Nine HDFS faculty and 16 HDFS graduate students will be giving 29 presentations at the annual Society for Research on Adolescence (SRA) conference in Chicago, Ilinois in April. Find the full list here
Author: Janice Berriault
Rebecca Puhl quoted in Vogue article
Professor Rebecca Puhl was quoted in a Vogue article on “why some doctors are giving less weight to weight” https://www.vogue.com/article/weight-positive-doctors
Laura Donorfio chosen as 2024 Outstanding UConn Professional
Associate Professor Laura Donorfio was chosen to be recognized at the 2024 Lavender Graduation as the 2024 Outstanding UConn Professional or UConn Staff Member in recognition of her dedication to building and supporting diverse communities of gender and sexualities at UConn and specifically at UConn Waterbury.
Mary Tabb Foley recognized as UConn Faculty/Staff MVP
Mary Tabb Foley was nominated by a Student Athlete on the Women’s Lacrosse team as a UConn Faculty/Staff MVP, recognized during the Mental Health Awareness game, highlighting the positive connection and impact our faculty/student relationship had on her time at UConn.
Caroline Mavridis and Sue Pappas conduct FDC Leaders course
From Mar. 25-Mar. 27, National Family Development Credential trainers Caroline Mavridis and Sue Pappas (with support from Claire Forest, Director, and Amy Knight, Program Coordinator) conducted a three-day “Empowerment Skills for Leaders” Instructor Institute. A small but highly engaged group of seven leaders representing family service agencies from Missouri, Oklahoma, Florida, and New York received their certification to lead the 30-hour “Family Development Credential for Leaders” course. “FDC for Leaders” is the companion curriculum to the 90-hour FDC course for frontline human service workers and involves concepts and skills for empowerment-based staff supervision and support.
Marlene Schwartz quoted in CT Examiner article
Professor Marlene Schwartz was quoted in a CT Examiner article on a recent state lawmaker proposal to make it easier for Medicaid families to enroll in WIC Program: https://ctexaminer.com/2024/03/12/state-lawmaker-proposes-automatic-enrollment-for-medicaid-families-in-wic-program/
Rebecca Puhl in Connecticut By the Numbers article
Professor Rebecca Puhl was referenced in a Connecticut By the Numbers article on supportive obesity care. Read the article https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/
Suzanne Bartle-Haring, HDFS Alumni Spotlight, April 2024
Suzanne came to UConn with a BS in psychology from Penn State University hoping to become a therapist. She enrolled in the UConn HDFS master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy program. She selected the Marriage and Family Therapy degree because it meant she wouldn’t have to get a Ph.D. to practice. The irony of course is she did get a Ph.D. at UConn in Family Studies with a specialization in Marriage and Family Therapy. Her time at UConn was foundational and challenging. She started the master’s program with no idea about HDFS or Marriage and Family Therapy and quickly, thanks to her professors, became immersed in both. She had worked in a research lab as an undergraduate but wasn’t passionate about research until taking the first research methods course in HDFS. From that she got the “research bug” and hasn’t looked back since. Although the thesis was optional in the MS program, she did a thesis, collecting her own data from multiple family members. She took courses with many of the professors, and Ron Sabatelli said he was particularly impressed with her work and asked if she would consider a Ph.D. She said yes, still not really knowing what she was going to do with her life. She completed the Ph.D. with Ron Sabatelli as her advisor, and Rob Ryder and Steve Anderson as her committee members. They were very supportive, and they wrote other manuscripts together. She had some publications when she completed her degree. She went off to “save the world” with research and got a position at a research contract firm in the DC area. She hated it, and through contacts at UConn, got the opportunity to be a visiting professor at Virginia Tech’s Falls Church campus in a Marriage and Family Therapy master’s program. As soon as she got back into academia and started to teach and mentor students, she knew she was where she belonged. Again, through contacts at UConn, she applied for and got her current position at The Ohio State University as a professor in their Couple and Family Therapy Program.
Suzanne has been with The Ohio State University for 32 years, she received tenure in 1997, and became a full professor in 2007. She became the program director for their accredited Ph.D. program in Couple and Family Therapy in 2003. Currently she holds this position and is working to have a new master’s program in Couple and Family Therapy accredited. Throughout her career she has published her research, taught courses at the undergrad and graduate level and supervised new clinicians. Whenever she starts a new manuscript she thinks about the lethal red pen of Steve Anderson and the comments and edits of Ron Sabatelli on her first few manuscripts at UConn. They taught her how to write, how to think and how to be critical of the literature. She has used those skills and passed them on to her own students. When she met Steve and Ron at conferences she would joke with them that they were now grandparents to her own students. Now she has her own “grandchildren” in terms of academic pedigree and she is continually grateful for the training she received at UConn. This training and her work culminated in her receipt of the 2023 Cumulative Contribution to Family Therapy Research Award from the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy. Suzanne was honored to receive this award.
Suzanne will be retiring in the next few years and hopes to paint and travel. Her time at UConn seems like a long time ago, but it shaped her and provided the foundation for her success.
Emily Fritzson, HDFS Graduate Student Spotlight, April 2024
Emily Fritzson is an HDFS Ph.D. candidate who will defend her dissertation and graduate in Spring 2024. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Skidmore College in 2017 and worked for two years as a research lab manager at the University of Delaware before entering the HDFS program in 2019.
Her research interests broadly encompass the health and well-being of individuals living with chronic illness, particularly cancer. Since the start of graduate school, Emily has worked on an NIH-funded, longitudinal study of resilience trajectories among over 550 newly diagnosed cancer survivors. Under the mentorship of the project lead and her academic advisor, Dr. Keith Bellizzi, she was fortunate to participate in almost every component of this project from participant recruitment to publication. At UConn, Emily has also worked with Dr. Bellizzi, Dr. Na Zhang, and Dr. Crystal Park on other projects related to the adaptation and well-being of individuals facing health-related adversity. In addition to research, Emily gained valuable teaching experience as a teaching assistant for Close Relationships Across the Lifespan and Infancy Through Adolescence and the instructor-of-record for Adulthood and Aging.
For her dissertation, Emily analyzed data from the 2021 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS)—Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) project, referred to as HINTS-SEER. Utilizing sophisticated data analytical methods to account for the survey design of HINTS-SEER, she examined the associations between health care providers’ patient-centered communication and health outcomes (e.g., psychological distress, physical function limitations, and general health) among adults with a history of cancer. She also explored the potentially mediating role of worry about cancer recurrence and moderating roles of pessimism and social isolation among these associations. The results of the study underscore the critical role of addressing cancer-related concerns through patient-centered communication in healthcare delivery, as these efforts can enhance psychosocial well-being and overall health outcomes among survivors of cancer.
Emily recently joined NORC at the University of Chicago as a Research Director II in their Health Sciences Research Department. She is excited to continue conducting high-quality research with a talented team of researchers and sharing findings in digestible and compelling ways at NORC.
In her free time, Emily enjoys visiting coffee shops, long walks with a friend, and working on her latest paint-by-numbers project. In the summer, she especially loves returning to her home state of Maine to spend time by the ocean and lakes with her family.
Brian Chapman, HDFS Faculty Spotlight, April 2024
Brian began working at UConn (at the Hartford Campus) in 1994 while a graduate student at Columbia University. In those early days, he taught in the pre-collegiate Student Support Services Program and worked in academic and student affairs. Brian learned about many aspects of the University through his work at nearly all UConn Campuses including UConn Health. According to Brian, “UConn has been and continues to be an integral part of my career; I have worked on all campuses except the Law School.” One of Brian’s longest and most rewarding experiences was as founding Director of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UConn. He built the program and brought in $1.6 million to the University. The institute attracted over 800 students (ages 50-98) and offered well over 100 courses and special programs annually during the 10 years he led the Institute. The program also provided work and internship experiences for undergraduate and graduate students and alumni.
Brian currently serves as HDFS Regional Campus Coordinator. He works collaboratively with HDFS and all regional campus administrations to develop academic schedules, staff courses, and support faculty on each campus.
Brian has taught in HDFS for nearly fifteen years, at the UConn Hartford, Stamford, Storrs, Torrington, and Waterbury campuses. He has developed two online HDFS courses in collaboration with the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. While Brian’s academic focus is Gerontology, he is committed to lifespan education and strongly supports Early Childhood Education as a national priority. Brian is passionate about quality-of-life issues for women, minoritized populations, and sexual and gender minorities.
“Community engagement is in many ways the hallmark of my career at UConn,” Brian states. He served on many boards in Waterbury for ten years in areas related to community improvement including arts and culture, economic development, children and families, education, hunger, and other needs. Brian is the recipient of the 2009 Provost’s Award, Excellence in Outreach & Public Engagement, and the 2015 Waterbury Neighborhood Council. Brian served as the Director of Outreach, UConn Waterbury and a member of the Public Engagement Forum for ten years.
Brian has presented publicly and published on topics of aging, intergenerational programming, and student development. He led aspects of a summer medical research program for high school students at UConn Health. Brian co-edited a serial publication on dual/concurrent enrollment and conducted a national study on minority faculty recruitment. Currently, Brian is a proud co-PI of the recently completed study, “Drag Expression and how it interfaces with Dragism, Coping, Resilience, and Generativity.” Brian is particularly excited about the number of graduate and undergraduate students who have served as research assistants on this study and some recent interdisciplinary initiatives that have emerged from this work. He credits colleagues Alaina Brenick and Laura Donorfio for their mentorship in the project.
Brian enjoys spending time in NYC cabaret clubs, as he likes the intimacy of the venues and the “American Songbook” genre of music. He also spends time on the outer reaches of Cape Cod. Brian is interested in nutrition and completed a certificate in Plant-based Nutrition through eCornell.