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Educational
Background:
I hold a bachelor’s degree in elementary/early childhood education,
a master’s degree in child development and family studies,
and a Ph.D. in child development with an emphasis on infant/toddler
development. I completed my graduate work at Syracuse University
under the direction of Dr. Alice Honig. I am also a certified infant
massage instructor, and enjoy teaching classes to parents from time
to time. I joined the faculty at Michigan State University in 1996.
Research Interests: Social-emotional development of infants and toddlers; parenting; parent infant-toddler interactions; caregiver infant-toddler interactions; emotion related parenting behaviors. Specifically, I am interested in infants’, toddlers’, and young children’s acquisition of a repertoire of social and emotional competencies that promote their abilities, over time, to regulate their behaviors and engage in positive interactions with their parents, caregivers and peers. My work focuses on the contributions of parenting, the parent-child relationship, family interactions, and early childhood classroom climates to the acquisition of these skills. Currently, my funded work is centering on: 1) parental emotion-related parenting behaviors including emotional supportiveness, parents’ use of mental state language and emotion talk, and parents’ attitudes about emotions; 2) the family mealtime as a social context for the development of toddlers’ regulatory and behavioral competencies (with Dr. Mildred Horodynski, Nursing); and 3) interventions to reduce challenging behaviors and support young children’s healthy social-emotional development. Click here to learn more about the Building Early Emotion Skills Developmental Research Studies site to learn more about our research.
The Interdepartmental Graduate Certificate in Infancy and Early Childhood.
The IGCIEC program provides graduate students with an interdisciplinary specialization in infant and early childhood developmental studies. The specialization appears on the degree transcript with completion of the program. IGCIEC students come from a variety of units across campus, and more than a dozen academic units participate in the IGCIEC program. IGCIEC students attain core competencies in infant/toddler and early childhood development, research and evaluation, programs and practices in serving very young children and their families, assessment, and other key areas. Core competencies are attained through completing course work, participating in colloquiums and discussions with faculty across campus, assigned readings, and field experiences. The IGCIEC program provides a unique opportunity for students to engage in scholarly dialogue and study with faculty and peers across campus and across the community.
Please contact me for more information.
Organizations
Related to Infant/Toddler Research & Practices
Society for Research in Child
Development
International Society on Infant
Studies
World Association for Infant Mental
Health
Zero to Three
National Association for the Education
of Young Children
National Council on Family Relations
Teaching:
I have taught and currently teach a variety of courses at MSU at both the undergraduate and graduate
level.
Undergraduate courses
FCE 322 - Infant Development and Programming
FCE 411 - Developmental Study of a Child
FCE 414 - Parenting
FCE 424 - Student Teaching in an ECE setting
Graduate Courses
FCE 810 - Theories of Human Development
FCE 820 - Infancy: The Contexts of Family, Community, and Culture
FCE 823 - Infant Programs and Practices
FCE 892 - Special Topics Course (such as the development of social
competence in young, prosocial and moral development, and practices
to “teach peace").
Current course offerings may be found on the MSU Schedule
of Courses. |
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