About the Department

Home to a dynamic faculty and several innovative centers for research, service, and training, the Department of Human Development & Family Studies (HDFS) focuses on the well-being and healthy development of individuals and families over the lifespan, including dynamic relations within the family as well as the family's interactions with broader social institutions.

The undergraduate major leads to the BA, and the graduate program leads to the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Human Development and Family Studies, including AAMFT-approved graduate degrees in Marriage and Family Therapy.

HDFS is primarily housed in two buildings on the main campus at Storrs. The Family Studies building is home to faculty offices, the administrative office, the undergraduate Advising Center, graduate student offices, and various classrooms and research laboratories. The Center for Applied Research; the Center on Aging and Human Development; the Center for the Study of Culture, Health, and Human Development; the Center for the Study of Parental Acceptance and Rejection are also located in the Family Studies building.

The Human Development building houses our two main service units: The early childhood education and care program of the Child Development Laboratories, and the clinic of the Humphrey Center for Individual, Couple, and Family Therapy.