Congratulations to Ruth Salazar, Undergraduate Student Recipient from CLAS for the Outstanding Senior Women Academic Achievement Award!
Author: Janice Berriault
HDFS major, Paige Bueckers, named Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Paige Bueckers, current HDFS major, was named the 2023-2024 BIG EAST Women’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She is the first Husky to do so since 2011. She also was named BIG EAST Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament for the second time. Congratulations Paige! https://uconnhuskies.com/news/2024/3/6/womens-basketball-bueckers-named-big-east-scholar-athlete-of-the-year
Alumni Susana Herrera (’18) new Program Coordinator of CT CASA
Susana Herrera (BA ’18) is the new Program Coordinator of Connecticut CASA. Since her time at UConn, she earned an M.S. in counseling and worked at UConn as a Student Services Program Coordinator.
Rebecca Puhl quoted in Washington Post article
The Washington Post quoted Rebecca Puhl in their article “New marketing push by Ozempic and others sparks body-positive backlash” https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/of-interest/2024/02/14/ozempic-body-positivity-influencers-weight-loss-drugs/
Kevin Ferreira van Leer, HDFS Faculty Spotlight, March 2024
Kevin Ferreira van Leer is a community and developmental psychologist who joined the HDFS faculty as an assistant professor in August 2023. His research examines the social and cultural contexts that promote positive development and liberation for Latine immigrants and their families, with an emphasis on educational contexts. He largely utilizes community-engaged research, collaborating directly with immigrant communities to develop research projects around their concerns and build their capacity to conduct research themselves. This work is shared with scholarly communities in academic journals and conferences, with immigrant communities themselves through photos, infographics and popular education materials, and with policy makers through briefs.
Kevin grew up in New Jersey in Portuguese and Colombian families. He attended United World College Costa Rica, a two-year residential international high school program that aims to make education a force to unite people, nations, and cultures for peace and a sustainable future. He then received his undergraduate degree in Interdisciplinary Studies at Wagner College, where he first became interested in the role that universities can play in their local communities as anchor institutions. He worked in community-based organizations addressing issues of educational access for and alongside immigrant communities in New York. These experiences illustrated the roles that institutions of higher education and research can play in advancing community wellbeing, which pushed him to apply to graduate school. He completed his Ph.D. in Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology with a certificate in Human Rights and International Justice at Boston College. He then joined the Child and Adolescent Development faculty at California State University, Sacramento where he was for five years before joining UConn HDFS. Kevin was a National Research Center for Hispanic Children and Families’ Research Scholar and is a contributor to several Hispanic Center projects.
Kevin’s current research includes examining how Latine undergraduates understand student success and perceive “servingness” at a Hispanic Serving Institution (see the Using Our Voices HSI project), as well as investigating how structural factors – such as variation in social policy exclusions for immigrants and the assets of immigrant communities – are associated with the wellbeing of immigrant families in the U.S (see the Elevating Equity project). These community-engaged research projects blend qualitative and quantitative methods in order to center the experiences of communities at the forefront of research. As he settles into Connecticut, he is exploring potential collaborations with local Latine immigrant communities to co-investigate how their interactions with social policies and/or educational institutions facilitate wellbeing and liberation. He currently teaches courses on diverse families and issues of diversity at the undergraduate and graduate level. Within the classroom, Kevin aims to co-construct knowledge and co-examine assumptions in the field while preparing students to critically examine their contexts in hopes of positively transforming them. A scholar-activist, Kevin has been sought out for supporting educational institutions in addressing the ways that policy and practice create, and perpetuate, inequity for people of color through extra- and inter- institutional efforts. For instance, he recently served as a member of the United World College Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Steering Group, a committee of the UWC International Board, the governing body of the 18 schools on four continents with over 60,000 alumni from over 150 countries, as well as the Supporting Equitable Educator Development Advisory Committee for EDUCARE. Alongside his role as a faculty member at UConn, he is an Executive Board member of United World College Costa Rica.
Outside of work, Kevin enjoys traveling, reading, cycling and coffee. Kevin just celebrated his son’s first birthday. Alongside his husband, he enjoys seeing the world through a toddler’s eyes.
Amber Eddy-Martinez, HDFS Alumni Spotlight, March 2024
Amber Eddy-Martinez, a 2020 UConn graduate with a B.A. in HDFS, showcased her commitment to underprivileged youth during her time at UConn, contributing over 300 hours to a church-run early learning center in Norwalk, CT. Her engagement extended to UConn’s Husky for a Day program, where she provided prospective students with insight into academic programs.
Post-graduation, Amber excelled as a Lead Infant/Toddler Teacher at Dartmouth College’s Childcare Center, integrating nature and seasons into curriculum development. In 2021 she relocated to Denver, where she thrived at The Beehive and The Wonder Academy. At these private early learning centers, she gained exposure to employment-based childcare dynamics. Amber embraced a new challenge when she became the Infant Program Supervisor at The Wonder Academy, a Reggio-Emilia school in downtown Denver. This position expanded her expertise in childcare logistics, encompassing staff management, parent communications, and billing.
In March 2023, Amber transitioned to Auraria Early Learning Center as Operations Coordinator, overseeing children ages 1-5 and managing diverse responsibilities like social media, supply procurement, staff onboarding, and newsletters. Her journey reflects a passionate commitment to early childhood education.
Rebecca Puhl featured in articles about Obesity and Weight Bias
Proefessor Rebecca Puhl was featured in Psychology Today in an article, Bullying Within the Home Hurts Children With Obesity, https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/children-at-the-table/202401/bullying-within-the-home-hurts-children-with-obesity. She was also featured in a Society for Human Resources Management article on Confronting Weight Bias: https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/all-things-work/confronting-weight-bias, and in Medscape for an article on Confronting Weight Bias in the Clinic: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/998416.
Marketa Burnett’s research spotlighted in UConn Today
UConn Today spotlighted Assistant Professor Marketa Burnett’s research on supporting Black girls through Black Girl Magic: https://today.uconn.edu/2024/02/hdfs-researcher-offers-3-ways-for-educators-to-foster-black-girl-magic-in-students/
Rebecca Puhl featured in UConn Today, and Nutrition Insight
Professor Rebecca Puhl was featured in UConn Today describing a new educational website she developed to educate healthcare professionals about weight stigma and strategies to improve supportive patient care. https://today.uconn.edu/2024/02/rudd-center-launches-supportive-obesity-care-website/
Rebecca was also featured in Nutrition Insight in an article, WeightWatchers flags “food noise” as roadblock to healthy weight: https://www.nutritioninsight.com/news/weightwatchers-flags-food-noise-as-roadblock-to-healthy-weight.html
Sihui Lyu, HDFS Graduate Student Spotlight, February 2024
Sihui is a first-year PhD student working with Dr. Beth Russell. Originally from China, Sihui obtained her master’s degree in clinical psychology at the Jinan University in Guangzhou, China. After graduation, she worked as a research assistant at the Department of Psychiatry at First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University. During this period, she explored the association between emotion, cognitive function, and neurobiology in adolescents with depression, as well as a digital intervention based on brain plasticity in patients with mood and/or cognitive symptoms. Through research and work with clinical populations, she gained experience in structured diagnostic interviews, psychological and cognitive assessments, individual and group cognitive behavior therapy, and non-pharmaceutical intervention. Driven by her concern with the increasing number of adolescents with mood disorders at outpatient clinics, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, she began to focus on adolescent developmental psychopathology. She is quite interested in research on the mental health and well-being of children and their families.
Currently, Sihui is continuing to pursue research in adolescent development, mental health, prevention and early intervention. She hopes that in the future, her research and findings will be applied to benefit individuals, families, communities, and public health practices, thereby helping more people. Personally, mastering work-life balance is also one of her important goals!
Coming to UConn to study was Sihui’s first experience traveling abroad. It was also a brave decision she made to pursue her academic dreams and love. Sihui is very grateful for how fortunate she has been to meet supportive and warm professors and friends here! Out of work, Sihui enjoys watching comedy shows, doing yoga, and chatting with friends and family.