Special Characteristics:

Northeastern Illinois University’s gerontology program is the only public state university in northern Illinois offering a post-baccalaureate certificate specifically designed for the training of elder advocates. Further, the gerontology is nationally recognized as a quality graduate program within the field of aging.

The Gerontology Senior Advocate Certificate program is designed to graduate well-prepared elder advocates who can effectively serve a growing and diverse aging population on a local, national, and global level. This is accomplished in the following ways:

Students complete 120 hours of on-site practicum training in a well-established, aging-related organization.
Coursework reinforces a strong research model for students, with a solid grounding in human developmental theories.
Students learn important skills of good academic writing and critical analysis in reading and writing. Each course in the curriculum emphasizes the development and utilization of these important skills over time as their knowledge increases from introductory to more advanced levels of information.
The program has flexible course offerings for both working professionals and lifelong learners with busy lives. Both core and elective courses are offered during the evening and on Saturdays, and many of our elective courses are now fully online.
Program faculty assist students with career opportunities and professional development throughout the program and even after graduation.
The tuition is the most cost effective in comparison to other comparable gerontology certificate programs in the Chicago area.

By the end of the training, students acquire a knowledge of:

both classic theories of human development (foundational) and "state-of-the-art" research content and processes within specialty areas of aging,
available library resources to conduct research on an aging topic,
"real world" aging-related legislation, policies, and service related issues affecting the lives of older adults within communities; and
ethical issues in interacting with older adults (e.g., care ethics).

Students also learn skills in how to:

find scholarly research articles on different aging topics using research search databases (e.g., AgeLine and PsycInfo research databases),
accurately read and interpret research within the field,
synthesize research to summarize in a literature review,
write a research paper incorporating both proper grammar and sixth edition APA style formatting,
critically analyze concepts and theories presented in coursework and related research activities,
conduct professional activities in an aging organization related to their specific career interests through practicum on-site training, and
present topics and research in various presentation formats in the classroom or at a conference (e.g., a PowerPoint presentation).
...among other learning outcomes.

Career Options

The job title “elder advocate" is increasingly a part of healthcare and other age-related service occupations. There are many aging organizations which emphasize senior advocate training on their websites (e.g., AARP; Alzheimer’s Association). The following are some possible career opportunities related to the certificate training (some additional professional training may be needed):

patient and family care advocate in healthcare settings,
client care advocate in a health care services organization,
senior services specialist in an educational institution,
care advocate in a hospice care situation working with families,
advocate for hospital health care transition planning,
care coordinator,
geriatric care manager, and
aging social services case manager guardianship in a department on aging.

Check out the following websites for more gerontology career information: www.agework.com, www.geron.org.

Wellness and Health Sciences