Author: Janice Berriault

Kyla McRoy, HDFS Faculty Spotlight, October 2024

Kyla McRoy, Assistant Professor in Residence and Coordinator of the Early Childhood Specialization (ECS)Kyla is HDFS Assistant Professor in Residence and Coordinator of the Early Childhood Specialization (ECS) at UConn Stamford. Her graduate background includes both research and teaching, with a particular focus on how young children develop the crucial socioemotional skill of self-regulation and how teachers and families can promote this ability. She recently joined UConn in pursuit of a translational position where she could bridge research and practice by making evidence-based information accessible to the early childhood educators of tomorrow. In her dual role as assistant professor and program coordinator, she teaches undergraduate HDFS courses, promotes the ECS to interested students, and works closely with the Community Child Development Center (CCDC) in Westport to bring her students into high-quality preschool classrooms and guide their work.

Kyla’s journey to UConn began with her neuroscience major at UMass Amherst, where she became interested in executive function in both animals and children. After college, she obtained a full-time position as a research project manager at Michigan State University’s Early Language and Literacy Investigations Lab, which led her to sharpen her focus toward self-regulation in preschoolers. She was invited to apply to graduate school in the MSU HDFS program, where she completed her Masters and PhD degrees while serving as a research assistant across four grants, a teaching assistant, and an instructor. For the final two years of her PhD, Kyla also worked as a full-time Associate Teacher in the NAEYC-accredited MSU Child Development Lab preschools, where she used best practice approaches, developed curriculum plans, and guided undergraduate students during their practicum hours. Kyla has conducted professional development workshops for in-service and pre-service teachers and has published both research and practitioner papers on early childhood development, most notably for NAEYC’s major practitioner journal Young Children.

Alongside her faculty work, Kyla is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer and Certified Control Unleashed Instructor specializing in working with families who have recently acquired puppies. Kyla has been training dogs professionally for over 15 years and uses force-free, science-based approaches such as clicker training in private sessions and group classes, as well as raising and training dogs for service organizations like Paws with a Cause and Leader Dogs for the Blind.

When she is not teaching students or training dogs, Kyla enjoys hiking on local trails with her Golden Retriever, Jahi. She also likes psychological thrillers (books or movies), the outdoors, parenting podcasts or audiobooks, coffee/tea with friends, and spending time with her family on summer boating adventures.

Kari Adamsons and Beth Russell receive NCFR award

Kari Adamsons
Adamsons
Beth Russell
Russell

Kari Adamsons and Beth Russell received the 2024 Best Research Paper on Men in Families award from the National Council on Family Relations, Men in Families Focus Group, for their paper “Longitudinal transmission of risk behaviors between mothers, fathers, and adolescents,” published in March 2023, in the Journal of Family Psychology. The award will be presented at the 2024 NCFR Men in Families Focus Group meeting in Seattle in November.

Paige Desjardins, HDFS Alumni Spotlight, September 2024

Paige DesjardinsPaige Desjardins graduated from UConn in 2013 with a B.A. in HDFS with a focus on Early Childhood Education. Learning through first-hand experiences at the university’s Child Labs, Paige left school with a deep understanding of Child Development and the importance of instilling positive values in the lives of young children. She went on to work at Natural Learning Children’s Community School in Simsbury, Connecticut where she was head teacher of their preschool room, breaking the typical four walls of the classroom by taking her students out onto hiking trails and into the school’s gardens and composting units. Paige started sharing her curriculums online under the handle Natural Learning Kids, which slowly gained a following as she was promoted to Curriculum Coordinator at NLCCS.

After four years and 20,000+ followers, Paige decided to quit her teaching job and move to Los Angeles to pursue a career in children’s media. While nannying for high profile families and obtaining her Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education, Paige volunteered with the Children’s Media Association, a networking group whose purpose is to connect people within the industry. She ran their social media pages and eventually became their Director of Marketing while starting to get freelance education consulting work on animated preschool scripts. Paige landed her first real role in the industry as a Coordinator on Disney Junior’s Educational Resource Group, providing educational notes for outlines and scripts on all of Disney Junior’s properties as well as testing shows in the form of storybooks at schools around Los Angeles.

Paige used this script coverage experience as fuel to take screenwriting classes and pursue a career in children’s animation writing. She moved into a production role on Disney Junior’s Alice’s Wonderland Bakery and worked her way into an Associate Writer role by its second season. Paige is currently a staff writer on Disney Junior’s Mickey Mouse Funhouse and spends her free time volunteering on the board of Black Thumb Farm, a nonprofit brining gardening opportunities to kids around East Los Angeles as well as playing flag football with her friends.