Program Goals

As an HDFS student you will learn about concepts and research that will help you understand human development across the lifespan. You will learn:

• How people and families develop biologically, psychologically, and socially
• About individuals and families in your own and other cultures
• How the family, the workplace, schools, the community, and the larger culture affect and are affected by the individual
• About social issues such as child, spouse, and elder abuse, substance use, and divorce
• Skills for helping individuals, families, or groups through prevention programs and other intervention techniques
• How human service agencies and professionals deal with these problems
• To evaluate alternative approaches to promoting optimal development
• Leadership and managerial skills necessary for success in administration and evaluation of human service programs
• About moral, ethical, and legal issues you will face as professionals

We have organized these diverse learning goals into five specific learning objectives that we expect all HDFS majors to achieve. We conduct annual assessments of program effectiveness to monitor whether we are reaching that goal and to identify ways we can improve our program.