Human Development & Family Science News
Falk College awarded $24,942 grant for children’s trauma intervention project
The Health Foundation for Western & Central New York recently awarded a $24,942 grant to the trauma intervention project, Maternal Child Health Spot Booster, led by Syracuse University’s Falk College Trauma-Informed Scholars in partnership with the Syracuse Trauma Response Team (TRT).
The proposed sustainable intervention strategy aims to help preschoolers in the areas of the Syracuse community most affected by violence and the resulting trauma. Starting this fall, the research team will train Head Start teaching staff and bring mindful yoga intervention to 4- and 5-year-old classrooms at Merrick Head Start, part of the Syracuse City School District and Onondaga County’s federally designated Community Action Agency, PEACE, Inc. The three project phases include:
- Phase 1: Provide two trauma-informed trainings to teachers and staff in local Head Start centers responsible caring for preschool aged children.
- Phase 2: Offer mindfulness training, including yoga, to children under age 5 and their families.
- Phase 3: Falk College Trauma-Informed Scholars and the TRT provide ongoing, sustainable consolidation and follow up.
Project director, Rachel Razza, Ph. D., is an associate professor and graduate director of Human Development and Family Science at Syracuse University Falk College. Her scholarly work focuses on children’s self-regulation—children’s ability to monitor cognitive strategies and adapt behavior to fit situational demands—especially among at-risk children, who are particularly vulnerable to self-regulatory deficits.
“Mindfulness-based practice is being increasing used with teachers and children as a strategy for reducing the negative impacts of stress and trauma,” says Dr. Razza. “Benefits for children include enhanced self-regulation, which has important implications for their school readiness, as well as their future academic and socioemotional competence.”
Honoring Children’s Development
Amy Speach | Syracuse University Magazine | Summer 2016 | Vol 33 | No. 2
Growing up in South Korea as the eldest child in a family that held education in high regard, Professor Eunjoo Jung got an early start on her career as a child development specialist by helping her younger siblings succeed academically. Her professional interest in the study of educational environment began in earnest years later at the Korea Institute for Research and Behavioral Sciences in Seoul, where she conducted research and counseled children from challenged backgrounds. “I observed firsthand how academically intensive school curricula and punitive teaching strategies can create unhealthy learning situations and place intense environmental pressure on children’s learning and development,” says Jung, a faculty member and undergraduate program director in the Falk College Department of Human Development and Family Science (HDFS). “My work with children at this institute stimulated my interest in understanding children’s learning in different cultures and contexts.”
Jung’s quest to comprehend what parents and educators can do to help children learn and thrive was further strengthened when she moved to the United States to pursue doctoral studies at Illinois State University, bringing her three school-aged children with her. A recipient of the prestigious Holmes Scholarship there, she earned a doctor of education degree in child development and teacher education. She then taught at the University of Louisville before coming to Syracuse in 2009. “As a parent of three English-language learners who were raised in both Asia and the United States, my personal experiences with almost every aspect of childcare arrangements and with working with different educational systems both here and in South Korea have allowed me to gain a unique perspective of the educational and child development cultures in both countries,” says Jung, who holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in educational psychology from Ewha Womans University in Seoul.
Jung’s research focuses on developing statistical models using large data sets to predict the factors related to positive outcomes in children’s growth and learning. She also collects and analyzes empirical data from future childhood professionals, parents, and children to explore their thoughts about instructional practices and the ways children’s educational and developmental needs can be better addressed. For instance, her recent project studying 1,255 school-aged children examined the relationships among parental involvement, children’s aspirations, and achievement, and revealed that greater parent involvement in school education is related to children’s academic achievement and cognitive development, both directly and indirectly. The study’s results are expected to contribute to the design of intervention and support programs to assist families from diverse backgrounds in discussing how to better guide their children and improve their academic performance.
The exciting part for Jung, she says, is to be able to bridge theory and practice with research. Specifically, she seeks to determine how the theories and new knowledge she produces can be translated into policy implications and practices that inform the educational field. “With several of my students who are all being trained to be strong researchers, we also conduct collaborative research,” says Jung, who is honored to be among her esteemed colleagues in HDFS. “We learn new insights from each other, and share our passion for this work.”
Now with her own children grown, Jung’s focus is on grooming her students to be the next generation of childhood professionals, bringing her full circle to the love for education she discovered as a child. “With the high value of education in my family, leading my younger siblings became very natural for me. I did the same as I raised my children,” she says. “And now I sometimes think that, with my students at the University, I become like a sister and a mother again.” —Amy Speach
CFS Senior Alyssa Manley Represents SU at 2016 Rio Olympics
After years of dedicated practice, Syracuse University student-athlete Alyssa Manley has achieved what most young athletes only dream of: becoming an Olympian. This year, Manley is representing the red, white and blue—and the orange—as she competes with the U.S. woman’s national field hockey team at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In addition to her commitment as an athlete, Manley also excels as a Falk College student in child and family studies.
Manley started playing field hockey in 2008 and was appointed to the U.S. women’s national team last year. Although the Olympics are her biggest opportunity yet, Manley has already helped the team secure several titles, including a gold medal in the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada, as well as bronze in the 2016 Champions Trophy in London, England and 5th place in the 2015 World League Round 3 in Valencia, Spain.
All five of the women’s field hockey matches, as well as the quarterfinals, semifinals and medal rounds, will be broadcast live on NBC’s family of networks.
Helping military personnel and their families
by Rachel Linsner
During my first year of graduate school, I became interested in the experiences of military personnel and their families. In the summer of 2014, I worked as an intern at the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress (CSTS), a part of the Department of Psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. The Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress responds to the psychological outcomes of traumatic events, including war, natural disasters, and terrorism.
While at CSTS, I worked closely with Dr. James McCarroll, a retired Army psychologist. McCarroll conducts research on mortuary affairs soldiers and family violence in the Army, in addition to assisting in other research projects at the center. He taught me about military structure and culture, as well as stressors and strengths specific to Army soldiers and families. I also assisted his research on the psychological stress of Army mortuary affairs operations, the military operation that returns fallen soldiers home.
After my incredible experience at the CSTS, I wanted to continue studying military families. I am fortunate to work as a research analyst at the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University, which has greatly contributed to my continuing education on service members, veterans, and military families. My main responsibilities have been for the Blue Star Families 2015 Military Family Lifestyle Survey.
I primarily focused on the transition from military to civilian life for service members and their families. The data indicated that many transitioning service members, veterans, and their families have little awareness of available transition resources and benefits. Additionally, many veterans reported particular difficulty in their employment and financial transitions. Since the transition from military to civilian life is a significant and often challenging time for military families, I plan to further study the factors that ease or worsen this process for families.
Additionally with the help of Rachel Razza, associate professor of child and family studies, I hope to propose and evaluate a mindfulness program for military children and parents in the local areas.
Rachel Linsner is a third-year doctoral student in the Department of Child and Family Studies. Her research interests are in military families, trauma, child maltreatment, and family/parenting stress.
A new course for Falk, and for a child’s life
Big ideas beget new pedagogy. In this case the idea is mindfulness, and the course is Mindfulness in Children and Youth, taught by Rachel Razza, associate professor in the Department of Child and Family Studies.
In the course description, Razza offers this portrayal of mindfulness from Susan Kaiser Greenland, author of The Mindful Child: “Mindfulness is a refined process of attention that allows children to see the world through a lens of attention, balance and compassion. When children learn to look at the world with attention, balance and compassion, they soon learn to be in the world with attention, balance and compassion.”
The course aims to provide students with a foundation in mindfulness practice among children by focusing on its role in child and youth development. CFS 452/652 includes a review of current intervention studies in the school and community that target mindfulness, as well as information regarding mindful parenting.
The course includes experiential exercises; students keep a reflective journal. “This is integral to the course, as it allows students to experience and interpret the mindfulness practices that they are learning about,” she says. “One student said she now realized that to understand how these practices benefit children, she would have to first experience them for herself.”
Razza got involved in the subject through her research, which focuses on the development of self-regulation among children. “Given the benefits of early self-regulation for children’s later academic achievement and social competence, I have been interested in ways to promote these skills, particularly among disadvantaged children,” she says.
Several types of students can benefit from the course. “Early education teachers in particular have been increasingly interested in using mindfulness in their classes; this course would be an introduction to this topic for them,” Razza says. “The course could also be of interest to students in the child life specialist track in CFS, as well as other undergraduates in the health sciences.”
The discipline is crucial today. “The growing interest in the use of mindfulness with children and youth is backed by accumulating research documenting its benefits for selfregulation, socioemotional competence, attention and cognitive skills, and health and well-being,” she says. “These practices are increasingly popular with developmental scientists, educators, and practitioners.”
The course is required for the mindfulness and contemplative studies minor, which is coordinated by Razza. It ties in to the Contemplative Collaborative (Razza is associate director), a group of faculty, students, and staff involved in contemplative practices via their teaching, research, and/or personal lives. The course also fits with the Meditation Room in the Student Services suite and was a link with Falk’s sponsorship of Dacher Keltner (author of Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life) for the University Lecture series.
In short, mindfulness can affect, and benefit, everyone.
“Mindfulness and contemplative practice are experiential modes of learning and self-inquiry,” says Razza. “Contemplative practices are widely varied and include various forms of meditation, focused thought, writing, creative/performing arts, and yoga. Mindfulness and contemplative practices can foster greater empathy and communication skills, improve focus and attention, reduce stress, and enhance creativity and general well-being.”
A champion for college students: Jonathan Gibralter
Understanding the connection between healthy decision making in college and lifestyle choices after graduation has always interested Jonathan Gibralter G’96. As a Ph.D. student in child and family studies, he explored the relationship between college lifestyles and a person’s future life course. Might a 1970s graduate live a more liberal lifestyle than graduates from the 1980s or 1990s? His research concluded a person’s decade of graduation did not impact future lifestyle decisions. Today, his thorough understanding of human development provides a foundation critical in his role as the 19th president of Wells College.
Gibralter is recognized nationally as an expert thought leader on curbing binge drinking and promoting responsible behavior on college campuses. “I didn’t set out to have a national reputation on college students and alcohol. But the work needed to be done,” he says. “College presidents must be willing to take a stand on this issue, to be role models, to set a level of expectation for their students, to just do the right thing to save lives.”
Gibralter co-chairs the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) President’s Working Group to Address Harmful Student Drinking. Sought out regularly as a leading voice on preventing dangerous college-age drinking and related harms, he has provided expert testimony for the U.S. Department of Education and Congress. Honors for his work include a $50,000 national Presidential Leadership Award from Outside the Classroom, The Gordie Foundation, and a group of seven major higher education organizations for his leadership in fighting dangerous drinking, with which he created an endowment to fund alcohol education programs.
Gibralter began his career in higher education with the State University of New York system. After appointments as a faculty member, academic program director, and associate dean at Morrisville State College, he served as dean of academic affairs, campus dean, and interim president in the community college ranks.
He didn’t intend to become a college president, a role he has held for the past 16 years at Farmingdale State College, Frostburg State University, and since July 2015 at Wells College, a school of nearly 600 students in Aurora, New York. “I thought I’d be a teacher,” he says. “I’ve always felt passionate that higher education is important because students are our future. We have a responsibility to the next generation”.
Gibralter earned a B.A. in psychology from the State University of New York at Binghamton, a master’s degree in counseling psychology from New York University, and a doctorate in child and family studies from Syracuse University. During his tenure as president at Frostburg State, he earned an M.B.A. from the University of Maryland.
Of his studies in the College for Human Development (now Falk College), Gibralter fondly recalls emeriti professors Harlan London, Robert Pickett and his advisor, Eleanor Macklin. While at Syracuse, Gibralter met his wife, Laurie, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work.
“Syracuse University always has a place in my heart and in my life,” he says. In speaking of memorable counseling and child development courses, Gibralter’s favorites were “any courses with Dr. Macklin. She was a wonderful teacher and mentor who was intelligent, kind-hearted, and incredibly generous with her time.”
Following in Professor Macklin’s footsteps, mentoring students is a priority for Gibralter. In a Fall 2015 Huffington Post blog feature, “A Call for Mentorship and Meaningful Relationships,” Gibralter speaks passionately about making connections with students, “from encouraging a student to study abroad even if they have never been out of the country, encouraging them to engage in faculty-led research and present their findings when students have not yet recognized their aptitude for the subject matter, or encouraging first-generation students to continue their studies in graduate school when they have never considered the possibility of further learning.”
Gibralter is active on social media and continues teaching online. From student convocation to honors ceremonies, he embraces all opportunities to interact with students, even if it means occasionally keeping the same late-night hours they do. At a late-night study breakfast in the dining hall, Gibralter, along with Wells College administration, faculty and staff, served meals to 500 students. “I scooped eggs for close to two hours so our students could have adequate nutrition as they began studying for finals,” he says.
“College students are our future. If you can really connect with a student so college is more than memorizing and sitting in class, that person has a chance for a meaningful life and career.”
Remembering Bettye Caldwell:
Educator, former CFS department chair, who helped pave way for Head Start
Retired professor of child and family studies Bettye Caldwell passed away on April 17. Her work in the 1960s at the Children’s Center of Syracuse provided the foundation for what became one of the most important components of the Great Society programs known today as Head Start. Professor Caldwell, who chaired the Department of Child and Family Studies, worked for more than five decades in comprehensive early childhood development programming primarily serving low-income preschool-age children and their families. During this time, she worked closely with Dr. Julius Richmond, then-chairman of pediatrics at Upstate University. In 1967, they formed the Children’s Center in Syracuse, the first early intervention program in the country. At that time, it was forbidden in New York State to care for infants in groups. Dr. Caldwell’s advocacy resulted in a special waiver that paved the way for creation of the Children’s Center.
Conference explores interdisciplinary understanding roles of family, community, educational practices in childhood development
The 7th Annual Mini-Conference on Play, Early Childhood Development, and Education, sponsored by the Department of Child and Family Studies, Falk College, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education, The Pennsylvania State University, and Elementary Education, College of Education, Bloomsburg University will be held on April 28-29, 2016 at the College of Education, Bloomsburg University. This year’s topic is “Pancultural Perspectives on Play.”
The annual conference is a joint effort among Syracuse University, The Pennsylvania State University, and Bloomsburg University. It emphasizes the promotion of developmentally and culturally appropriate practices in early childhood development and education by highlighting the interplay among ecological niches, child development, and early education. The conference aims to increase interdisciplinary understanding of the role of family, community, and educational practices in childhood development.
The conference offers a helpful venue for students to network with faculty from other universities on job and graduate study opportunities. Additionally, it has consistently offered many opportunities for faculty and students across universities to collaborate on joint research projects and publications. “CFS graduate students, along with students from the other institutions, have published along with faculty members,” notes Jaipaul Roopnarine, the Pearl Falk Endowed Professor of Child and Family Studies. “There have also been opportunities for graduate students to publish their work independently in major academic outlets on play.”
Along with associate professor of child and family studies, Dr. Eunjoo Jung, Dr. Roopnarine have been invited to serve on the editorial board of the International Journal of Play as a result of their on-going participation in this conference and their international work on play. Professors also serve on doctoral student committees and offer guest lectures via Skype and in person across universities. For example, Professor Roopnarine serves on a doctoral committee in Curriculum and Instruction at Penn State while Professor James Johnson will provide a guest lecture via Skype to students in CFS 331, an undergraduate class on play, this spring.
This year’s conference will include research-based presentations on the play of immigrant and refugee children, games in Chinese society, and internal working models about the benefits of play activities in diverse cultural settings. Some of this work will be featured in upcoming volumes, including the Handbook on International Perspective on Early Childhood Education Routledge Press authored by Dr. Roopnarine, Michael Patte (Bloomsburg University), and James Johnson (The Pennsylvania State University), all who will be presenting at this year’s conference.
CFS reflects on history, milestones
The child and family studies programs at Syracuse University date back to 1928, with many significant historical moments and milestones. From holding the longest federally funded Early Intervention Grant to important collaborative partnerships, including the Inclusive Early Childhood Special Education degree developed in conjunction with the SU School of Education, CFS history includes many highlights key to Falk College history.
Syracuse University’s Falk College Highlights Graduate Studies at November 6 Information Session
Faculty, staff, students available to talk about programs, coursework, student life
Syracuse University faculty, staff and current students will welcome potential graduate students interested in the Falk College’s graduate programs in child and family studies, public health, marriage and family therapy, nutrition science, social work and sport management during a special Fall Information Session for graduate studies on Friday, November 6. The presentation begins at 4:00 p.m. at Falk College, Room 200.
Detailed information will be provided on graduate programs in addiction studies, child and family studies (M.A., M.S., Ph.D.), food studies (M.S.), global health (M.S.), marriage and family therapy (M.A.), social work (M.S.W.) as well as the dual degree program (M.A./M.S.W.) in marriage and family therapy and social work, nutrition science (M.A., M.S.), and sport venue and event management (M.S.). Details on our Certificate of Advanced Study (CAS) program in trauma-informed practice will be available along with information on other Falk College CAS programs in, dietetic internship, and global health.
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