Stephen M. Gavazzi graduated in 1986 with his master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy prior to completing his Family Studies doctorate in 1991. Upon graduation, he accepted a position at The Ohio State University, where he has remained for the past 30 years. For many years, Steve’s scholarship remained closely connected to two of his committee members – UConn professor emeritus Steve Anderson and UConn professor emeritus Ron Sabatelli – with a strong focus on issues pertaining to families with adolescents. After publishing 50+ articles on this topic, Steve’s first book – Families with Adolescents: Bridging the Gaps Between Theory, Research, and Practice – was published by Springer Press in 2011. His service in two administrative positions – as Director of The Ohio State University’s Center for Family Research and Dean of Ohio State’s Mansfield regional campus – ignited an interest in the topic of land-grant universities, with a special emphasis on the community engagement activities that are embedded in the land-grant mission. Steve’s first book on this topic – Land-Grant Universities for the Future: Higher Education for the Public Good – was co-authored by West Virginia University president E. Gordon Gee and published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 2018. A second book on the public’s perceptions of higher education – titled What’s Public About Public Higher Ed? – written by Gavazzi and Gee will be published by Johns Hopkins University Press in early fall 2021. Most recently, Steve has focused his attention on the debt that land-grant universities across the country owe to Native American tribes. That is, the “land” in “land-grant” came from broken treaties and acts of violence perpetrated on Indigenous peoples. This “Original Sin” of the land-grant universities is the subject of several new publications that Steve has written. Currently, he is leading a research project that engages Tribal Leaders in discussions about the reparative actions that land-grant universities can take in service to healing the harm caused by these historical atrocities.

Congratulations to Dr. Nicholas Koberstein (Ph.D., 2016), who received the 2021 Award for Outstanding First-Year Student Advocate from the National resource Center (NRC) for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition. Dr. Koberstein is the Founding Associate Professor of Child and Family Studies at Keuka College. Learn more about Dr. Koberstein and the award here: https://www.keuka.edu/blog/keuka-college-professor-receives-national-first-year-student-advocate-award