The Department of Family and Human Development offers a variety of courses designed to prepare students for careers in teaching or for positions as family and human development specialists in agencies serving children and other family members. Students are exposed to curriculum which ranges from infancy to old age, and from marital formation to marital dissolution through death or divorce. These classes deal with current issues and problems confronting families and children in the nation and the world, and students develop the necessary knowledge and skills to deal professionally with these issues. Majors in Family and Human Development, as well as in Early Childhood Education, receive the necessary preparation for graduate study in a family-human development related field or employment in Headstart and child care programs, extension services, hospitals, social service agencies, senior citizen centers, adoption agencies, family planning, foster care, runaway centers, family crisis centers, parent education programs, and similar agencies.
Some majors acquire a teaching certificate so they can also teach in the public schools.