The Center for Developmental Science is the culmination of several years of collaboration by members of the Carolina Consortium on Human Development. The Consortium was established in 1987 by faculty and researchers from three neighboring universities to promote the interdisciplinary study of developmental theory and longitudinal methods. The aim was to transcend the limitations of institutional and disciplinary divisions in order to facilitate scholarship and collaboration among faculty and young scientists. In the first six years of its existence, the Consortium focused on issues of developmental theory and research, providing proseminars, workshops and lectures, and postdoctoral training.

The Consortium was the first step in the evolution of an advanced institute for developmental studies. Toward that end, the faculty formed a working committee to respond to an initiative of the National Institute of Mental Health. This initiative, signed into law by the U.S. Congress, was to support new behavioral research centers that could "provide a unified and integrated research environment in which to pursue novel and focused questions in basic science related to mental health." The proposal won approval by NIMH in September, 1993. The Center for Developmental Science became fully operative in November, 1994, when it was established as a University Center by the Governing Board of the University of North Carolina.

The faculty of the Center for Developmental Science consists primarily of scientists from Duke University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Meredith College, North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and North Carolina Central University. Selected researchers from other institutions collaborate in research initiated by the Center.

Center faculty specialize in anthropology, behavioral genetics, developmental psychology, developmental psychobiology, education, epidemiology, experimental psychology, internal medicine, behavioral neurobiology, nursing, pediatrics, psychiatry, public health, and sociology. The Center has three branches: the Carolina Consortium on Human Development, the Behavioral Science Research Division, and the Social Development Research Division. There is considerable overlap across organizational divisions in the sharing of resources, ideas, and personnel.