Project Core
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Emilie Smith (Director) https://hdfs.msu.edu/people/faculty/smith-emilie-p-phd I conduct community-engaged research that seeks to promote positive development of youth and families, particularly among minoritized groups. My work explores the role of a positive racial-ethnic identity and the related socialization processes, and relationships to reduced problems (e.g. violence, substance use, mental health issues) and higher levels of achievement. I use rigorous scientific methods to test approaches that support empowering parenting and caregiving approaches that reduce disparities and foster equity. |
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Lekie Dwanyen https://hdfs.msu.edu/people/specialists-and-fixed-term-faculty/dwanyen-lekie-ph.d. |
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Desiree Qin |
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Yijie Wang |
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Melissa Yzaguirre
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Chris Melde |
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Caitlin Cavanagh https://cj.msu.edu/directory/cavanagh-caitlin.html Dr. Cavanagh is a developmental psychologist who studies how the juvenile justice system interfaces with children and families. Specifically, she researches the dynamic, reciprocal relation between adolescent development and contact with the juvenile justice system, and ways that law and policy can better support marginalized families whose children come into contact with the justice system. |
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Jennifer Cobbina-Dungy https://cj.msu.edu/directory/cobbina-jennifer.html I am currently working on a project in which we draw on the risk as feelings model of decision making to examine 25 in-depth interviews with youth living in neighborhoods high in concentrated disadvantage and violent crime who have experienced community violence. Namely, we ask: What does the decision process look like in recent incidents of violence or avoided violence? Specifically, what preferences did the youth hold in relation to encounters with community violence? What were their perceived behavioral options and general likelihood of taking that course of action? What does their rationale for their selected behavioral option tell us about the processes (e.g., Type 1 and Type 2 thinking) that underpinned their ultimate course of action? 2) What factors (e.g., decision scripts based on prior experiences with community violence, presence of peers) shaped how the decision process unfolded during these incidents? Unpacking the decision making process that leads to avoided violence and violent outcomes in areas of concentrated disadvantage will shed light on the black box of human choice and how it is structured by the neighborhood context. |
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Julie Krupa https://cj.msu.edu/directory/krupa-julie.html Julie Krupa is an Assistant Professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University. Her primary research interests focus on the intersection between public health and juvenile justice, violence reduction, juvenile delinquency, and program evaluation. |
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Pilar Horner https://socialwork.msu.edu/directory/horner-pilar.html The impact of immigration policy on health outcomes for Spanish Speaking marginalized immigrant youth. |
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Sacha Klein |
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Kune Park https://socialwork.msu.edu/directory/park-keunhye.html Keunhye Park is an Assistant Professor at Michigan State University’s School of Social Work. Park received an MSW from the University of Michigan and a PhD from the University of Chicago. Park studies the connection between child welfare services and other systems of care serving marginalized populations. Park’s research interests include child welfare services and policy, juvenile justice services and policy, educational experiences of marginalized youth, and the transition to adulthood among foster youth. Park’s current work includes studies of justice system involvement among youth in foster care, and strategies for keeping those young people out of the justice system. Park’s work builds upon her field practice in public schools, juvenile detention centers, state departments of children and family services, and research institutes. |
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Cheryl Williams-Hecksel https://socialwork.msu.edu/directory/williams-hecksel-cheryl.html I am the Coordinator of the School of Social Work's Evidence Based Trauma Treatment Certificate for Social Work graduate students. As co-lead of the University Partnerships team of the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute I support the development of partnerships between public and tribal child welfare programs and Schools of Social Work as they commit to workforce excellence with a special focus on advancing racial equity, inclusion and tribal sovereignty. |
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Advisory Faculty
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Gary Anderson |
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Deborah Johnson https://hdfs.msu.edu/people/faculty/johnson-deborah-j-phd I have been studying racial-ethnic socialization with children from early childhood through adolescence and emerging adulthood for 30 years. To understand how parents transmit messages about race to children and how these messages were being translated to coping strategies, I was able to innovate in the development several measures paper/pencil, interview, video observational and picture/story approaches. The racial ethnic identity and socialization research focus extends to migrant, immigrant and refugee populations in domestic and international contexts (Australia, Romania and South Sudan). Our early studies of adjustment in South Sudanese refugee youth emphasized a range of cultural and psychological adjustment processes (e.g., institutional engagement, interpersonal relationships and fosterage, race and prejudice exposure, and adaptation to American youth culture), and experiences surrounding contexts of adjustment. |
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Edmund McGarrell |
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Francisco Villarruel https://hdfs.msu.edu/people/faculty/villarruel-francisco-a-phd Racial and ethnic disparities for Latino youth involved in juvenile justice systems programs. |
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Core Department Heads and Deans
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Adrian Blow (Chair) |
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Claire Vallotton (Director of Grad Studies) https://hdfs.msu.edu/index.php/people/faculty/vallotton-claire-d-phd |
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Mary Finn (CSS Dean) |
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Chris Melde (Director of Grad Studies) https://cj.msu.edu/directory/melde-christopher.html My research focuses on youth violence, school safety, and street gangs. |
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Thomas Holt (Director) |
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Anne Hughes (Director) |
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Joanne Riebschleger (Director of Doctoral Program) https://socialwork.msu.edu/directory/riebschleger-joanne.html |
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Anna Maria Santiago (Associate Dean) https://socialscience.msu.edu/about/leadership/assoc-dean-grad-studies.html |
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