Building a Better Department: Building Better Lives-Bradbard's Career Has Done Just That

When Marilyn Bradbard became head of the AU College of Human Sciences' Department of Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS) in 1984, she had a plan-to make her department one of the top programs in the nation. She has managed, actually, to build one of the top programs in the world.

A native of Manchester, N.H., Bradbard, who will retire Aug. 1, always had an interest in social sciences and the helping professions, and earned a degree in social work from the University of New Hampshire. She migrated to Athens, Ga., with her family in 1974.

There, Bradbard went to work as the head teacher in a day care center and found that she really, really liked it. So, taking advantage of living in a college town, she began working on a master's degree in child and family development at UGA and went on to earn her doctorate there.

Throughout her graduate work and professional career, Bradbard has focused on day care quality, especially how to measure day care quality and how to help parents select quality day care for their preschool children.

"At that time there was very little research on the effect of day care on children," she says. "The issues about the quality of day care were just starting to emerge."

As she was finishing her doctorate work, she heard about a position at Auburn and applied for it, landing a spot as an assistant professor in what was then the Department of Family and Child Development. That was in 1978. By 1984, while still an associate professor, she assumed the duties of department head.

Bradbard, who also studies career development issues in the field of human development and family studies-in particular looking at mentoring relationships as predictors of career success-continued to juggle her administrative duties with her teaching and research efforts. She still teaches a graduate seminar each fall to introduce new grad students to the department and also teaches a professional development seminar for Ph.D. students, but there came a time when her administrative duties took precedence.

When she took the departmental reins in 1984, the department had a strong undergraduate program and offered a master's degree. Then June Henton arrived in Auburn in 1985 to become dean of the College of Human Sciences (then the School of Human Sciences).

"June had a big vision for our college and things began to change," says Bradbard. "We were able to hire some internationally known faculty members and expand our graduate program to include a Ph.D. program. Publishing and getting grants became more and more important as well," Bradbard says, which meant she had to spend more time as an administrator and less time in the classroom and doing research.

Today there are some 22 faculty members in HDFS, many of whom are internationally known for their groundbreaking work and huge contributions to their fields. And Bradbard says it is an amazing department because it actually puts its ideas into action.

"I wanted to build a nationally known program and I think we have been pretty successful," Bradbard says matter-of-factly. "But I think we are a unique department because we also all get along with one another. Our main mission is to study interpersonal relationships across the life-span and our people really practice what they preach here."

HDFS also makes huge contributions throughout the community and the state. The department operates the Center for Children, Youth, and Families, which includes the AU Early Learning Center, the Harris Early Learning Center of Birmingham and the AU Marriage and Family Therapy Center. These centers enhance HDFS's instruction, research and outreach missions by providing laboratories for students and researchers while also providing services to communities.

It will not be easy to leave, but Bradbard thinks it is time to move on. "I think I have done what I can do and it is time for someone else to take over," she states.

As her official retirement date approaches, Bradbard has a new plan that may make leaving her HDFS faculty a little easier. She will be going to Italy to help coordinate the CHS@AU in Ariccia, Italy, program.

This international study program is a partnership with the city of Ariccia, which is located about 17 miles southeast of Rome. Through the program, junior and senior students can earn a full semester of credit and credit toward an International minor in Human Sciences by spending 12 weeks in Italy living and absorbing the culture there.

In the past, the program has been run by CHS faculty members who visit Italy for a few months at a time, but Bradbard will actually be the first full-time on-site coordinator of the program and she hopes to see it grow and expand.

In her spare retirement time.if such a thing will exist.Bradbard will no doubt continue with a habit that she has nurtured for many years. A voracious reader whose taste in books is as diverse as it is exceptional, Bradbard says reading really is a habit, not a hobby. Members of her Auburn book group will no doubt be waiting for her to send new suggestions for books from Italy.

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