Department of Applied Behavioral Science

Greetings

Welcome to the Department of Applied Behavioral Science. We are housed, administratively, in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Kansas and housed, physically, in the Dole Human Development Center at 1000 Sunnyside Avenue on the south side of campus. We have 16 regular faculty members in 11.5 full-time equivalent faculty positions, 55 adjunct and courtesy faculty members, more than 200 undergraduate majors, and over 40 doctoral students. Five of our faculty members hold joint appointments in the Psychology Department as members of an independent graduate training program – the Clinical Child Psychology Program.

Our Missions

Our general mission is to promote individual, family, and community development through the integration of teaching, research, and public service. More specifically, our undergraduate mission is to teach students to understand behavior and solve societal problems through evidence-based practice and critical thinking, while our graduate mission is to educate and train scientist-practitioners and researchers in the discovery and production, translation and application, and communication of knowledge in the behavioral sciences for understanding and solving problems of societal importance. What makes our missions unique is their foundation in a science of behavior, dedication to rigorous standards of experimental proof, and applications of the science and these standards to solving socially relevant problems. Rigor and relevance, together, are the Department's hallmark, both in making knowledge and taking it to practice.

Our Welcome

With this introduction to our Department, missions, and history, we welcome you to explore our website further, even as it is undergoing reconstruction. Keep an eye out for significant future enhancements. You may also e-mail and call the department directly at absc@ku.edu and (785) 864-4840. If you would like to visit, please call ahead. We would be delighted to meet you, give you a tour of our research and training facilities, discuss our undergraduate and graduate programs, and provide academic and professional advising in applied behavioral science.

Professor Edward K. Morris, Ph.D.
Professor and Chairperson