Family and Consumer Sciences
Improve the quality of life for families and individuals.
The family and consumer sciences major is designed for students who are entering careers that call for a broad knowledge of all family and consumer sciences areas, which include child development, fashion merchandising and design, foods and nutrition, and interior design. If a student combines the family and consumer sciences (FCS) major requirements with those for secondary licensure, she is qualified to teach 7–12 family and consumer sciences.
Students who complete the major without licensure can work in a variety of careers including Cooperative Extension Service, event planning, consumer services, product and equipment promotion and government agencies. During the junior or senior year, students explore various career opportunities and have a supervised internship.
There is currently a shortage of FCS teachers, both nationally and in North Carolina. Meredith College is one of four colleges or universities in the state that offers FCS licensure, and the only private college in the state to offer a licensure program.
FCS students at Meredith are active in their professional organizations at both the local, state, national and international levels. A Meredith student recently served as the student president of the N.C. Association of Family and Consumer Sciences. Another student presented research at an international conference in Sligo, Ireland, in July of 2010.
Family and Consumer Sciences students have many opportunities for study abroad. They can take classes in their major at the Denmark International School in Copenhagen, Denmark and with the Meredith Study Abroad Programs in Sansepolcro, Italy, United Kingdom and Paris.
All family and consumer science majors are required to complete a supervised internship.
Students who seek licensure have internships with the Wake County Public Schools.
FCS majors who seek a major without licensure have completed internships with North Carolina Cooperative Extension; TriangleBlvd.tv, a new media solutions provider; Communities in Schools of Wake County; Center for Aging, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C.
A family and consumer sciences degree prepares students for a wide array of potential careers as well as graduate study. Professional positions held by recent graduates include:
- FCS teacher in Wake County was recognized as the Broughton High School Teacher of the Year for 2010-11 and was a finalist in Wake County.
- FCS teacher in Wake County, winner of Wake County First Year Teacher Award for 2010-11.
-
FCS teacher is pursuing an MAT at NC A&T in Family and Consumer Sciences Education, while teaching Exploring Life Skills and Exploring Career Decision to Middle School Students in Wake County.
Scholarship opportunities are available for family and consumer sciences majors. The Sue Ballard Scholarship is designated for Child Development and Family and Consumer Sciences students. The Willene Yost Vincent Scholarship is given to FCS students.
In addition to these discipline-specific scholarship opportunities, Meredith offers a range of merit and need-based financial assistance. Last year, Meredith coordinated $42.8 million in financial assistance.
Meredith’s student/faculty ratio of 11:1 and average class size of 17 ensure that students get to know their professors. In turn, our faculty know students by name and, just as important, are familiar with each student’s unique strengths and interests. This allows faculty to identify interesting research and internship opportunities for students, to write meaningful letters of recommendation, and to support students as they conduct in-depth undergraduate research. In fact, students and faculty frequently work together on such projects—more than 140 were conducted by student/faculty teams last year.
FCS faculty include:
- Nina Bostic, Ed.D., Assistant Professor, FCS Program Coordinator. Worked in Wake County Cooperative Extension for eight years. Graduated from Meredith College in 1996. Research Interests: Sustainable Clothing.
- Deborah Tippett, Ph.D., CFCS, Professor and Department Head of Human Environmental Sciences. Taught Family and Consumer Sciences at both the middle and high school level. Co-author of nationally-used FCS middle school textbook, "Teen Life: Living, Learning and Caring." "Exploring Life and Careers" will be released in the fall of 2011. Research Interests: Millennial Students.
For more detailed information about the family and consumer sciences major, please go to the program website.
For information about other majors at Meredith, return to the Admissions majors page.
