance the quality of life for older adults and their caregivers and collaboratively engage with others to promote integrated approaches to aging. The diversity of course options offered in this program demonstrates a robust and invaluable multidisciplinary educational experience.
The Insights into Healthy Aging certificate program is offered through the Psychology Department, open to all majors, and designed to provide a hands-on approach to learning about and interacting with older adults.
Additionally, you will learn critical skills desired by employers, beneficial in a wide range of careers, industries, and post-graduate studies in gerontology, psychology, medicine, and more.
This certificate can be completed 100% online. Some partner departments may offer in-person courses that can be taken as part of the fulfillment of certificate requirements, however, in-person courses are not required.
*Residents of some U.S. Territories may not be eligible. Please see our Eligibility & State Authorization page for more information.
Courses
The certificate requires completion of PSY 324: Fundaments of Aging, and three additional courses. See a list of possible course options below:
Outcomes
Skills
Earning your Undergraduate Certificate in Insights into Healthy Aging: Promoting Healthy Minds, Brains & Lives will build core skills, including:
- Knowledge of the aging process
- Advocating for older persons
- Ethical & social responsibility
- Inclusivity and diversity
- Teamwork/collaboration
- Leadership
- Global & intercultural fluency
- Critical thinking
- Promoting mental health
- Promoting well being
- Problem solving
Graduates of the Insights Into Healthy Aging Undergraduate Certificate program will be prepared to pursue careers in the following fields:
- Continuing Care Retirement Communities
- Home Healthcare Agencies
- Rehabilitation Facilities
- Community-based Organizations
- Mental Health Agencies
- Policy Entities in Government
- Public/Private Healthcare Systems
- Post Graduate Studies
