Student Resources

Freshman/Sophomore Academic Advisor

The HDFS advisor position is currently open, until it is filled, Hope Ray is the advisor for all freshman and sophomore students who have 60 or fewer credit hours.

Elementary Education and Social Work Dual Degree Advising

HDFS and Elementary Education dual degree students

Hope Ray serves as the primary HDFS advisor all four years. Valley City State University faculty serve as secondary advisors starting students’ sophomore year.

HDFS and Social Work dual degree students

Hope Ray serves as the primary advisor until a student completes 60 credit hours. After a student completes 60 credit hours, they are assigned a HDFS Faculty Advisor. Minot State University faculty serve as secondary advisors starting students’ sophomore year.

Junior/Senior Academic Advisors

HDFS faculty advise students in their junior and senior years when they have 60 or more credits. Their goal is to help students prepare for graduation and a career after college. You can find out who your faculty advisor is through Bison Advise. Visit the HDFS Faculty Page or Bison Advise for faculty contact information.

Scheduling an Appointment with a faculty advisor can be done in a variety of ways. As registration time approaches, most faculty will email information about how to sign up for an appointment. To make an appointment during other times, email your advisor or use Bison Advise to schedule an appointment.

To Prepare for an Appointment with your faculty advisor, bring a list of any questions you may have plus notes, curriculum guides, or plans of study from prior meetings. If you would like to discuss classes, bring a tentative plan of the courses you would like to take. You can log in to Campus Connection and select Academic Requirements to view the courses you have taken.

Faculty Advisors

Heather Fuller

Professor

(701) 231-5621; Core Area: Adult Development and Aging; Research Interests: Social relationships across the lifespan (e.g. intergenerational relationships); Successful aging and health promotion; Aging in rural and cross-cultural contexts; Aging families and caregiving; Survey research and program evaluation.

Joel Hektner

Department Head/Professor

(701) 231-8269; Core Area: Child, Adolescent Development; Research Interests: Design and effectiveness of programs to prevent adjustment problems and promote well-being in children and adolescents; Peer affiliation patterns and peer influences on children's behaviors; Family and school conditions that facilitate optimal experiences (flow) and optimal development; The Experience Sampling Method

Carmen Kho

Assistant Professor

(701) 231-1823; Core Areas: Context and Diversity, Adolescence, Emerging Adulthood, Socioemotional Development; Research Interests: I apply a cultural-ecological framework to examine how cultural, family, and other contextual influences intersect with socio-emotional development of children, adolescents, and emerging adults. My research takes a normative development approach and examines developmental processes with careful consideration of contexts in which they take place (e.g., family, neighborhoods, immigrant receiving context) and the timescale in which these processes occur (e.g., moment-to-moment, day-to-day, across years).

Melissa Lunsman O'Connor

Associate Professor

701-231-8688; Core Area: Adult Development and Aging; Research Interests: My research focuses on characterizing changes in cognitive and functional abilities across the adult lifespan, and my ultimate goal is to promote healthy aging. Specifically, my research interests include: examining age-related differences and changes in cognitive and functional abilities, such as driving, among healthy adults and clinical populations; quantitative methods and psychometrics; interventions for improving cognition, health, and everyday functioning; and attitudes toward dementia.

Christi McGeorge

Professor

(701) 231-7335 Core Area: Couple and Family Therapy and Family Science

Leanna McWood

Assistant Professor

(701) 231-1826; Core Area: Adolescent Development; Contextual Influences; Research Interests: Extracurricular Involvement; Social Relationships; Contextual Influences; Sleep; Adolescent Development

Candace VanSickle

Senior Lecturer

(701) 231-8268 Core Area: Gerontology

Wen Wang

Assistant Professor

(701) 231-1875; Core Area: Young children (ages 0 - 6); Research Interests: The development of young children’s mastery motivation and persistence; Cultural variances in parenting and early parent-infant communication; Prosocial behaviors and emotions towards racial ingroup and outgroup members.

Dena Wyum

Senior Lecturer

(701) 231-7755 Core Areas: Human Development and Family Science & Women and Gender Studies