Course of Study
Students can enter the Applied Developmental Science program with a completed Master’s degree or with a completed Bachelor’s degree. Students entering with a Bachelor’s will be required to complete a Master’s in HDFS, with a specialization in Marriage and Family Therapy or Family and Developmental Studies.
The PhD is a 76 credit-hour (minimum) degree, designed to be completed in a 4-year time-frame (18-21 credits per year). Up to 30 credits can be applied from the Master’s. 22 credits are earned in core courses; 18 credits are earned in thesis and dissertation credits (HDFS 699 & 799); 12 credits are earned in required research apprentice or internship settings (HDFS 698A, 698B, 687 or 684); and 24 credits are earned in electives, including a required statistics elective (3 credits) and a required general elective (3 credits) outside of HDFS.
Applied Developmental Science core courses include all of the following:
| Course | Credits |
| HDFS 500 Issues in Human Development and Family Studies | 3 |
| HDFS 501 Readings in the Discipline | 1 |
| HDFS 524 Family Theory | 3 |
| HDFS 550 Research Methods I | 3 |
| HDFS 610 Risk and Resilience | 3 |
| HDFS 650 Research Methods II | 3 |
| HDFS 710 Theories of Applied Developmental Science | 3 |
| HDFS 750 Multivariate Research Methods | 3 |
Applied Developmental Science electives include 24 credits selected from the following:
| Course | Credits |
| HDFS 612 Adolescent Development | 3 |
| HDFS 613 Adult Development and Aging | 3 |
| HDFS 630 Socioemotional Development | 3 |
| HDFS 631 Cognitive Development | 3 |
| HDFS 528 Child and Family Assessment | 3 |
| HDFS 592 Grant Writing–Human Services and Research | 3 |
| HDFS 600D Advanced Studies: Program Planning and Evaluation | 3 |
| HDFS 740 Family Policy and Programming | 3 |
| Methodology/Statistics elective | 3 |
| Open elective | 3 |
In addition, the Graduate School requirement of a Preliminary Exam will be met by completing HDFS550, HDFS650, HDFS500, HDFS524, and 6 credit hours selected from HDFS630, HDFS631, HDFS612, or HDFS613. A grade of B or A is required in each course.
Competency projects are to be agreed upon between the student and the Ph.D. Committee. Normally, the projects will consist of (a) a teaching comp in which the student is supervised by a faculty member in teaching an undergraduate course for at least half a semester; (b) a research comp in which the student conducts a programmatic series of studies on a specialty topic, which often include follow-up studies to the M.S. thesis; and (c) an extensive literature review and/or systematic investigation (including a grant proposal, at the student's option) leading up to the dissertation.