Our mission is to achieve excellence and innovation in scholarship, teaching, and outreach in order to promote the optimal development, health, and well-being of children, adults, families, and communities.  Through its multidisciplinary community of students, mentors, and scholars, the program prepares students to understand development from birth through old age, with an emphasis on the economic, social, and political forces that shape family and individual development throughout the lifespan.  Our undergraduate and graduate programs create reflective practitioners ready to work with diverse families in early childhood education and intervention settings, parent support programs, couple and family therapy programs, social services, gerontology, and advocacy programs.  The undergraduate program of study leads to a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree.  The graduate program leads to a Masters of Science with a concentration in couple and family therapy, or a concentration in Developmental Science.