The School of Social and Family Dynamics is dedicated to enhancing the well-being of individuals, families, and social institutions through innovative transdisciplinary research, instructional excellence, and active community involvement. We strive to be a leader in transformative discovery; fusing basic and applied research; and translating scientific knowledge into solutions for pressing problems related to children, youth, families, and their social worlds.

As we enter a new century and millennium, individuals, families, societies, and entire populations are faced with fast-paced and complex changes. Although change has always been part of human life, the scope and speed of change has increased dramatically - and likely will continue to do so. Technological, political, economic, health, social, educational, and cultural forces interact in complex ways to shape human and family life. Additionally, transformations in families, schools, and neighborhoods that are caused by larger social and cultural forces affect the people who comprise or reside in them. The need to understand these changes and the processes that underlie them has compelled institutions of higher learning to change the way they conduct their business. As part of the New American University, the School of Social and Family Dynamics in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University is designed to be a leader in addressing the most important issues facing individuals as they cope with changes in their lives and as they interact within their social environments - be they large or small, near or distant, personal or impersonal.

To accomplish these general goals, the school reflects a merger of faculty from the former Department of Family and Human Development and the Department of Sociology. The Faculty of Family and Human Development come to this nexus with knowledge and experience in many dimensions of individual development and family systems and bring expertise on the biological, psychological, social, cultural, and relational aspects of human and family development throughout the life span. The Faculty of Sociology come to this nexus with scholarly interests and knowledge related to social institutions, health, and population dynamics. Thus, at its core, the school's faculty represent a body of science, instruction, and service that strives to transcend traditional boundaries and approaches to understanding the interfaces of human development, family life, and the broader social context.

The new School of Social and Family Dynamics is designed become an organizational and operational center for organizing and supporting bold and innovative thinking and encourage scholars and students to think in novel and visionary ways to address issues related to their areas of interest. As such, the school is viewed as an academic unit that is defined by its enabling and facilitative capacities rather than by disciplinary or content-driven boundaries. Consequently, we are in a position to become an eminently powerful force and driver for:

• Contributing knowledge about human development, family dynamics, populations, and social environments through interdisciplinary basic and applied research and related scholarly activities;
• Promoting the welfare and health of individuals, families, and social institutions from all cultural backgrounds;
• Preparing graduate students for leadership in research, teaching, business, and outreach roles;
• Contributing to the development of undergraduate students who will be well-prepared to pursue professional careers and graduate education;
• Collaborating within and outside the University in fostering an appreciation of the role that knowledge and science can play in solving critical social problems.

Our intention is for the school to become a national and international leader in changing the ways academic units ask questions, develop and employ scientific methods and technologies, train and educate students, and interact with the broader social community. Together with faculty and program affiliates from across ASU (such as nursing, speech and hearing, education, psychology, etc.) and the local community, the school will become central to the transdisciplinary study and advancement of the most important and valued aspects of human life - namely, children, youth, families, cultures, and societies.