In honor of her dedication and service to Syracuse University and its students for more than 40 years as an educator, researcher, scholar, mentor and friend, the Falk College announced the establishment of the Dr. Alice Sterling Honig Endowed Scholarship Fund to benefit students majoring in child and family studies at Syracuse University. The endowed scholarship was created in her honor through a generous gift by long-time colleague and retired Syracuse University faculty member, Dr. Bettye Caldwell. In the 1960s, Caldwell’s work in the area of comprehensive early childhood development programming primarily serving low-income preschool-age children and their families at…
by Daria Webber, Director Bernice M. Wright Child Development Lab School Department of Child and Family Studies As I read an announcement: NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) Endorses the NSTA (National Science Teachers Association) Position Statement: Early Childhood Science Education, I found myself reflecting on how we integrate science into our curriculum at the Bernice M. Wright Child Development Lab School here at Syracuse University. We know that children are natural scientists, “discovery scouts” as one of my own children’s preschool teachers called them, and their everyday play is full of scientific exploration. They are daily…
Caregiver-child interactions are critically important in promoting cognitive, language, and social-emotional learning in young children. With examples and detailed explanations, Dr. Alice Honig’sThe Best for Babies: Expert Advice for Assessing Infant-Toddler Programs illuminates the behaviors and interactions that teachers or care providers should provide for the children in their care. The book offers an easy-to-use checklist that directors, mentor teachers, or parents can use to assess each teacher-child interpersonal relationship and the ways caregivers offer learning and living experiences for young children. Published by Gryphon House, the book will be released in November 2014.
Falk College professors, Ambika Krishnakumar (Child and Family Studies) and Lutchmie Narine (Public Health) authored “Parenting practices and adolescent smoking in mainland China: The mediating effect of smoking-related cognitions,” which appeared in the August 2014 edition of the Journal of Adolescence. In collaboration with Dr. Yan Wang, Drs. Krishnakumar and Narine examined the direct and indirect associations of general and smoking-specific parenting practices with Chinese adolescents’ smoking behaviors. Results suggest that parenting practices and smoking-related cognitions are critical components to be incorporated in prevention and intervention programs for adolescent smoking in China.
As we begin the Fall 2014 semester, Syracuse University’s Falk College is pleased to announce the appointment of five new outstanding faculty members: Beth Dixon, Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern, Margaret Voss, Patrick Walsh, and Jennifer Wilkins. We also welcome Mine Göl-Güven as visiting assistant professor of child and family studies. Their exceptional wealth of academic and practical experience in their respective fields is complemented by their passion for teaching, research, scholarship and service. Each of them will offer students tremendous opportunities for learning inside and outside of the classroom. We invite you to read more about their accomplishments, and areas for potential…
CFS senior student-athlete, Dyshawn Davis, is a senior linebacker for the SU Men’s Football team. He spent the summer putting his classroom skills to work, working with children as part of the Building Men program, an educational outreach pilot program in Syracuse designed to help young men learn to make good decisions and develop character and leadership. Davis was one of five Orange players to intern with the organization, and it’s an experience, he said, that impacted him as much as it did the kids.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) honored CFS alumna, Diane Chappell-Daly, with the 2014 Michael Maggio Memorial Pro Bono Award for outstanding efforts in providing pro bono representation in the immigration field during AILA’s Annual Conference in Boston, MA in June. In addition to volunteering her time and expertise as an attorney, she organizes others to successfully offer an immigration clinic with the recently formed Volunteer Lawyers Project (VLP). Recognizing a great unmet legal need, Ms. Chappell-Daly proposed to create a clinic for immigration law practitioners to provide pro bono legal services to the community and volunteered to take the…
Each year, the David B. Falk College Research Center, in collaboration with the Dean’s Office, awards seed grants on a competitive basis to assist faculty with completing preparatory work for research projects that have a high likelihood to compete for external funding. The 2014-15 seed grant recipients include: Development and evaluation of a mind-body awareness intervention to enhance self-regulation as a mechanism to promote healthy weight among young children. Dessa Bergen-Cico, assistant professor, Public Health Rachel Razza, assistant professor, Child and Family Studies Cultivating food justice: using photovoice to document the outcomes of a pilot food system intervention…
The Department of Child & Family Studies (CFS) held its annual Student Award Ceremony and Student Internship Poster Symposium at the Bernice M. Wright Child Development Laboratory School this spring. Undergraduate and graduate students majoring in child and family studies were recognized for excellence in many areas. CFS students also presented highlights of their semester-long internships and related special projects during this event attended by faculty, staff, students, internship supervisors, community partners and family members and friends.
The recent gift of a generous Syracuse University alumna and her family is bringing a big smile to the Bernice M. Wright (BMW) Child Development Laboratory School every day. Literally. Earlier this month, a 12-foot blue and orange ‘happy face’ sculpture was installed outside of the BMW Lab School on South Campus, a gift from Shelly and Scot Fisher. Shelly is an alumna of the Newhouse School as is their son, Sam. The artist, Scott Gerber, created the piece in his studio in Sarasota, Florida. In the near future, four of his full-body sculptures will appear on New York City’s…
