Dr. Lori Skibbe is taking on the role of associate chair for the MSU Department of Human Development and Family Studies beginning fall semester 2023.
“I am looking forward to learning more about the day-to-day processes that help to support our students, faculty, and staff,” Dr. Lori Skibbe said.
Dr. Skibbe is a professor and has been with the department since 2008. She loves the department and its focus on helping children, families and communities become stronger.
“I love how our collective focus on building stronger communities translates to teaching and scholarship,” she said.
Dr. Skibbe’s research focuses on how children develop early language and literacy skills and to assess these skills more effectively for children with and without disabilities. She became interested in this research because reading has brought her so much joy in life and she wants to help others enjoy reading as well.
“I realized when working with preschoolers right after I had graduated college that this wasn't going to happen for all children without some help,” she said. “I now work to understand how families can support children when developing early literacy skills and how we can measure children's progress as they learn.”
Dr. Skibbe is the principal investigator on a grant from the U.S. Department of Education to develop a new assessment of early literacy skills for children with disabilities that affect the production of speech. This includes children with autism, cerebral palsy, and language impairment. Dr. Skibbe also studies young children’s self-regulation and how it helps children learn to read. Dr. Skibbe is on the editorial boards of Reading Research Quarterly and Early Education & Development. She regularly teaches courses on child development and assessment.
“Lori is a wonderful collaborator and colleague and I personally look forward to working with her in this role,” said Dr. Adrian Blow, chair of the department.
When asked about a fun fact about her, Dr. Skibbe said that her current guilty pleasure is playing The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
To learn more about the MSU Department of Human Development and Family Studies, visit hdfs.msu.edu.
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By Katie Rose Frey
