Graduate Programs

Human Ecology PhD

Human ecology is the study of the complex relationships between human beings and their environments. The school offers a doctorate of philosophy within four named options/specializations:

Civil Society & Community Research

Consumer Behavior & Family Economics

Design Studies

Human Development & Family Studies

Human Ecology MS

The Master of Science in Human Ecology offers multi-disciplinary course work that focuses on current theories and strategies for creating, managing and evaluating settings that promote human and community development. Students are exposed to current research and practice that integrates: (a) the promotion of human and family development with (b) perspectives on building effective organizations and sustainable communities. Students create their own “master’s specialization” through elective courses and the completion of a real-world capstone project.

Several prospective graduate students stand facing the 100 women wall, a stained glass art piece featuring 100 women who have been influential in the field of human ecology
a pair of hands working with string at a loom

Human Ecology MFA

The focus of the MFA degree is on creative performance in design. Its goals are to promote strong and creative conceptual thinking, exploration, interpretation, innovation, and overall excellence in design execution.

Certificates & Doctoral Minors

Community and Nonprofit Leadership Capstone Certificate

Community-Engaged Scholarship Graduate/Professional Certificate and Doctoral Minor

Human Ecology Doctoral Minor

Graduate Assistantships

There are three types of graduate assistantships: teaching, project, and research assistantships. All incoming Human Ecology PhD and MFA students are guaranteed funding at the 50% level for 3-5 years, depending on their program and academic background.

Scholarships

The School of Human Ecology offers approximately $200,000 of scholarships to our graduate students annually. These fund student professional and academic development at every stage of a graduate career, from guaranteed funding to attend a conference in the first year to support through the final stages of a dissertation.

Fellowships

Fellowships are administered at the Graduate School level and vary in availability from year to year. These prestigious opportunities create protected time to allow students to focus wholly on their academic progress.

Our Community

Shields Featured for Research on Promotion of Environmental Wellbeing Through Design

Rachael Shields, fourth year DS PhD Student, was recently featured in the School of Human Ecology’s web story: How human ecologists are propelling environmental well-being through design for the research that she has done with her faculty advisor.

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Yeqing Li co-author's article on parenting strategies to help teens facing online racism

Yeqing Li, third-year PhD student in HDFS, recently co-authored an article with her advisor, Dr. Alvin Thomas. Their article, “Helping teens navigate online racism – study shows which parenting strategy works best,” was published in The Conversation.

Josie Lee Publishes 2 Essays in In the Company of Our Relatives: The Richard Pohrt, Jr. Collection

Lets all give our congratulations to Josie Lee who recently had two essays published in the recent book publication, In the Company of Our Relatives: The Richard Pohrt, Jr. Collection by the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art.

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Chandni Anandha Krishnan Named Morgridge Fellow

Lets all give a well earned round of applause to Chandni (4th year HDFS PhD student) for being named to the Morgridge Center for Public Service's eighth cohort of Morgridge Fellows

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An advocate for improving Madison’s housing climate: Meet Emilee Hendricks

“I’m excited to get to learn and work among people who care so deeply about the world,” Hendricks says.

School of Human Ecology Events

Graduate Program Events