The College of Education is now the College of Education and Human Development. This name change will bring the College in line with some of the most prestigious institutions in the nation and most importantly, better reflect all of the important work being done by the totality of students, faculty and staff in the College.
The new name reflects the trend of increasing student enrollment and community interest in programs like human development and family sciences or educational studies. The College of Education and Human Development offers programs beyond just teacher education, with two-thirds of credit hours being taught beyond teacher preparation and on human development and family sciences.
“Many of our students are coming into college with the intention to study ways on how to impact their communities either through teaching, special education, higher education, counseling, diversity and equity, literacy, educational technology, leadership, human development, family studies, early childhood education and mental health,” Dean of the College of Education and Human Development Donald Easton-Brooks said. “Sometimes, our community does not realize that the College is this comprehensive. Our community looks at the College as just teacher education. We wanted to really send the message about what the College stands for and what the College represents.”
Implementing this new name demonstrates the variety of work that is accomplished at the College of Education and Human Development. It also aligns the College and helps it share good company with some of the other most well-known and highest-ranked colleges in the educational field in the country, including the University of Minnesota, Ohio State University and Vanderbilt University.
“We really felt like with the level and extent of our human development program, we needed to include that into the name,” Easton-Brooks said. “When we started looking at some of the top-tier colleges of education across the country, we noticed that many of them were named college of education and human development or human services or something along those lines.”
The new name is one of many ways that the College of Education and Human Development continues to evolve and adapt to the most modern advancements in all the fields underneath its umbrella. Modifying the name helps the College live up to the expectation of a world-class college.
“We are proud of where we stand as a College of Education and Human Development. We are now in the company of universities who embrace the value of both education and the human development element of learning and growing. Currently, we sit among the top Colleges of Education and Human Development in the nation, as well as one of the top colleges among both land grant and public universities”, said Dean Easton-Brooks.
