More Information
Visit the online course catalog for more information about all majors and minors.
Human development and human services is the study of the physical, psychological and social-emotional development of individuals across the lifespan.
Students in this program will examine how environmental factors both influence — and are influenced by — the individual. Various influences, such as relationships close to us (family members, friends and peers) as well as those that are more distant from us (culture, religion, government, and the media) affect individual development. Furthermore, individual characteristics, such as age, race, gender and social class, affect one’s experiences in these different domains.
Examining development from infancy to late adulthood provides a greater understanding of how people change, but also how factors remain stable over time. Because individuals intersect with people of varying ages in their personal and professional lives, such as children, parents, grandparents, teachers and colleagues, it is useful to understand development at all ages.
Students majoring in human development and human services will:
Students will have opportunities to apply what they are learning in the classroom through a series of field experiences. In fact, 100% of human development and human services majors participate in at least one field experience or practicum. These often include opportunities to shadow a professionals in the human-development and human-services sector.
Majors will be prepared to work in a wide range of human-service fields, including mental-health counseling, school and guidance counseling, speech and language pathology, youth services and child advocacy, and social work. Examples include:
Before entering the work force, some students choose to pursue graduate studies in areas such as child life, social work, community engagement, counseling, speech and language pathology, K-12 education, higher education, psychology, business and law.
Human development and human services majors take a combination of required and elective courses to satisfy the 48-credit course requirement for the department out of the total 124 credits required for a diploma.
Required Foundational Courses (complete all)
BIO 1106 |
Human Biology |
HDE 1000 |
Introduction to Human Development |
HDE 1020 |
Introduction to Human Services |
HDE 2130 |
Diversity, Social Justice and Ethics |
HDE 3000 |
Research Methods and Applied Statistics in Human Development |
EDU 4220 |
Differentiation and Inclusion (2 cr) |
EDU 4221 |
Positive Learning Environments (2 cr) |
Developmental Progressions and Processes (choose three)
EDU 2210 |
Child Growth and Development |
HDE 1050 |
Applied Infancy Development |
HDE 2230 |
Applied Adolescent Development |
HDE 2240 |
Adult Development |
Electives (choose two)
CRM 2000 |
Youth, Deviance and Crime |
EDU 2110 |
Foundations and Principles of Education |
EDU 3210 |
Psychology of Learning and Assessment |
EDU 4500 |
Language Acquisition and Literacy Development |
HDE 3620 |
Diversity in Practice with Families and Communities |
HDE 4260 |
Foundations of Counseling Across Professions |
PSY 3340 |
Developmental Psychopathology |
SOC 3450 |
Sociology of the Family |
SOC 3650 |
Sociology of Immigration |
Experiential Learning
Requirement 1:
HDE 2010 |
Explorations in Human Services Context (Sophomore year) |
Requirement 2: Students can focus on research or choose field experience to build on to their academic foundation.
Senior Thesis: Directed Research |
|
HDE 4850 |
Human Development: Field Experience (4 cr) |
HDE 4851 |
Human Development Capstone: Field Experience (8 cr) |
Visit the online course catalog for more information about all majors and minors.