Overview of the Department of Child, Youth and Family Studies

The Department was established July 1992 with the name of Family and Consumer Sciences. The Department was created from a reorganization of units within the former College of Human Resources and Family Sciences. In March 2007, the faculty voted to change the name of the Department to the Department of Child, Youth and Family Studies. The Department name is abbreviated as CYAF.

The Department offers the following undergraduate major areas of study:

The graduate program in CYAF leads to either a Master of Science (M.S.) degree in Child, Youth and Family Studies or a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in Human Sciences. If a person graduates with a Specialization, the title of the Specialization appears on the diploma as well as Child, Youth and Family Studies (for the master’s degree) or Human Sciences (for the doctoral degree).

Master’s degree Specializations are:

The following Graduate Certificates are offered:

Doctoral degree Specializations are:

The Department supports two teaching, research and outreach laboratories: the Ruth Staples Child Development Laboratory (CDL) and the Couple and Family Clinic (CFC) at UNL's Family Resource Center.

The Department is home to 25 full-time faculty and 7 support staff. Each year the Department hires part-time instructors to help meet Department instructional needs. Entering the Fall Semester 2014, the Department hired 26 graduate assistants through either departmental or grant funding.

As of September 2013, 242 graduate students are enrolled in CYAF programs and 427 undergraduate students have declared a CYAF major. The Department offers high enrollment service classes at the undergraduate level and graduate classes are regularly taken by graduate students in other departments, expanding the reach of CYAF coursework and programming.