ESU Announces Two New Certificate Programs

East Stroudsburg University announced two new certificate programs in the College of Arts and Sciences. A post-baccalaureate graduate certificate in public history and a certificate in data science will both be offered beginning the fall 2021 semester. Both will be offered face-to-face.

The public history certificate will complement the already existing Master of Arts in history offered at ESU. “Public history is a popular avenue of employment for students in the field of history that do not wish to teach history in the traditional classroom,” said Andra Basu, Ph.D., dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. A recent report on public history education and employment developed by the National Council for Public History (the leading professional organization in the field) believes that prospective employers recognize the growing importance of digital skills, project management that includes team management and fundraising. It also balances “traditional” historical training that should be a core part of any training in the field. “A certificate affords our students the opportunity to pursue such paths. By offering this certificate, we can better prepare our students for regional collaboration as they will be interacting with their fellow public historians. This will benefit them by providing a richer, deeper training that will help them as they pursue employment after graduate studies,” Dr. Basu said.

“The ESU Public History certificate is founded on the rich and diverse historical resources we have in our region, from the Poconos, and beyond,” said Michael Gray, Ph.D., professor of history. “Students will be afforded valuable work experience within our unique location, from national park sites such as Steamtown, Grey Towers, the National Museum of Industrial History, Valley Forge, and Gettysburg, to state parks such Washington’s Crossing or the Delaware Canal in Easton. Collaboration between faculty and historic site supervisors has already been established in hopes of making a viable career path for our students in the field of public history.”

The data science certificate, offered in the computer science department, is an interdisciplinary field that uses statistics, data analysis, machine learning and their related methods to understand and analyze data. LinkedIn Data ranked data science the second fastest growing job in the U.S. “Offering a data science certificate will help our students become more competitive in the job market,” Dr. Basu said. “It is our hope that this certificate will also attract local professionals hoping to grow their skill set and learn data science.”

“ESU’s new certificate in data science trains students to analyze large amounts of data to discover patterns, trends, and insights,” explained Christine Hofmeister, Ph.D., professor and chair of ESU’s computer science department. “Data Scientists apply statistical techniques and AI to create knowledge in a wide range of fields such as health care, manufacturing, business, and finance. As highly skilled professionals, data scientists are in great demand in the job market.”

To learn more about the public history and data science certificates, and all the offerings in ESU’s College of Arts and Sciences, contact Dr. Basu at 570-422-3449 or email abasu1@esu.edu.

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