Greetings from the FSoS Department Head
I welcome you to our newly redesigned website. I’m delighted you are taking the time to visit the Department of Family Social Science website.
Our department is a vibrant, dynamic environment where teaching and learning, research and discovery, and outreach and engagement are accomplished in a multidisciplinary and multi-cultural context. We continue to build a diverse faculty and student body who are committed to enhancing the well-being of families around the world.
Our department is made up of 20 faculty who work with approximately 60 graduate students and 250 undergraduate students. Our department enriches the lives of students through three programs of study:
- An undergraduate program in family science
- A Masters’ program in family science
- A doctoral program that provides specialization in two tracks
- Family Science
- Marriage and Family Therapy
There are many reasons we continue our commitment to excellence but some of the most important include:
- Our commitment to diversity – not just one form of diversity, but diversity in our dialogue about families, our commitment to multiple theoretical and methodological orientations, and diversity among ourselves and those we seek to teach and serve
- The world class and vibrant faculty who are passionate about the work we do with students to create new knowledge about families and to enhance the well-being of all families
- The focus of our work organized around four specific themes – families and economic well-being, families and health, families and diversity, and families across the lifespan
I am proud to say that FSoS’s excellence has been widely recognized this year. Here’s a brief summary of the wonderful honors and awards our faculty and undergraduate and graduate students have recently received:
- Four faculty are National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) Fellows
- Two faculty are Gerontological Society of America (GSA) Fellows
- One faculty is an Association for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE) Founding Fellow
- One faculty member is spending the year in Washington, DC as a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow and working in Senator Barack Obama’s office
- Three visiting scholars: Britain, Korea, and Thailand
- Two AAMFT Minority Doctoral Fellowships
- Collegiate awards including the Educational Leadership Award, distinguished Teaching Award, New Career Excellence Award, Excellence in Academic Advising Award, and Outstanding Student Award
- University Extension Awards including Dean’s Award for Distinguished Diversity and Inclusion, Internet Technology Awards at the regional and national levels, and Educational Curriculum Package Awards at the regional and national levels
- Two University of Minnesota Graduate School Dissertation Fellowships
- A University of Minnesota Graduate School Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellowship
- Graduate departmental and collegiate scholarships and fellowships totaling more than $159,000 for FY 09
- Recent graduates who are NIH post docs and MAGIC fellows
- Professional and Administrative (P&A) staff selected to participate in the President’s Emerging Leaders Program
We’re also very proud of our expanding international focus. Increasing numbers of faculty and students are participating in international experiences. Recent study tours to Mexico and Thailand have provided undergraduate and graduate students with opportunities to learn about family life in cultures quite different from that of the mid-west. In addition, undergraduate and graduate students have individually participated in internships in the Congo, Mexico, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Kenya, England, Ireland, Australia, Ghana, Denmark, and India.
Our department takes seriously our commitment to multidisciplinary collaboration. We are working with colleagues across the university as well as regionally, nationally, and internationally. Examples of our current collaborators include:
- University of Minnesota’s Extension
- University of Minnesota’s Academic Health Center
- University of Minnesota’s Population Center
- Center for the Victims of Torture (CVT, domestic & international in 17 countries)
- Centro de Investigación Familiar A.C. (CIFAC, Monterrey, Mexico)
Finally, I would be remiss if I did not mention that another real advantage for all of us is living in the Twin Cities. What a great place to live! The Twin Cities are exciting and accessible all times of the year. FSoS is located on the St. Paul campus – a campus that has ample green space and is only a short drive to both downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis.
We are a terrific department! We value diversity and take seriously our commitment to the learning experiences of our students. Graduate and undergraduate students have opportunities for study abroad, experiential learning, and participation in faculty research. I encourage you to take the time to browse our faculty web pages to get an idea of the different kinds of research that we are passionate about here in FSoS.
As you explore the information on this website, we hope that you catch our excitement for the work that is accomplished here ~ be sure to watch the video of our faculty and graduate students. We also hope you might see yourself as a student in one of our programs.
If you have any questions, we are here to answer them for you. Please e-mail us or give us call. We will be glad to discuss aspects of our programs, provide greater detail for you, or answer specific questions that you might have about your personal needs if you should decide to further your studies with us.
B. Jan McCulloch,
Ph.D.
Professor and Department Head