Population Studies
College of Social Sciences
Social Science 405
2424 Maile Way
Honolulu, HI 96822
Tel: (808) 956-7551
Fax: (808) 956-7738
E-mail: popstudy@hawaii.edu
Web: www2.soc.hawaii.edu/css/dept/ppst
Faculty
*G. Fuller, PhD
(Director)--geography
*M. Chapman, PhD--geography
*C. M. Douglass, PhD--urban and regional planning
*N. Etkin, PhD--anthropology
*Y. J. Lee, PhD--sociology
*A. Mason, PhD--economics
*S. Millman, PhD--sociology
*G. Russo, PhD--economics
*C. Stephenson, PhD--political science
Affiliate Graduate Faculty
L. J. Cho, PhD--sociology and economics
M. Choe, PhD--public health
G. Feeney, PhD--population studies
A. Onaka, PhD--population studies
P. Pirie, PhD--population studies
R. Retherford, PhD--sociology
P. Xenos, PhD--sociology
*Graduate Faculty
Certificate Offered: Certificate in Population
Studies
The Academic Program
Population Studies (PPST) is an interdisciplinary
graduate certificate program whose faculty come from University of
Hawai‘i departments in the College of Social Sciences and the School
of Public Health, from the Program on Population, East-West
Center, and from the Department of Health, State of Hawai‘i. The
Population Studies Program serves both independent graduate study and
degree candidates in other University units who wish to understand
population processes and to develop special competence in applying the
concepts and tools of demography and of their discipline to the study of
human populations. The program focuses on the links between population
processes and their variable contexts (historical, environmental,
cultural, social, economic, and political) in the contemporary world,
especially Asia and the Pacific, as well as on the concepts and tools of
demographic analysis.
Population Studies consists of a core of basic
information and five themes or key issues in population inquiry:
demographic methods, health and development, population and environment,
reproduction and human resources, and social mobility and spatial
dynamics. Each of these is conceived as an overlapping circle to
emphasize the exchange of information and ideas about human populations,
based on courses and seminars drawn from population studies and the
social, health, and human sciences. Each of the five thematic clusters
in population has a faculty leader, responsible for facilitating its
intellectual integrity and routine operation.
Certificate in Population Studies
Requirements
The interdisciplinary graduate Certificate in
Population Studies consists of 16 credits of course work, earned with a
grade of more than B- in any course, and either a comprehensive
examination or a research paper. Specific requirements are as follows:
• A core of four
courses (10 credits), including Introduction to Human Population (PPST
650), Methods of Demographic Analysis (PPST 691), Faculty Seminar Series
(PPST 649), and the Interdisciplinary Seminar in Population Studies (PPST
750).
• Two courses (6 credits), numbered 600 or above, selected from
any of the five thematic clusters in population (demographic methods,
health and development, population and environment, reproduction and
human resources, and social mobility and spatial dynamics). On petition,
the program director may accept 600-level courses or above that are not
listed within any of the five thematic clusters but have significant
population content. Courses taken for credit may be applied to both a
graduate degree and the interdisciplinary certificate.
• Either a research paper of publishable quality on a
population topic or a comprehensive examination in the interdisciplinary
study of human populations. Students may choose to enroll for 3 credits
of Directed Reading and Research (PPST 699) when undertaking their
research paper.
Each year, the program director appoints a committee
of three faculty members to both administer the comprehensive
examination and assess completed research papers. Four of six questions
must be answered in the comprehensive examination, which will be written
and followed by an oral discussion. It will be broad in scope and assume
basic knowledge of the concepts, substance, and techniques of
population. Questions will be concerned with the integration of
material, plausible argument, and reflective statement. Research papers
must be of publishable quality, and a student choosing this option will
have a faculty adviser who is not a member of the assessment committee.
Specializations
Demographic Methods
Provides additional training in the concepts and
techniques of demographic analysis. Many Asia/Pacific countries do not
have accurate and timely systems of vital registration or have limited
or imperfect data on population characteristics. Specialized training
allows students to estimate and assess more correctly demographic
parameters using these types of data. Courses cover field methods for
collecting valid and reliable information about population, as well as
survival models, analysis of categorical data, and other
state-of-the-art statistical techniques for data analysis. Students
taking courses within this cluster should prepare themselves through
broad coverage of social statistics.
Health and Development
Explores the physiological, cultural, and social
impacts of international development that introduces biomedicine,
impacts food producing technology, and affects the political economy of
health and health care. Courses in this specialization address
physiological and social factors affecting health through the life
cycle; reproduction and health; cultural diversity and health (gender,
class, ethnicity; epidemiology of infectious and chronic diseases)
including malaria, HIV/ AIDS, cardiovascular disease; and the economics
of health and health care. |