Child Development
Major, Minor
Program Overview
Building healthy adults starts with building healthy children. As a child development major at CMU, you'll help youth create a foundation for lifelong success. Whether you want to work with people from infancy through early adulthood, advocate for the rights of children, become a social worker or counselor, or work with youth in various family and community settings, this program is your foundation for a career lifting others toward successful futures.
Program Snapshot
Why This Program & What You'll Learn
When you were growing up, do you remember an adult who showed you how to be resilient? Who gave you the confidence to be your best — and, most of all, be yourself?
With our child development major, you'll learn to be that person.
You'll examine the long-range effects of growth and development from birth through early adulthood. By the time you graduate, you'll get hands-on experiences that will prepare you for a fulfilling career. In the past, our students have completed internships at government agencies, safe houses, youth centers, and more.
Classes cover such interdisciplinary topics such as:
- Family and parent-child relationships.
- Infant, early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescent/early adulthood development.
- Culture and the impact of oppression.
- Mental health.
- Risk and resilience.
Program Highlights
As a student in the child development program, you will:
- Observe children at CMU's Child Development and Learning Laboratory, where you'll experience a model preschool.
- We have collaborated with over 650 community organizations across the U.S. and abroad to provide internship experiences to more than 800 child development majors.
- Have the chance to study abroad, so you can build new perspectives on child development in different cultures.
- Gain networking, service, and professional development opportunities through student organizations such as the Child Life Student Association, Connections that Count, and the Family Relations Council.
Careers & Outcomes
CMU's child development program will prepare you to go to work right after graduation, in child protective services or after-school programs; you could also pursue further training, which could open the door to social work, speech therapy, family/child law, advocacy, or counseling.
| Career | Projected Salary |
|---|---|
| Youth Counselor/Worker | $30,796 |
| Case Worker | $50,390 |
| Family/School/General Social Worker | $50,357 |
| Nanny/Babysitter | $27,490 |
What about the children?
Dr. Cheryl Geisthardt and CMU senior Carly Jenkins have been researching the effects COVID-19 has on children in hospitals and how child life specialists can help them.