BYU offers an undergraduate minor in Gerontology. Students are able to double count classes, internships, and research projects for their major and minor.
Step 1: Go to the College Advisement Center for your major to declare the Gerontology Minor.
Step 2: Seek course approval for an internship or research project by emailing us with the course number and project description.
Step 3: Complete 12 credit hours selected from core and elective courses, and complete an internship or mentored research course that focuses on older adults.
*Must take pre-requisites before registering for this particular course
Requirement 1: Internship or Mentored Research Course
(Seek course approval by emailing us at gerontology@byu.edu. Complete 3 credits in the college your major is in.)
Internships qualify if working with adults age 50 and older. Examples of internship credit courses:
- EXDM 496R: Senior Internship
- EXSC 399R: Exercise and Wellness Internship
- HLTH 496R: Academic Internship*
- NEURO 496R: Neuroscience Academic Internship
- NURS 491: Nursing Capstone*
- And NURS 492: Clinical Practicum for Capstone Nursing*
- PDBIO 399R: Academic Internship: Physiology and Developmental Biology
- PSYCH 399R: Academic Internship*
- PSYCH 496R: Academic Internship
- SFL 399R: Academic Internship
- SOC 399R: Academic Internship
- STDEV 399R: Health Professions Internship
- Contact the Internship Coordinator for your college if you have a major not listed here.
Research projects qualify if focusing on issues relating to people age 50 or older . Examples of mentored research credit courses:
- EXDM 490R: Topics in Experience Design and Management
- EXSC 497R: Undergraduate Research and Study
- HLTH 491R: Mentored Research
- NEURO 449R: Undergraduate Research Experience
- PDBIO 495R: Advanced Undergraduate Research in Physiology and Developmental Biology*
- PSYCH 499R: Independent Research
- SFL 403R: Research/Creative Works Practicum
- SOC 497R: Directed Research in Sociology
- Other Mentored Research approved by your Academic Adviser
Requirement 2: Core Courses (Complete 6 credits)
- EXSC 387: Lifestyle and Chronic Disease Prevention
- HLTH 466: Health and the Aging Process
- NEURO 205: Neurobiology*
- NURS 291: Nursing Care of the Older Adult*
- And NURS 292: Clinical Practicum for Nursing Care of the Older Adult*
- And NURS 293: Communication Lab for Nursing Majors*
- NURS 333 OR SOC 333: End-of-Life Care
- PDBIO 305: Human Physiology (with lab)*
- OR PDBIO 362: Advanced Physiology (PDBIO Majors should take this course)*
- PSYCH 220: Human Development: Life Span
- PSYCH 322: Developmental Psychology: Adulthood*
- SFL 334: Adult Development and Aging in the Family*
- SOC 365: Sociology of Aging
Requirement 3: Elective Courses (Complete 6 credits)
- COMD 430: Medical Speech Pathology
- EXSC 221: Science of Wellness
- FIN 200: Personal Finance
- FIN 418: Financial Planning
- HLTH 314: Health, Disease and Their Determinants
- HLTH 320: Advanced First Aid and Safety
- HLTH 450: Women's Health Issues
- NDFS 100: Essentials of Human Nutrition
- NDFS 424: Nutrition Through the Life Cycle
- NEURO 380: Behavioral Neuroscience
- PDBIO 205: Human Biology
- PDBIO 210: Human Anatomy Independent Study (with virtual lab)
- OR PDBIO 220: Human Anatomy (with lab)
- PDBIO 365: Pathophysiology
- PDBIO 561: Physiology of Drug Mechanisms
- PDBIO 565: Endocrinology
- PSYCH 342: Abnormal Psychology
- PSYCH 381: Behavioral Neurobiology
- SFL 210: Human Development
- SFL 260: Family Finance
- Other electives approved by the committee. Email gerontology@byu.edu.