In 2009, Cornerstone’s Professional and Graduate Studies (PGS) will offer a human services program to their students.

“The Associates Human Services degree is designed for people who desire to work in a not-for-profit or human services field,” said Linda Haveman, director of education programs at PGS.

The program was added because “based on feedback from students, faculty and a community focus group, PGS identified the need to offer an associate’s program which integrates human services helping skills development, leadership development and practical experiences,” Haveman said.

The target market for the program is career and goal-oriented professionals with a high school diploma and experience in a related field.

In order for student to be accepted into the program, there are several requirements.  Some of these include two years of full-time work experience since high school and 20 hours of transferable, college-level credit from an accredited college or university.

According to the proposal submitted to the Academic Council, the Human Services program will provide “substantial practical and experiential learning accomplished through interaction with local human service organizations,” the document stated

Furthermore, students are placed in groups of three to five other class members, which are similar to those that would be found in the work place.  These groups meet outside of the scheduled class time for projects and to share, as the catalog says, “learning resources.”

The human services program is “a 62 credit hour undergraduate program designed to teach students how to meet human needs through an interdisciplinary knowledge base, focusing on prevention as well as remediation of problems, and maintaining  a commitment to improving the overall quality of life of service populations.”

It is important that students are equipped with core helping skills.  Some of these include interviewing, conducting groups, implementing treatment plans, problem solving and advocating for clients.

The program also has several learning objectives.  By the time a student graduates, he or she should have obtained the basic helping skills for a career in human services.  It is also vital for the student to develop communication and problem solving skills to be an effective leader and facilitator.  Students develop their Christian worldview in order to learn effective leadership principles as well as ethical decision making.  Finally, the student will learn “sensitivity and [the] ability to work effectively with diverse needs and populations,” the proposal stated.

“An Associate’s degree in human services will help prepare the graduate for entry-level positions in many helping professions,” said Leslie Iverson, enrollment counselor at PGS.

Some of these professions include youth workers, alcohol counselors, child advocates, family support workers, life skills instructors, and more.

Currently, the only venue for finding information about the new program is on the PGS Web Site.  However, Haveman said there will soon be marketing pieces to help promote the program.

While there are only a few inquiries for the new program, PGS looks forward to the future of human services and is confident that it will be a success.