Mary Tabb Foley first joined the UConn community more than 20 years ago as an undergraduate student. UConn was her first choice – a place that felt both exciting and familiar, being close to her hometown in Connecticut. She began her time at UConn planning to become an elementary school teacher, until a chance enrollment […]

Congratulations to *Elise Sumsion, who received the Best Student/Early Career Presentation Award for her paper The Bisexual Identity Enactment Model: A Model Grounded in Identity Theory at the Theory Construction and Research Methodology Workshop in Baltimore, Maryland.

Congratulations to Alaina Brenick, winner of the UConn MLK Legacy Award!

The Child Labs community members (faculty, staff, children, families and students) took part in a food drive. The community donated food and hygiene products to the Mansfield Human Services food pantry to support our neighbors.

Congratulations to McKenna Cheverier (HDFS BA ’24), who recently started a position as recreation supervisor in the Department of Leisure, Family, and Recreation for the Town of Manchester, CT!

Vida was promoted to Associate Professor-in-Residence effective August, 2025! In recent years, Professor Vida Samuel has been on a whirlwind of career triumphs, community impact, and culinary adventures. In addition to her recent promotion, Vida is a Faculty Affiliate at the Center for Applied Research in Human Development (CARHD) and the Department of Social and […]

Vida was promoted to Associate Professor-in-Residence effective August, 2025! In recent years, Professor Vida Samuel has been on a whirlwind of career triumphs, community impact, and culinary adventures. In addition to her recent promotion, Vida is a Faculty Affiliate at the Center for Applied Research in Human Development (CARHD) and the Department of Social and […]

Gloria Oladeji is a first-year HDFS PhD student in the Health, Wellbeing, and Prevention specialization. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Health Education with a minor in Human Kinetics from the University of Ibadan (Nigeria) in 2021, and completed her master’s degree in Kinesiology and Health at the University of Wyoming in 2025. At the […]

Sampson Chinonso Ipiankama is a first-year HDFS PhD student specializing in adulthood, aging, and health. Before joining UConn, he served as the Research, Grants, and Sustainability Lead at Project PINK BLUE – Health & Psychological Trust Centre in Nigeria, leading national initiatives supported by organizations such as AstraZeneca, the Global Colon Cancer Association, the International […]

Annika Anderson, MPH, earned her B.S. in HDFS in 2020 and her Master of Public Health from UConn in 2022. With aspirations in healthcare, Annika appreciated learning about the socioecological model of health in HDFS, which recognizes that 90% of child health outcomes are influenced by a complex interplay of social and structural drivers. As […]