
Human Development (HD) is an independent academic discipline which contributes to
individuals’ and families’ healthy development over the lifespan in changing social
contexts. The origin of the discipline goes back to the Morrill Land Grant Act in
1862. The U.S. society in this era was in the transition from agricultural to industrial
society. The Act funded one public university in each State to start offering Agricultural
Sciences and Mechanics as practical sciences in order to educate individuals who could
manage innovative technologies. Soon the faculty of these universities realized that
a practical science to enhance health of these workers and their families was essential
in order to raise productivities of the workers. This is the birth of HD as a practical
science to enhance individuals’ and families’ healthy development over the lifespan.
Since then, HD has contributed to optimize individuals’ and families’ experiences
by predicting human development over the lifespan and surveying individual and social
factors which interact with the processes of human development. Building on the original
mission of HD as a practical science to serve the residents of the State where the
university is located, HD emphasizes a specific context in which individuals and families
are exposed to. To assess, implement, and evaluate intervention programs which fit
the given contexts, HD has developed as an interdisciplinary science. HD program at
CSUSM provides interdisciplinary training for students in order to acquire skills
to serve individuals and families in a variety of contexts.