Penn State Harrisburg offers the Life Span Human Service option of Human Development and Family Studies. This option focuses on the acquisition and application of scientific knowledge about development and family functioning across the life span for the purposes of enhancing personal and family development.
Students obtain a broad background in individual and family development across the life span. Through course work and undergraduate internships or research projects, students develop skills relevant to career objectives, such as counseling, human assessment, program planning and evaluation, and research.
Courses emphasize:
- understanding the biological, psychological, and social development across the life span, and the structuring and functioning of families
- understanding basic theoretical and methodological issues
- the development of applied skills in intervention and evaluation, prevention, and in the formulation of social policy
An approved internship in a setting that serves children, youth, adults, or the aged is required for this option. Listen to several of our students and recent graduates describe their internship experiences in the video below.