Human Development and Family Science

Effective for students admitted to the College of Education and Human Ecology beginning Autumn 2025

General Education Requirements (32-39 Hours)

Bookends (2 Hours)

• Launch Seminar (1)
• Reflection Seminar (1)

Foundations (22-25 Hours)

• Writing & Information Literacy (3)
• Mathematical & Quantitative Reasoning or Data Analysis (3-5)
• Literary, Visual & Performing Arts (3)
• Historical & Cultural Studies (3)
• Natural Science (4-5)
• Social & Behavioral Sciences (3)
• Race, Ethnic & Gender Diversity (3)

Thematic Pathways (8-12 Hours)

Take 4-6 hours from Citizenship for a Diverse & Just World and 4-6 hours from another Thematic Pathway of choice.

• Citizenship for a Diverse & Just World
• Choice of 4-6 hours from one additional Thematic Pathway:
  • Lived Environments
  • Origins & Evolution
  • Migration, Mobility, & Immobility
  • Sustainability
  • Traditions, Cultures, & Transformations
  • Health & Wellbeing
  • Number, Nature, Mind

College Requirement (1 Hour)

• EHE 1100 College Survey (1)

Supporting Course Requirements (9 Hours)

• PSYCH 1100 Introduction to Psychology (can overlap with GE Social & Behavioral Sciences) (3)
• Choose one:
  • SOCIOL 1101 Introductory Sociology (3)
  • SOCIOL 1102 Social Found. of Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Social Class (can overlap with GE Race, Ethnicity, & Gender Div.) (3)
• Choose one (either can overlap with GE Mathematical & Quantitative Reasoning or Data Analysis): 
  • STAT 1350.xx Elementary Statistics (3)
  • STAT 1450.xx Introduction to the Practice of Statistics (3)

Major Requirements (42 Hours)

Major Core (27 Hours)

• HDFS 2101 Lives and Relationships: An Introduction to Human Development and Family Science (3)
• HDFS 2200 Family Development (3)
• HDFS 2400 Life Span Human Development (3)
• Choose one:
  • HDFS 2410 Child Development (3)
  • HDFS 2420 Adolescence and Emerging Adult Development (3)
• HDFS 2210 Helping Skills in Context (3)
• HDFS 2367 American Family Issues (3)
• HDFS 2900 Methods in Human Ecology Research (3)
• HDFS 3200 Foundations of Family Science (3)
• HDFS 3440 Human Sexuality and Intersectionality Across the Lifespan (3)

Group A (Choose 6 Hours)

• HDFS 4370 Families and Stress (3)
• HDFS 5200 Foundations of Couple and Family Therapy (3)
• HDFS 5340 Intimate Relationships (3)
• HDFS 5350 Families with Adolescents (3)
• HDFS 5410 Infant-Toddler Development: Current Research and Controversies (3)
• HDFS 5430 Adult Development and Aging (3)
• HDFS 5440 Human Sexuality in Context (3)
• HDFS 5560 Advanced Family Development (3)
• HDFS 5890 Special Topics in Family Development (3)

Group B (Choose 9 Hours)

• Any Group A courses not used toward fulfilling the Group A requirement
• HDFS 2189 Introduction to Field Work (4)
• HDFS 2350 Parenting (3)
• HDFS 2410 or HDFS 2420 (whichever not taken in Major Core) (3)
• HDFS 3189.xx Field Work with Targeted Populations (1-3)
• HDFS 3193 Practicum in Human Development and Family Science Research (1-3)
• HDFS 3300 Promoting Early Language and Literacy in ECD&E (3)
• HDFS 3310 Developing Age Appropriate Curriculum for Infants and Toddlers (3)
• HDFS 3320 Development Age Appropriate Curriculum in Youth Programs (3)
• HDFS 3330 Service Learning and Positive Youth Development for School Age (3)
• HDFS 3450 Positive Guidance of Young Children in Group Contexts (3)
• HDFS 3620 Intervention and Prevention Practices: Development and Evaluation (3)
• HDFS 3800 Professional Development (1)
• HDFS 3850 Leading Early Childhood Education, Childcare, and School-Age Programs (3)
• HDFS 4998 Undergraduate Research in Human Development and Family Science (1-3)

Total Hours: 72-88

Free Electives to reach 120 Hours: 32-48

Minimum of 120 credit hours required for degree completion. Total Hours range is based on requirement course choices and/or the number of credits that overlap between requirement areas. Students are encouraged to overlap credits where possible.