Cornell Department of Human Development

rdf:langString Cornell Department of Human Development

rdf:langString The Department of Human Development was a multidisciplinary department at Cornell University from 1925 to 2021. During its lifetime, the Department led research on developmental science to simultaneously advance theory and improve life. The department emphasized an ecological perspective of human development that examined social, cultural, biological, and psychological processes and mechanisms of growth and change throughout the life cycle and across diverse contexts. Many significant social science scholars of the 20th and 21st century, including Urie Bronfenbrenner (ecological systems theory, co-founder of Head Start) and Kurt Lewin (group dynamics, organizational development), were among the department's faculty. A number of the department's graduate students became significant figures in the social sciences with their work tending toward interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary approaches.