The Graduate Certificate in Children's and Young Adult Literature provides comprehensive training for people who want to broaden their understanding of contemporary literature for children and young adults. Its main focus is the study of contemporary literature for use by educators and librarians who work with children at the early childhood, elementary, middle, and high school levels.

This program is designed for staff in public libraries, especially those working in children and young adult's services. Educators and teachers will also find the program useful as professional development. Persons who complete this program will demonstrate an increased knowledge of a range of children's authors, illustrators and genres; will demonstrate the ability to select and evaluate quality literature for children and youth; and will demonstrate skills for the integration of literature into K-12 school curricula and programs. PSU is the first institution of its kind to offer such a program.

Courses completed for this Graduate Certificate may be applied toward graduate degrees at PSU provided they meet the appropriate standards for use in the degree, including acceptable grades, and completion within seven years of the master's degree award.

Electives are not offered every year. Click here to see Graduate Certificate coursework.