Seven HDFS faculty and six HDFS graduate students will be giving nine presentations at the Society for Behavioral Medicine in Phoenix this April. See a list of all the presentations here!
Author: Janice Berriault
Cali Salafia awarded Fellowship from MSK Cancer Center
Graduate student Cali Salafia was awarded a Predoctoral Research Fellowship in Psycho-Oncology from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to begin late May 2023. Congratulations Cali!
Lexi Tomkunas receives research funding from Africana Studies
Congratulations to graduate student Lexi Tomkunas, who received funding from the Collaborative to Advance Equity Through Research on Women and Girls of Color through Africana Studies at UConn, for her project on Black girls and discipline through Florida schooling.
Kari Adamsons interviewed on CT Public Radio show “Disrupted”
Associate Professor Kari Adamsons was interviewed for the Connecticut Public Radio show “Disrupted” about parenting, fathering, and why we need to move beyond the idea of the “traditional family.” Listen to the interview here (her bit is in the second half – the title refers to the person who was in the first half).
Rachael Farina co-leads discussion at HGLHC
Graduate Student Rachael Farina was recently a co-leader in a discussion about inclusive sex and gender education for parents and caretakers at the Hartford Gay and Lesbian Health Collective.
Rachael Farina featured in Verywellmind.com article
Graduate Student Rachael Farina was featured in an article on Verywellmind.com entitled, Understanding and Managing Intrusive Thoughts In Romantic Relationships. Read the article here.
Rebecca Puhl interviewed by NBC News
NBC News recently interviewed Professor Rebecca Puhl about weight stigma and new medications for obesity. Read the article here.
UConn Child Labs hosted their first Lunar New Year Celebration
The UConn Child Labs hosted their first Lunar New Year Celebration, organized by Child Labs families and classroom teacher Heather Leeman. The event was attended by children and families enrolled in the Child Labs, Professional Teaching Staff and HDFS ECE students. Families led art and music activities and classroom teacher, Debbie Muro, led families through a child friendly yoga practice themed around the Lunar New Year. It was a great success and we hope to have many more opportunities for families to share their cultural practices with others in our community.
HDFS grad students and faculty present at SRCD conference
Twelve HDFS students and fifteen HDFS faculty will be giving 30 presentations at the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, this March. See a list of all of the presentations here.
Andrea Lopez Salazar, HDFS Alumni Spotlight, February 2023
Andrea Lopez Salazar is a researcher, educator, and leader with a history of working in the K-12, higher education, and nonprofit sectors. Andrea graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2014 with a B.A. in Human Development and Family Studies and a minor in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She credits her experience at UConn as fundamental to instilling a love of and curiosity for the social sciences. During her time at UConn, Andrea was engaged in research, particularly on projects related to ethnic-racial socialization among Black and Latinx families. She was the recipient of the Summer Undergraduate Research Fund (SURF) Award, OUR Travel Award, and the Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts Research Experience (SHARE) Award.
After graduating from UConn, Andrea worked at the Stamford Public Education Foundation in Connecticut where she managed the organization’s flagship mentoring program. Currently, she works at Columbia University’s Community College Research Center where she conducts and publishes research on advising reform among first-generation college students and students of color. She is working on an IES-funded longitudinal, mixed-methods project to study the personal support networks of first-generation college students over their first and second year.
Outside of college access and equity, Andrea is very passionate about community-based research, arts education, and multilingualism. She works as an ESL teacher at Columbia’s Community Language Program and has taught and tutored students from all over the world. Most recently, Andrea received a prestigious award from the American Education Research Association to lead a project on the experiences of predominantly limited-income Latinx families in a music education program during the COVID-19 shutdown. The study was funded by the association’s Education Research Service Projects program, an initiative created to encourage education researchers to offer their pro bono expertise to educational organizations, institutions, or other community groups. She presented at the National Association for Music Education last fall and is looking forward to publishing her findings in English and Spanish this year.
Andrea holds an Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages (TESOL) from Teachers College, Columbia University.
In her spare time, Andrea enjoys swimming, playing piano, and learning new languages. She speaks Spanish and French and always enjoys experiencing new cultures!