Human Development & Family Science News
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.
Falk College names three faculty to endowed Falk Professorships
As part of their visionary and purposeful commitment to academics as a path to success, Syracuse University alumni David B. and Rhonda S. Falk established a series of endowed professorships in each of the seven academic disciplines of Falk College. Today Falk College announced the following three faculty have been named Falk Endowed Professors:
Alejandro Garcia, M.S.W., Ph.D., Jocelyn Falk Endowed Professor of Social Work
Jaipaul Roopnarine, Ph.D. ,Pearl Falk Endowed Professor of Child and Family Studies
Rick Welsh, Ph.D., Falk Family Endowed Professor in Food Studies.
“We are grateful to David and Rhonda Falk, and the Falk family, for their vision and commitment to create an endowed faculty professorship in every academic program in Falk College. Alejandro, Jaipaul and Rick are internationally recognized leaders in their respective fields and exemplary scholars and teachers. The Falk College and the Falk family are privileged to support their efforts,” notes Diane Lyden Murphy, dean, Falk College.
The Falk endowed professorships allow Falk College to support internationally recognized faculty to enhance the research, academic and experiential components of its programs to advance its mission rich in teaching, research, scholarship, practice and service.
Dr. Alejandro Garcia he has taught in the areas of gerontology, social policy, and human diversity for over 35 years in the School of Social Work where he served as director. He is the co-editor of three books, including Elderly Latinos: Issues and Solutions for the 21st Century (with Marta Sotomayor) (1993), HIV Affected and Vulnerable Youth: Prevention Issues and Approaches (1999) (with Susan Taylor-Brown), and La Familia: Traditions and Realities (1999) (with Marta Sotomayor). He is also the author of numerous articles and book chapters. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including being named a Social Work Pioneer by the National Association of Social Workers and being elected a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America. This fall, he will receive the 2015 Association of Latino and Latina Social Work Educators’ Lifetime Achievement Award.
A professor in the Department of Child and Family Studies, Dr. Jaipaul Roopnarine’s areas of research include father-child relationships, Caribbean families and childhood outcomes, early childhood education in international perspective, children’s play across cultures, and immigrant families and schooling in the United States. An adjunct faculty member in the School of Education, he is an adjunct professor of education and senior research scientist, Family Development Centre, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago where he was a Fulbright Scholar. He was a Distinguished Visiting Nehru Professor at M S Baroda University, Gujarat, India. Among his many books is the recent publication, Fathers across Cultures: The Importance, Roles, and Diverse Practices of Dads, with two additional titles to be released in 2015. He is also the author of over 100 articles and book chapters on childhood development across cultures. He recently finished a three-year term as editor of the journal, Fathering.
Dr. Rick Welsh is a professor of food studies who serves as chair of the Department of Public Health, Food Studies and Nutrition.Under his leadership, Falk College created undergraduate and graduate programs in food studies. Prior roles have included professor of sociology at Clarkson University, policy analyst with the Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture and the director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program for the Southern Region. He also serves as editor-in-chief for the journal, Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems. His research and teaching focus on social change and development with emphases on agri-food systems, science and technology studies and environmental sociology. Welsh is co-editor of the volume, Food and the Mil-level Farm: Renewing an Agriculture of the Middle published by M.I.T. Press. He has received grant funding from the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Energy and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, among other organizations.
In Class at Falk College: CFS 201—Introduction to Family Development with Dr. Matthew Mulvaney
Within the initial 30 minutes of his Fall semester’s first class, associate professor of child and family studies, Dr. Matthew Mulvaney, put his students to work. Equipped with Turning Point Personal Response Device clickers for this class, students responded to a series of yes or no questions posed by Professor Mulvaney, each with follow-up discussion. The group explored topics such as what constitutes a family, and how did students envision their future choices balancing family needs with career opportunities? This format that pairs technology and student feedback with class discussions and group activities will be a constant throughout the semester. In one of his survey questions during the inaugural class, 70 percent of the students indicated they (or their partner) would stay at home with their young children. This response was the foundation for a series of additional survey questions during the class with related dialogue.
CFS 201—Introduction to Family Development examines the diversity of family arrangements across cultures. A core course for Child and Family Studies (CFS) majors, it is open to any other majors interested in studying the family. The course offers a theoretical and functional approach to marital and family life with a developmental perspective. The course heavily uses social science research to help to understand phenomena related to family processes and organization. During the semester, students formulate research questions and approaches to studying marriages.
One of the most important skills Mulvaney would like his students to take from this class is to use available research to inform their own life choices about family life in the future. During one project, students will develop a literature-based plan regarding their future work and family roles, supporting their approach with academic references. Additionally, students will work in small groups to develop an empirical project that examines how marriage patterns vary across different contexts. Throughout the semester, classes will focus on topics that include marriages and families over time and gender’s influence in intimate relationships to living single, the process of uncoupling, and marriages and families in later life, among many others.
“The goal of the class is for students to think about what families are and how family arrangements and processes affect the individuals within them as well as understanding broader implications of these family processes for societies,” says Mulvaney. “From this basic understanding of family structure and processes, I hope students will think more complexly about how they will structure the family context professionally and in their own lives.”
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