Skip to main content

Boston University’s Certificate in Genealogical Research

 It’s official.


Boston University Genealogical Research OL30 Alum

Boston University Genealogical Research OL30 Alum

I’m very excited to announce I have earned a certificate in genealogical research from Boston University! It zapped away 4 months of my life, but I can honestly say I’m a better genealogist because of it.

For anyone considering the program, be honest with yourself and whether you have at least 25 hours a week to dedicate to reading course material, studying concepts, writing papers, and participating in online class discussions. Remember, 25 hours is the minimum! It’s one thing in theory and a completely different concept in reality! Rest assured, I did NOT rest for 15 weeks straight, and that’s no exaggeration. Yet, I was able to pull it off while spending 40+ hours at my regular job and 3 hours on the road each day for my commute to and from work. So, if you’re determined, you can do it!

The class is broken up into modules every few weeks focusing on different aspects of research, each with different instructors and facilitators. My favorite module focused on the area of forensic genealogy. My assignments didn’t bring home the best grades in this module, but I felt the most challenged during these weeks and really learned new skills and techniques that will take me far.

If you’ve got questions about the program, drop them below in the comments section or on my Facebook page! I’d also love to hear what genealogy education courses you’ve taken or are pondering in the future.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2025 52 Ancestors: At the Library - First Outing to FamilySearch in Salt Lake City

Every genealogist should eventually make the trek out to SLC to visit the FamilySearch Library (formerly known as the Family History Library). It is open access and free to the public, like a city library, except it is wholly focused on genealogy research materials and managed by the company FamilySearch (founded by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). Kira D. Foltz, photo of entrance to FamilySearch Library, Salt Lake City, UT, Mar 2025. One of the genealogy societies I belong to, Ventura County Genealogical Society ( VCGS ), makes an annual pilgrimage to the library on what they have termed the Salt Lake City Safari. I learned about their trip a couple years ago and felt I'd need to tag along when the schedule made sense for me. 2025 was the year! James McAleney, photo of VCGS Safari group at FamilySearch Library, Salt Lake City, UT, Mar 2025. Used with permission. A group of about 35 of us joined together in Utah for a week in March filled with family history resea...
2 comments
Read more

2025 52 Ancestors: Favorite Name - Jesse L. Pitcock

Jesse Pitcock's name might appear fairly average upon first examination, but there's something fun hidden in his middle name. He was my 1st cousin 4x removed on one of my mother's lines. And before a day ago, I didn't even know he existed, let alone would have picked him for this blog's subject line. But due to coincidental timing this week, I happened to discover him and have the perfect opportunity to shine a spotlight on him and his family. Jesse was born in 1890 in Greene County, Pennsylvania to parents John and Sidney Pitcock. John was my 3rd great granduncle. I believe Jesse was their youngest child out of 9 kids! He went on to marry a woman named Lucy John and they had 5 daughters together. Now, I don't have any strong evidence to back up this suspicion, but I believe Jesse's parents had a wonderful sense of humor. Jesse's name only sprung out at me while leafing through my Ancestry.com tree's image hints. His obituary had been uploaded by ano...
Post a Comment
Read more

RootsTech Revelations!

Unfortunately I still have not yet had the chance to attend a RootsTech genealogy conference in person, however, 2025 marks the fourth year in a row I've watched virtually since their quick and nimble transition during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. I'm quite thankful for the plethora of videos and keynote presentations FamilySearch has offered online since that point in history, and for FREE, nonetheless! In the handful of presentations I've managed to view or listen to so far this year, there was one put on by Claire Bradley , a Dublin-based genetic genealogist, that helped me strike gold in my research! Her talk was called Irish Genealogy Resources at the Virtual Treasury . It explored the holdings of the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland which has had the goal of recreating an online database of documents lost during the Four Courts Fire of 1922 at the Public Record Office of Ireland.  Obviously, due to the devastating destruction at that archive, many original recor...
Post a Comment
Read more