I graduated from UConn in 1976. I received a Bachelor of Science degree in Child Development and Family Relations (now HDFS), with a minor in Sociology. Going to UConn in the mid-1970s was a time of great social change as well as the opportunity to experiment with new ways of pursuing knowledge. I entered college as a dietetics major at San Diego State University, and then my family moved to Guilford, Connecticut, and I applied to UConn. Ever since I was young, I have always been invested in social justice, women’s issues, and the underbelly of family life. To please my parents, I switched majors to accounting, but never quite felt that my ambition to excel was in sync with my passion for learning about issues that truly mattered to me. I am grateful that I eventually found my way to HDFS, where I have pursued my career as a family scholar and activist. These past 50 years have flown by, and I can still vividly conjure what happened to me when I decided to major in CDFR (HDFS).
In the second semester of my junior year (which was my first year in Storrs because I had attended a regional campus during my sophomore year), I enrolled in a large class called Parenthood. As soon as the first lecture began, I felt a light bulb turn on in my brain. I also took classes on Family Relationships and Advanced Child Development in which I felt like I had come home intellectually. I don’t think I ever missed a class. At UConn, I was exposed to theorists and researchers who profoundly shaped my thinking and research trajectory. I also took several influential courses in Sociology, including one of the first Women’s Studies courses offered nationally, Sociological Perspectives on Women, as well as a course about racial and ethnic groups, entitled Intergroup Relations. I was very active in the Women’s Center and joined a Consciousness Raising (CR) Group of women students, faculty, spouses, and community members. That CR group was life changing and first introduced me to a concept I have honed throughout my career: the personal is political (to which I now add the word, professional). My senior year was exceptionally exciting and truly prepared me for graduate school. I was encouraged by several professors to begin my methodological training by conducting a year-long project I called, “Feminism and Intimacy” in which I interviewed 10 feminist couples about their marital dynamics and division of labor. At the time, qualitative research methods courses in HDFS did not exist, but my trusted professors encouraged me to pursue my desire to figure out how to do an in-depth interview study. In addition, I completed an independent study with several professors and graduate students on the topic of “Middle-aged and Older Women”, thus beginning my lifelong investment in family gerontology. I credit my experience at UConn for starting me on my journey as a critical intersectional reflexive feminist family scholar.
After UConn, I served for a year as the coordinator of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) in the northeastern part of Connecticut. Then I went to Syracuse University and earned my PhD in 1984, in Child and Family Studies, with a Certificate in Gerontology. My first academic job was at Texas Woman’s University, and then I came to Virginia Tech in 1989, where I was a professor until I retired in 2020. I have published more than 200 scholarly articles and book chapters and written or edited 10 books. Recent books include Family Theories Today: A Critical Intersectional Approach (2023; 2nd ed.) and LGBTQ-Parent Families (2020, 2nd ed.). My long-time collaborator, Dr. Abbie Goldberg and I are publishing a book this year which elevates the reflexive component of scholarship, entitled, Opening Family Secrets: Stigma, Shame, Stress, and Strength. In this edited volume, through personal and professional narratives, we unveil the complexity of living through some of the most challenging yet invisible aspects of family life.
A key component of a rewarding retirement is to have something meaningful to retire to, which I found through continued research and writing. In 2023, I became Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Family Theory & Review (JFTR), which is one of the three journals of the National Council on Family Relations. I am excited to report that JFTR is now ranked #2 out of 66 journals in Family Studies, with an impact factor of 4.5 in the year 2024 (Journal Citation Report). I love editing JFTR because it provides me with the opportunity to cultivate the very best work among interdisciplinary family scholars as well as to mentor junior scholars and students in crafting knowledge that will have an impact in their own lives and in the field. Many of our authors, reviewers, and editorial board members are UConn affiliated.
Now I live in the Appalachian Mountains and still pursue many of the same passions that peppered my day as an undergraduate student at UConn 50 years ago. I still feel the intellectual excitement of the classroom, the charisma of my teachers and their wonderful encouragement to try out the new and the impossible. My experience at UConn provided me with both a training ground and a safety net that has launched an exciting and productive career that even in retirement is still flourishing. Theirs is the model I followed with the thousands of students I have taught over the decades, and it continues to guide my practice today.