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Family and Consumer Sciences Education

As a family and consumer sciences educator, you're qualified to teach high school students, in addition to community members in a range of cooperative and corporate education settings.

Preparing You For Success

You participate in classroom field experiences your first year, then you gain additional field experiences your sophomore and junior years. These prepare you for the senior year student teaching experience. Bradley faculty and your supervising teachers are valuable mentors throughout the process.

The teacher education department is accredited by the Illinois State Board of Education and National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. It also is a member of the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation.

By the time you graduate, your experiences include:

  • Courses and projects in nutrition, wellness, hospitality, living environments, and clothing and textiles
  • Student teaching in high schools across the Midwest
  • Professional development and licensure in high school (secondary) education
  • Instruction and mentorship from faculty who taught on six continents, published 30 books on education and served in educational leadership at state and national levels
  • Research opportunities with faculty
  • Use of classroom technologies such as Smart Boards, virtual reality, 3-D printing and wearable devices

Making Your Mark

FCS education teachers are in demand. Recent FCS education students who completed the program and graduated boast a 100 percent pass rate on Illinois licensure tests, including the national edTPA portfolio evaluation.

Many graduates are working as high school teachers in central Illinois and the Chicago area.

Sample Program Plan
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Major Requirements

Family and Consumer Sciences Core: 12-15 hours

  • FCS 100: Family Dynamics - 3 hrs
  • FCS 220: Consumer Issues in Health Care - 3 hrs. 
    or FCS 300 Consumer Issues in America - 3 hrs.
  • FCS 310: Community Program Planning
    and FCS 311 Evaluation and Research Methods
    or FCS 346 FCS Resource Management - 3-6 hrs.
  • FCS 442: Foundations of FCS - 3 hrs.

A minimum of 38 semester hours in family and consumer sciences, including the family and consumer sciences core,is required for all family and consumer sciences majors.

Students should choose courses in the following concentrations.

Nutrition, and Wellness and Hospitality

This includes dietary needs, food management, food preparation, food sanitation, foods, hospitality, and nutrition.

Choose at least 9 hours from the following courses:

  • FCS 103: Food Resource Management - 3 hrs.
  • FCS 170: Introduction to the Hospitality Industry - 3 hrs.
  • FCS 171: Sanitation, Health, and Safety - 1 hr.
  • FCS 202: Food and Nutrition
    or FCS 301: Nutrition Today
    or FCS 303: Nutrition - 3 hrs.
  • FCS 203: School Health Promotion- 3 hrs.
  • FCS 204: Programs across the Life Span- 3 hrs.
  • *FCS 220: Consumer Issues in Health Care - 3 hrs.
  • FCS 270: Special Event Planning - 3 hrs.
  • FCS 271: Food and World Cultures - 3 hrs.
  • **FCS 304: Sports and Exercise Nutrition - 3 hrs.
  • FCS 305: Experimental Foods - 1 hr.
  • FCS 371: Meeting and Convention Planning - 3 hrs.
  • FCS 405: Food Service Systems - 4 hrs.
  • FCS 408: Management in Food Service - 4 hrs.

Apparel and Textiles

This includesclothing/apparel industry, clothing/fashion design, costume design, history of fashion, sewing, textile production, textiles, and wholesale/retail/design operations for apparel and textiles.

Choose 9 hours from the following courses:

  • FCS 131: The Fashion Industry - 3 hrs.
  • FCS 133: Apparel Production - 3 hrs.
  • FCS 233: Consumer Textiles - 3 hrs.
  • FCS 231: Pattern Making - 3 hrs.
  • FCS 330: Fashion Merchandising and FCS 331 Fashion Merchandising Laboratory - 4 hrs.
  • FCS 334: Visual Merchandising - 3 hrs.
  • FCS 335: Survey of Fashion Designers - 3 hrs.
  • FCS 336: History of Fashion - 3 hrs.
  • FCS 337: Clothing and Human Behavior - 3 hrs.
  • FCS 438: Global Issues in Textiles and Apparel - 3 hrs.

Living Environments

This includesarchitectural design, home/office furnishings, housing industry, interior/exterior design, and wholesale/retail operations (housing/interior furnishings).

Choose 9 hours from the following courses:

  • FCS 173: Lodging Operations - 3 hrs.
  • FCS 233: Consumer Textiles - 3 hrs.
  • FCS 237: Sustainability in Retail - 3 hrs.
  • FCS 272: Hospitality Facilities Management - 3 hrs.
  • *FCS 346: FCS Resource Management - 3 hrs.
  • *FCS 300: Consumer Issues in America - 3 hrs.
  • FCS 334: Visual Merchandising - 3 hrs.
  • **FCS 357: Housing and Interior Design Concepts - 3 hrs.

*FCS Core Requirement
**Not offered every year

Contact Information

Carmen Keist

Associate Professor Carmen Keist

Family and Consumer Sciences Education Director

    Bradley Hall 5
    (309) 838-2437 (cell)
   ckeist@bradley.edu