Children's Studies Minor

Fred Rogers was a scholar of child development, an ordained minister, and a pioneer in children’s media. The minor in Children’s Studies at Saint Vincent College is an interdisciplinary program of study inspired by the work of Fred Rogers. Drawing from his work, the Fred Rogers Institute Archive, and contemporary psychology, communication, and humanities, students in this minor will apply fundamental research of childhood to their studies and future careers. The goals of the Children’s Studies Minor are to:

• acquaint students with Fred Rogers through the study of his work and his legacy across disciplines
• enhance students’ understanding of children from a variety of disciplinary perspectives
• provide students with a broad-based examination of childhood and adolescence
• develop students’ understanding and practical application of how to serve and work with children, youth, and/or families.

The Children’s Studies minor is suitable for undergraduate students at Saint Vincent College from a variety of majors who have an interest in childhood, whether it is part of their professional plans, is an academic interest, and/or is a personal interest. Alumni that have completed this minor have gone onto professions in education, family law, pediatric medicine, social work, and more. 

At the Fred Rogers Institute, we teach two courses towards the Children's Studies Minor for students at Saint Vincent College:

• Fundamentals of Learning and Growing: This course focuses on the exploration of six fundamentals of learning and growing and how they apply to different fields of study. Influenced by Fred Rogers archival resources, students will be able to consider the ways they encounter these fundamentals in their personal lives and future professions.
• Creating Change for Children: Relationships are fundamental to the healthy development of children, and to supporting the systems around them. In this course, we will examine how relationships can create change for children across developmental settings. Grounded in artifacts from the Fred Rogers Archive, developmental science, and real-world examples, we will explore why relationships are so important for children and how to strengthen relationships through our everyday interactions with others. We will also apply relational thinking to the systems around children and as a lens for decision making in students’ future careers and lives. 

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