Child and Family Studies — Year in Review

by Vey M. Nordquist, department head

The 2004–05 academic year was marked by a series of remarkable events in the Department of Child and Family Studies (CFS). Early in the year the faculty reviewed and reaffirmed the department’s new mission statement, which places great importance on the need to “foster and disseminate scientific understanding of children, families, and the early education process…” and highlights “…two fundamental areas of emphasis.” The first area of emphasis— development in context—recognizes that development occurs in multiple, interconnected settings such as the family, neighborhood, school, and community. The second— children and families at risk—reflects a commitment to generating informed practices that will improve the lives of those in greatest need. Both the undergraduate and graduate curricula recently were updated to reflect the new mission of the department.

Faculty presented 25 papers at national and international conferences and published more than 40 research articles in peer-reviewed journals that contributed new knowledge in a variety of scientific fields related to children and families at risk. They also secured more than $3,000,000 in internal and external funding to support research, training, and service programs in the department. The Child Development Laboratory, Infant Development Research Center, Teacher Documentation and Research Center, Family Life Project, Pathways Research Project, Tennessee’s Early Intervention System, and the Child Care Resource and Referral Center are all located in CFS. All are involved in child and family activities that occur in natural contexts and either generate or apply knew knowledge that is the product of faculty research efforts.

 

During the past year, three scholars were appointed to the rank of assistant professor in CFS. Each of these new faculty members are highly regarded because their interests and expertise are very much in line with the department’s new mission statement.

Dr. Rena Hallam, who received her Ph.D. from the University of Delaware, joined the faculty in the fall of 2004. She brought with her a remarkable record of academic and research accomplishments in the area of early childhood education and development after spending four years at the University of Kentucky.

Dr. Heidi Stolz, a graduate of Brigham Young University, spent one year on the faculty at California State University, San Bernardino, before joining the department last fall. Her area of expertise is parent-child relations with a particular focus on the study of parent education and parent intervention programs.

Dr. Hillary Fouts received her doctoral degree from Washington State University and is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Washington, D.C. Dr. Fouts is a cultural and psychological anthropologist who has spent considerable time in Africa studying infant and social-emotional development with a focus on infant feeding and weaning, parent-child conflict, and pregnancy. Dr. Fouts will not join the department until January 2006 because of research commitments requiring that she return to the Congo this summer to complete one of her research projects.

We anticipate that these outstanding scholars will make significant contributions to their areas of scientific interest. Through their contacts with students in and outside the classroom, their mission is to help students learn how research conducted in natural contexts can truly informparenting and teaching practices—practices that have the potential to improve the quality of life for children and families in greatest need.

As exciting as it is to establish new departmental research and academic directions, to have productive faculty committed to excellence in areas of teaching and research consistent with our new mission, and to hire three young established scholars,the department accomplished something this year that occurs very rarely on university campuses. With strong support from Dean Bob Rider and after much discussion with higher administration, Chancellor Loren Crabtree approved the establishment of a new Center for the International Study of Youth and Political Violence. The center will be directed by Dr. Brian Barber, a professor in CFS and a top international scholar in the area of political conflict and its effects on adolescents and young adults.

The center will serve several different functions, including research, advocacy, and consultation to government and non-government agencies that need to better understand, deal with, and try to prevent war-related atrocities. The center will be located initially in the department and will sponsor an annual conference that will bring together researchers, politicians, advocates, and even members of families who are living in war-ravaged areas such as Northern Ireland, South A frica, Israel, and Palestine. Each year the conference will focus on one area of the world where war and aggressive conflicts have had adverse effects on youth and families. The first year the focus will be on Northern Ireland; the second year the focus will be on South Africa; the third year the focus will be on the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians.

As the center gets underway, at least two new faculty and several graduate research assistants will be recruited to contribute to center activities. Each year the conference proceedings will be published by a distinguished university press such as the Oxford University Press. The goal will be to disseminate the proceedings to the broadest possible audience around the world. Finally, during the fourth year, the center will host a conference that attempts to integrate the findings from the first three years and through this process identify ways of effectively addressing youth problems that are created by war-related conflicts. Harvard University Press has already expressed an interest in publishing the fourth year proceedings.

Eventually, the center will establish itself as the leading authority of its kind in the world. The hope is that, with the procurement of outside funding, other new faculty will join the center, making it possible to develop new and exciting undergraduate and graduate programs that prepare students to seek positions with private and public agencies that have interests in better understanding and addressing war-related youth and family problems. In this manner, CFS faculty and students will be propelled in quite dramatic fashion onto an international stage of great significance. They are looking forward to the opportunity and can think of no better or important way to pursue the department’s mission.

Contact CEHHS

335 Claxton Complex
1122 Volunteer Boulevard
Knoxville, Tennessee 37996

Phone: 865-974-2201
Fax: 865-974-8718