Interprofessional Gerontology, Post-Baccalaureate Certificate
Saint Louis University's gerontology certificate offers flexible training if you want to build skills in working with older adults. You can complete it alongside a graduate degree at SLU or as a stand-alone credential if you are already working in health, social services, education or community settings. The certificate can be completed fully online.
If you are a graduate student, you can add the certificate to deepen your preparation for careers connected to aging. If you are a working professional, you can complete it independently to update your skills, expand your expertise, or transition into new roles serving older adults.
You will learn how to work as part of interdisciplinary and care-coordination teams — an approach shown to improve health outcomes, reduce unnecessary hospitalizations and support aging with dignity.
By the end of the certificate, you will be able to:
- Build on older adults’ strengths to support health, well-being and mental health
- Communicate effectively with older adults, families, and communities about personal and public issues related to aging
- Understand and use meaningful ways to define and measure quality of life for older adults and their families
- Apply psychological theory to understand stability, change, and adaptation across aging
- Use gerontological frameworks to examine human development across the life span
This certificate is ideal if you want to make an impact with older adults in health care, social services, community programs, policy, or nonprofit work — and if you are exploring advanced study in aging-related fields.
Curriculum Overview
Saint Louis University's gerontology certificate curriculum is guided by the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education’s (AGHE) Competencies for Undergraduate and Graduate Education.
Students will be required to complete a course within each of the three competency areas, with a fourth course chosen from any of the three areas:
- Foundational (AGHE) Competencies: Frameworks for understanding human aging; biological, social, and psychological aspects of aging; humanities and aging; research and critical thinking
- Interactional Competencies: Attitudes and perspectives, ethics and professional standards, communication with and on behalf of older persons, interdisciplinary and community collaboration
- Contextual Competencies: Well-being, health and mental health; social health; and policy
Careers
Older adults will comprise 27% of the U.S. population by 2050, according to projections by the U.S. Census Bureau. As the population of older adults increases, so do their projected rates of poverty, the potential for being childless or single, and having chronic illnesses.
Employment of gerontology-related health care workers is projected to grow faster than the average across all occupations. For example, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics1 highlights:
- Dietitians and nutritionists will be in demand at nursing homes and to help baby boomers find more ways to stay healthy.
- Health care social workers will help aging populations and their families adjust to new treatments, medications and lifestyles.
- Nurse practitioners will be at the forefront of caring for older adults, who typically have more medical problems than younger people.
- Occupational therapists will help senior citizens maintain their independence and will be needed in health care settings to assist patients with chronic conditions.
- Physical therapists will care for adults who seek to remain more active later in life.
- Psychologists will help people deal with the mental and physical changes that develop as they age.
- Speech-language pathologists can help with language impairments caused by heart attacks, strokes and mobility-related injuries.
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All examples provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2025 Occupational Outlook Handbook.
Tuition
| Tuition | Cost Per Credit |
|---|---|
| School of Social Work Graduate Certificates | $1,190 |
Additional charges may apply. Other resources are listed below:
Information on Tuition and Fees
Scholarships and Financial Aid
The School of Social Work offers several ways to help finance graduate education. Opportunities include a limited number of merit-based scholarships and graduate research assistantships. Awards are made to applicants with the highest combinations of GPAs and test scores who complete their applications by the priority deadlines.
For more information, visit the Office of Student Financial Services.
- Graduates will be able to utilize gerontological frameworks to examine human development and aging.
- Graduates will be able to relate psychological theories and science to understanding adaptation, stability and change in aging.
- Graduates will be able to identify comprehensive and meaningful concepts, definitions and measures for well-being of older adults and their families.
- Graduates will be able to engage, through effective communication with older persons, their families and the community, in personal and public issues in aging.
- Graduates will be able to employ knowledge of older persons’ strengths and adaptations to maximize well-being, health and mental health.
Admission Requirements
Applicants should possess a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university.
Application Criteria
- Application form
- Transcript(s)
Requirements for International Students
All admission policies and requirements for domestic students apply to international students. International students must also meet the following additional requirements:
- Demonstrate English Language Proficiency. SLU requires a TOEFL score of 92 or higher or equivalent PTE Academic score.
- Academic records, in English translation, of students who have undertaken postsecondary studies outside the United States must include:
- Courses taken and/or lectures attended
- Practical laboratory work
- The maximum and minimum grades attainable
- The grades earned or the results of all end-of-term examinations
- Any honors or degrees received.
- Credential Evaluation Reports (such as the WES, ECE, Spantran, or Scholaro) are required.
If admitted to the School of Social Work, the International Office will require additional documentation to issue an I-20. Questions about these requirements can be directed to internationalservices@slu.edu.
Application Deadline
Applications will continue to be accepted and reviewed for admissions until August 1 for fall and December 1 for spring.
Review Process
Admissions considers several factors to determine eligibility: academic achievement, the strength of the undergraduate program, application information, personal statement, work experience, any graduate degrees earned, motivation, leadership and service. The undergraduate GPA is weighted with other criteria in the admissions process.
Program Requirements
Students must either take courses from two or more departments, or SWRK 5714 Interprofessional Perspectives in Geriatric Care (3 cr), for completion of the certificate.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Foundational (AGHE) Course | 3 | |
Select one (1) course with the "Gero Post-Bac Foundational" attribute. Options may include any of the following: | ||
| Health & Mental Health Interventions with Older Adults | ||
| Ethics and Geriatric Care | ||
| Interactional Course | 3 | |
Select one (1) course with the "Gero Post-Bac Interactional" attribute. Options may include any of the following: | ||
| Ethics and Geriatric Care | ||
| Bioethics and the Law | ||
| Policy Practice for Social Justice | ||
| Interprofessional Perspectives in Geriatric Care | ||
| Death, Dying, & Grief: Professional Practice & Self-Awareness | ||
| Graduate Independent Study in Communication | ||
| Contextual Course | 3 | |
Select one (1) course with the "Gero Post-Bac Contextual" attribute. Options may include any of the following: | ||
| Health Care Organization | ||
| Management of Health Care Organizations | ||
| Health Care Across the Life Course: From Policy to Practice | ||
| Environmental and Biological Determinants of Health | ||
| Bioethics and the Law | ||
| Disability Law | ||
| Elder Law | ||
| Interprofessional Perspectives in Geriatric Care | ||
| Death, Dying, & Grief: Professional Practice & Self-Awareness | ||
| Graduate Independent Study in Social Work | ||
| Practicum | 3 | |
Discipline specific field practicum focusing on working with older adults | ||
| Select three (3) credits with the "Gero Post-Bac Practicum" attribute. Options may include any of the following: | ||
| Master of Social Work Generalist Practicum and Generalist Integrative Practice Seminar | ||
| Community & Organization Practicum I and Concentration Integrative Seminar | ||
| Community & Organization Practicum II | ||
| Clinical Practicum I and Concentration Integrative Seminar | ||
| Clinical Practicum II | ||
| Elective Course | 3 | |
Select one additional course from any category above. | ||
| Total Credits | 15 | |
Non-Course Requirements
- Participate in the SLU Family Center for Healthy Aging Annual Conference, a two-day opportunity to attend in-depth workshops, learn about the current practice of geriatric care in the community setting and attend plenary presentations about current research in assessment and intervention strategies.
- Students will compile a portfolio consisting of one gerontology-focused assignment from each course taken towards completion of the certificate. These portfolios will be assessed by the acting advisor and the certificate coordinator (if the coordinator is also the advisor, a second reviewer will be chosen), using a standard rubric developed and reviewed by participating faculty across departments. This will be utilized to assess student learning outcomes within each competency area and whether the provided coursework achieved them. Students must also complete and return a certificate exit survey.
Continuation Standards
Students must maintain a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.00 in all graduate/professional courses.
This roadmap is just one example of a semester-by-semester plan of study for this program. There are other plans students can and do take. The plan of study for each particular student is established in consultation with each student’s academic advisor; this roadmap does not replace academic advising appointments.
Roadmap notes:
- This Roadmap assumes full-time enrollment unless otherwise noted.
- Courses/Milestones marked with an “!” are critical and must be completed in the semester listed in the Roadmap to ensure a timely graduation.
- Course availability and sequencing are subject to change.
Courses can be taken in any order.
| Year One | ||
|---|---|---|
| Fall | Credits | |
| Select one course with the "Gero Post-Bac Foundational" attribute | 3 | |
| Select one course with the "Gero Post-Bac Interactional" attribute | 3 | |
| Credits | 6 | |
| Spring | ||
| Select one course with the "Gero Post-Bac Practicum" attribute | 3 | |
| Elective Course 1 | 3 | |
| Credits | 6 | |
| Summer | ||
| Participation in SLU Family Center for Healthy Aging Annual Conference | ||
| Select one course with the "Gero Post-Bac Contextual" attribute | 3 | |
| Credits | 3 | |
| Total Credits | 15 | |
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See Requirements
For admission questions, contact:
School of Social Work Graduate Admissions Office
sswadmissions@slu.edu
314-977-2752
For program questions contact:
Allison Gibson, Ph.D., M.S.W.
Associate professor, School of Social Work
allison.gibson@slu.edu
314-977-3384