Family Science

The course work in this track teaches competencies in family science subject matter, research skills and demonstrated excellence in teaching and program development. Students receive advanced preparation in a variety of professions, including elementary, secondary, college and university teaching, cooperative extension and other outreach programs, parent and family life educators and family service agencies.

The National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) is the professional organization responsible for certifying family life educators. The course work in the Family Science track may lead toward the Certified Family Life Educator (CFLE) designation. The CFLE program certifies individuals and not programs, so it's necessary for students to apply for certification based on the courses they select in their program and related experiences.

Family Science Program Faculty

Below you will find a listing of faculty within the Department of Child, Youth and Family Studies. These faculty have primary responsibility for the coursework required for the Family Science career path.

Doug Abbott, Ph.D., Professor. Research Interests: Family life education.

Richard J. Bischoff, Ph.D., Associate Professor and MFT Program Director Research Interests: Therapist development; Health related quality of life; Over use of medical services; The role of family therapy in medical care.

Rochelle Dalla, Ph.D., Associate Professor. Research Interests: Street-level prostitution; Immigration in rural meat-packing communities; Substance use and psychiatric co-morbidity among Latino immigrants in rural communities.

Cody Hollist, Ph.D., Assistant Professor. Research Interests: Adolescent mental health risk; High risk adolescent behaviors; Family dynamics of high risk adolescents; Family treatment of adolescent mental health.

Cathey Huddleston-Casas, Ph.D., Assistant Professor. Research Interests: Impact of the interdependence of work, family and social policy systems on family economic well-being; Examination of how the definition policymakers use to identify families as working-poor may limit the reach of social programs and how reliance on social capital may compensate for lacking access to program benefits.

Kathy Prochaska-Cue, Ph.D., Associate Professor. Personal financial management style; Resource management practices of limited resource and rural households.

Allison Reisbig, Ph.D., Assistant Professor. Research Interests: Minority, underserved and hard to reach populations such as transgendered families; mental health of students with highly demanding programs.

Paul Springer, Ph.D., Assistant Professor. Research Interests: collaborative health care.

Yan Xia, Ph.D., Associate Professor. Research Interests: Substance abuse and behavioral health issues among Asian immigrant youth; Substance abuse and behavioral health issues among Latino immigrants in rural communities; Risk and protective factors for substance abuse among youths-secondary data analysis of National Household Survey on Drug Use; Chinese families with adolescent children; Challenges and resiliency of immigrant families.