Center for Demography and Population Health
Graduate Programs
College of Social Sciences and Public Policy
Website: https://popcenter.fsu.edu
Director: Sociology: John Taylor; Professors: Sociology: Brewster, Burdette, Davis, Sanyal, Schmertmann, J. Taylor, Tillman; Economics: M. Taylor; Associate Professors: Sociology: Hauer, Foman, McFarland; Assistant Professors: Sociology: Brooks, Urban and Regional Planning: McSorley; Assistant Teaching Professors: Urban and Regional Planning: Felkner Professors Emeriti: Sociology: Carlson, Eberstein, Nam
The Center for Demography and Population Health comprises faculty and graduate students whose research concerns demographic processes and health disparities. Center members represent the disciplinary perspectives of sociologists, planners, economists, geographers, and other social scientists, as well as behavioral, public health, and medical scientists. The Center's research and training programs are supported by grants and contracts from private and public entities concerned with the health and well-being of human populations. The Center offers a master's degree in demography and, in association with the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, a joint graduate pathway for both a planning and a demography master's degree. The Center also cooperates in the graduate programs of departments in the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy, wherein candidates for doctoral degrees may elect demography as an area of concentration. Graduate students and faculty in other colleges and schools within the University are also welcome to participate in the Center's research and training activities.
Center faculty members maintain active research programs and serve as consultants to national and international agencies and as officers or directors of professional organizations in demography and allied fields. As part of the Center's training mission, faculty members often invite students to participate in research projects. Students affiliated with the Center have access to workspace equipped with desktop computers and statistical software, and to the Center's data and document archives. Each Fall, the Serow Scholarship and the Nam Scholarship are awarded to two students to help cover tuition in the Master of Science in Demography program. Each Spring, the Center awards the William J. Serow Prize to an outstanding student in the degree program.
Combined BA/BS and MS-Demography Pathway
Qualified students in any undergraduate major may count up to twelve graduate-level credit hours toward both their bachelor's and a master's in Demography. Students in a combined bachelor's/master's pathway have the advantage of being able to apply undergraduate tuition assistance (e.g., Bright Futures, Florida Pre-Paid) to graduate courses and to explore graduate coursework as an undergraduate student, easing the transition to graduate school. Students accepted into the master's degree program who have completed the twelve credit hours of required coursework as undergraduates may finish the degree with just fifteen hours of additional coursework and satisfactory completion of a three-credit hour Master's Research Paper.
Candidates must have: ninety credit hours of completed coursework (Honors Program students need just sixty credit hours; transfer students must have completed at least twenty-four credit hours at FSU) and an earned grade point average (GPA) of 3.5 or higher or a GPA of 3.0 and scores of at least 152 on the Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning sections of the Graduate Record Exam (GRE). Students must have completed SYA 4400 or STA 2122 with a grade of “B” or higher and completed SYD 3020 or ECP 3113 with a grade of “B” or higher. Interested students should meet with an advisor in the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy to determine their eligibility for graduate coursework as an undergraduate.
MS-Demography Degree Program (MSD)
The Center offers a program of study leading to the Master of Science (MS) degree in demography. This program has been designed for students who wish to specialize in population studies and to develop proficiency in the use of demographic data, methods, and theory. Emphasis is placed on the development and refinement of intellectual and technical skills useful in an applied research setting. Students entering the program should have career objectives that direct them toward mid-level research-oriented positions in the public or private sectors. The program includes a required twenty-four semester hour core in demography and research methods/statistics, three hours of elective courses approved by the director, and participation in the non-credit Professional Development Seminar for Demographers. In addition, each student must complete a master's research paper (three to six semester hours) in order to receive the master's degree. A minimum of thirty semester hours is required to earn the MS degree in demography.
A candidate for the program will be admitted by meeting the University general requirements for graduate studies and, upon review by the faculty admissions committee, by the consent of the director of the Center. Candidates wishing to pursue an academic career that normally requires a doctorate have the option of seeking admission to the graduate program of one of the departments (sociology, economics, urban and regional planning, geography, or political science) that offers a doctoral concentration in demography/population studies.
Courses
Description of individual courses can be found in this Graduate Bulletin under the departmental listings.
Required Core
Twenty-four semester hours:
- Three semester hours of ECP 5118 (Population Data) or SYD 5133 (Population Data);
- Three semester hours of ECP 5117 (Mathematical Demography) or SYD 5135 (Techniques of Population Analysis);
- Three semester hours of GIS 5101 (Geographic Information Systems) or URP 5272 (Urban and Regional Information Systems);
- Three semester hours of URP 5261 (Forecasting for Plan Development);
- Three semester hours of SYD 5045 (Introduction to Demography)
- Three semester hours of ECP 5115 (Seminar in the Economics of Population), SYD 5046 (International Population Dynamics), SYD 5215 (Health and Survival), SYD 5225 (Fertility), SYD 5105 (Population Theory), SYD 5235 (Population Mobility), SYA 6933 (Aging and the Life Course), or SYO 5177 (Changing Families);
- Three semester hours of SYA 5305 (Introduction to Research Methods), SYA 5458 (Social Statistics and Data Analysis for Public Health), or URP 5211 (Planning Statistics);
- Three semester hours of SYA 5406 (Multivariate Analysis) or URP 5201 (Planning Research Methods).
List of Graduate-Level Courses for Demographers
DEM 5935 Professional Development Seminar for Demographers (0) (S/U grade only).
DEM 5972r Master's Research Paper in Demography (3–6) (S/U grade only).
ECP 5115 Seminar in the Economics of Population (3)
ECP 5117 Mathematical Demography (3)
ECP 5118 Population Data (3)
EDF 5401 General Linear Model Applications (3)
GEO 5472 Political Geography (3)
GEO 5545 Advanced Economic Geography (3)
GEO 5934r Seminar in Current Topics (1–3)
GIS 5101 Geographic Information Systems (3)
GIS 5106 Advanced Geographic Information Systems (3)
STA 5066 Data Management and Analysis with SAS (3)
SYA 5305 Introduction to Research Methods (3)
SYA 5406 Multivariate Analysis (3)
SYA 5407 Advanced Quantitative Methods (3)
SYA 6933r Selected Topics in Sociology (3)
SYD 5045 Introduction to Demography (3)
SYD 5046 International Population Dynamics (3)
SYD 5105 Population Theory (3)
SYD 5133 Population Data (3)
SYD 5135 Techniques of Population Analysis (3)
SYD 5136 Life Course Epidemiology (3)
SYD 5215 Health and Survival (3)
SYD 5225 Fertility (3)
SYD 5235 Population Mobility (3)
SYO 5177 Family Demography (3)
SYO 6407 Race, Ethnicity, and Health (3)
URP 5201 Planning Research Methods (3)
URP 5211 Planning Statistics (3)
URP 5261 Forecasting for Plan Development (3)
URP 5272 Urban and Regional Information Systems (3)
URP 5526 Healthy Cities, Healthy Communities (3)
URP 5544 Gender and Development (3)
URP 5610 Introduction to Development Planning