Jul 20, 2025  
Undergraduate Catalog 2023-2024 
    
Undergraduate Catalog 2023-2024 Archived Catalog

Department of Family and Human Services


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Reddick (department chair)

(SYMBOL: FAM)

The Department of Family and Human Services offers courses leading to a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Family and Human Services. JBU’s Family and Human Services program is approved by the National Council on Family Relations and provides students opportunities to earn multiple certifications through completion of the required curriculum, including the Certified Family Life Educator (CFLE) Credential. Family and Human Services courses emphasize both the practical application of helping skills and building a theoretical foundation in the field of family science. Its relational approach provides students with the tools to be successful in various helping professions and multiple graduate programs, including marriage and family therapy, social work, counseling, child welfare, and more. 

The mission of the Department of Family and Human Services is to promote the spiritual, personal, and relational well-being of its students and to equip them to serve as professionals and advocates within family life and helping professions. In order to effectively prepare students to help individuals and families function optimally, students need to be aware of and tend to their own spiritual, mental, physical, and relational well-being.

The Family and Human Services program has the dual responsibility of training individuals who are capable of serving in professional helping positions as well as developing individuals who possess personal characteristics and skills that promote holistic self-awareness and other-awareness. Therefore, while being trained in theory and application with respect to the different Family and Human Services classes, the personal characteristics of authenticity, empathy, and differentiation are emphasized in each class. The Family and Human Services curriculum is designed to promote spiritual and self-growth. 

Faculty in the department serve students by integrating their Christian faith into the classroom and by helping students apply their own Christian faith to their chosen helping profession. Additionally, Family and Human Services professors often continue to work as practitioners in the helping field and bring real world teaching from their own experiences into the classroom.

Throughout the Family and Human Services program, students will not only learn how to create large-scale systemic change in communities, but also how to positively assist individuals, couples, and families towards healthy development and growth, all by examining best practices and current research and theory. Students that complete an undergraduate degree in Family and Human Services leave with a comprehensive knowledge base as well as practical experience gained through a relevant internship experience, experiential simulations in the classroom, and a senior capstone where students research, design, and develop their own family life education curriculum.  

Graduates from JBU’s Family and Human Services major often find career opportunities in Family or Human Services Agencies (nonprofit, faith-based, government), Community Education Organizations, Courts and Corrections Systems, Policy Analysis and Advocacy Organizations, and many more. Family and Human Services also serves as an important foundation for students who want to continue their education at the master’s or PhD level.  

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