Human Development & Family Studies

Distinctive Features of the Department of Human Development & Family Studies

Distinctive Features of HDFS for Undergraduate Education:

• Provides three majors - Early Childhood Education; Child, Adult, and Family Services; and Family Finance, Housing, and Policy. Additionally, provides minors in HDFS and Gerontology

• HDFS First-Year Learning Community provides orientation and courses for introduction to human development with English requirements.

• Curriculum incorporates critical thinking and interpersonal communications skills.  

• Each major provides courses that integrate preprofessional orientation, field experiences including service learning opportunities, and practica placements leading to student teaching or internships.

• On-campus HDFS support units provide strong practicum experiences in the Child Development Laboratory School, Financial Counseling Clinic,  and survey research with the Center for Family Policy

• Student teaching placements and internships support interaction with diverse children and families in Omaha, Houston, and nearly 100 mid-Iowa human service agencies.

• First-year post-graduation placement rate is over 90 percent.

Distinctive Features of HDFS Graduate Education and Research:

• M.S. and Ph.D. areas of emphasis are the most comprehensive nationally, including: Early Development, Care, and Education; Life-Span Development; Family Policy and Practice; and an AAMFT accredited Ph.D. in Marital and Family Therapy.

• Outstanding MFT Clinic facilities and supervision for family therapy clinical hours.

• Strong partnerships with the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station, Institute for Social and Behavioral Research and the ISU Gerontology Program for comprehensive research training opportunities.

• Teaching practica supervisors cooperate closely with the ISU Preparing Future Faculty Program.

• HDFS is ranked first nationally for numbers of theses and dissertations in two out of three HDFS areas (first in child development and family relations; second in human development).

• HDFS leads the Great Plains Interactive Distance Education consortia for M.S. degree programs in Family Financial Planning and Gerontology.

• HDFS faculty members include a two-time National Council on Family Relations Reuben Hill research award winner, a Gerontological Society of America Fellow, National Institutes of Health research review panel members, and national award-winning Extension program leaders.

• HDFS has current federal research funding from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute on Aging, and National Institute of Child Health and Development.

• HDFS has public service and Extension funding from United States Department of Agriculture and the Iowa Department of Human Services.