Human Development and Family Sciences |
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The Catalyst
September/October 2021
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Dear HDFS community,
Welcome back to fall semester. While we were all hoping for a more “normal’ academic year, the COVID crisis continues, unfortunately, to play havoc. Despite the challenges, HDFS is thriving. We are welcoming several new individuals to our academic programs as well as a very strong cohort of undergraduate and graduate students. Simultaneously, our fantastic faculty and staff continue to thrive and keep our programs and their research agendas moving forward with enthusiasm and incredible momentum. I am so extremely grateful to each and every one of you for everything that you do! Best wishes for a fantastic year!
Bahira Sherif Trask, HDFS dept chair
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Faculty and Student Spotlights |
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HDFS professor Martha Buell (top left) has been selected as CEI Senior Faculty Fellow for Engaged Scholarship. Her focus is on working with various units at the University, College and Department level to better integrate a focus on engaged scholarly activities within evaluation and review procedures, especially Promotion and Tenure materials, but also within merit metrics and workload documents. She is available to meet with faculty or administrators from around campus to offer support for this work so that faculty are recognized for their important work in this area. She is beginning to look forward to the 2024 Carnegie re-classification process, so this work at the department level needs to start now in order to have big pieces in place in time for the data collection for this cycle. Martha also is serving as co-chair of the Council of Community Engagement,
HDFS associate professor Ann Aviles (top right) has been invited to join the UD Community Engagement Initiative team as a Senior Faculty Fellow with the Wilmington Partnership. The Community Engagement Initiative has community partnerships in the areas of health, education, and arts & Culture. The Wilmington Partnership can collaborate with the existing partnerships and other resources of the Community Engagement Initiative.
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Laura Wallace is thrilled to join the HDFS Department as the director of the Data Sharing Alliance. The Alliance is dedicated to fostering partnerships between UD faculty members and Delaware state and community partners. The Alliance will partner with these internal and external stakeholders to develop methods to link existing longitudinal qualitative and quantitative data for ongoing analysis in the areas of education, health and social welfare.
The outcomes from these partnerships and research projects will be instrumental in forming a central hub of research activity across the University which will inform and impact Delaware state policy. Laura looks forward to continuing to meet and work with faculty members to brainstorm how the Alliance may best serve them and their research.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced never before seen challenges for survivors of intimate partner abuse and violence. As rates of abuse increase after disasters, so too does demand for services. However, disasters like the pandemic also impact the built environments in which services are provided, making it difficult for programs to meet both existing pre-disaster needs and increased demand for services associated with disasters.
Professor Jennifer Horney (Epidemiology), professor Susan Miller (Sociology and Criminal Justice), and associate professor Ruth Fleury-Steiner (pictured above,HDFS) recently received a three year grant from the National Science Foundation to (1) determine how the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted domestic violence services and built environments, and (2) to design tools and guidance for providers on based on promising practices which emerged during the pandemic.
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According to Steve, "Advocacy for people with disabilities has greatly improved the services and supports that are available. As people with disabilities continue to take their rightful places in our communities, advocacy is as important as it ever was; maybe more so." Read article.
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Tara Silberg's HS '21 time at UD, in particular within the department of HDFS, taught her a great deal about the importance of starting with an open mind about her academic preferences and then over time, honing in on what she most wanted to do post-graduation. As a student with a major in Human Services and a minor in Jewish Studies, she knew early on that she wanted to work with the two areas combined; however, she didn't realize how to find a merge of the two until taking associate professor Lynn Worden's "Parenting Through the Lifespan" course her senior year. Being a UD Honors student in the course provided her with the opportunity to research a subject of her choice, and given her interest in studies of the Holocaust, she began her research on how the Holocaust affected the parenting of Jewish survivors to this day. After presenting her research to her fellow students in Dr. Worden's class, she went on to submit her paper and present her research at the CEHD Steele Symposium this past Spring. She earned the distinction of "1st place for the Undergraduate Paper Award" at the Symposium. Her paper was also published as an article in New Voices magazine. Read article.
Tara is now pursuing her Masters of Science in Human Rights and International Politics at the University of Glasgow. She hopes to continue studying the effects of the Holocaust on parenting through historical and longitudinal research for my dissertation at the university. In Tara's words, "I truly want to thank the University of Delaware HDFS department for not only my education in human services but also for providing the guidance on where to go after leaving the Blue Hen nest!"
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A big congratulations to our New Directions Early Head Start (NDEHS) colleagues for meeting all the criteria in the monitoring report from their recent Federal Review, all conducted virtually because of the pandemic. Moreover, the officials didn’t identify any areas in which the program wasn't compliant. They cited, "Through international continuous improvement strategies NDEHS is able to enhance its overall program quality."
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This month Newark Natural Foods is donating to New Directions Early Head Start every time a shopper rounds up their purchase to the nearest dollar.
You can grab a hot lunch or get your weekly shopping done all while supporting NDEHS!
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