Current Assignment in the College of Education and Human Sciences:
COURSES TAUGHT:
FACS 271, Infancy
FACS 271L, Infancy Lab
FACS 474, Assessment of the Young Child
FACS 961, Parent-Child Relationship
Philosophy Statement: My teaching, research, and service activities have an interdisciplinary focus grounded in Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model. My research examines relationships between Microsystems, focusing on the interrelationships of children and their families within their communities. I bring interdisciplinary focus to my classes and build interdisciplinary teams within the department and college. I am involved in several collaborative research projects across departments and fields of expertise. My work closely matches the mission of the College of Education and Human Sciences “to enhance the lives of individuals, families, schools, and communities and to strengthening the relationships among them” and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln goal in which “teaching, scholarship, and outreach merge, becoming part of a seamless whole”.
My assignment is in child development/early childhood education within the Department of Family & Consumer Sciences. Those who consider themselves part of the early childhood field may have been trained in areas as diverse as psychology, special education, early childhood education, family science, or elementary education. My training focused on the area of normative child development and my career has evolved to include many aspects of early childhood education. As a result, I have a strong research background and interest in how typically developing children succeed. Recent experiences with early childhood education contributed to my growing expertise in how professionals are trained to work with young children. This integration of fields I becoming more common as basic researchers move to influence those on the “front line” working day-to-day with children, ensuring the growth of the field and best practices for children (see Neurons to Neighborhoods, 2000). I am one of the new professionals who bring basic research skills and knowledge of normative development to enrich the training of practitioners and the practices used in early childhood programs. My area of child development and early childhood education bridges the gap between families and schools (i.e., child care, preschool programs, Kindergarten).
