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Human Development & Family Studies | Michigan State University

Human Development and Family Studies News

Hallway Stories

Dr. Karen WamplerAs Chair of HDFS I treasure the stories my colleagues share, often told in passing in the hall.

Lori Skibbe brought tears to my eyes.  A specialist in language and literacy, Lori was one of three experts invited to present five days of workshops on working with children in Ukraine who have special needs.  Over the five days attendance grew to 90 teachers and parent participants who spread the word about the workshops.  As part of her presentations, Lori brought two “Augmentative and Alternative Communication” (AAC) devices already programmed into Ukrainian. 

Near the end of her stay, Lori was talking to a young mother with a 7-year old daughter who had never spoken.  Lori said, “I bet you she’d say “hello” to you if she pushed this button.”  The little girl pushed the ACC button and, laughing and smiling said, “Pryvit!”  Her mom exclaimed, “She gets it! She understands!” as she enveloped her delighted daughter in a huge hug.  Lori left one AAC device with the local school system and the other with the group of parents so others can see what is possible and have hope.

Hawaiian Sunrise Study Away 2012Another conversation with Dr. Esther Onaga painted a vivid picture of this summer’s study away experience she led on the island of Hawaii.  Kumu Paul Neves hosted 22 participants and faculty in his family home which is on land designated as Hawaiian Homelands. (“Kumu” means teacher in the deepest sense.)  At 3:30 in the morning, the whole group arose from their mattresses on the floor of the Hula Halau space and piled into a yellow school bus for a trip to the easternmost point of the island.  There they walked across a lava field to celebrate the rising of the sun, clapping and chanting for almost an hour in small groups spread along the shore.  The photograph is of Kumu Neves’ student and friend Komo gazing out at this beautiful sunrise. 

Returning along the trail, the students planted coconut seedlings in the barren lava, using dirt they had carried with them.  The students experienced how fervently native Hawaiians value always giving back to the land (“aina”).  More than one student talked about wanting to come back and see the coconut trees that they had planted. 

As alumni and friends of HDFS, you too know many stories.  These stories are why we believe so passionately in our legacy and our work.  I look forward to hearing more of them from you and sharing them with our wonderful HDFS community.

HDFS Completes MSU Academic Program Review

The Department of Human Development and Family Studies has completed the Academic Program Review process.  This review included an extensive self-study, evaluation by a review team from outside MSU and the development of an action plan for the future.  The department can be very proud of our results!

The report identifies many HDFS strengths, including:
•    the diversity of our faculty and students,
•    high productivity in terms of student credit hours generated,
•    the size of our graduate programs,
•    an increasingly strong research presence,
•    high quality of the Child Development Laboratories
•    a strong positive direction of our overall department, and
•    the value of the CDLs as a site for research. 

The review team, Dean, and Provost also noted the importance of the longitudinal dataset collection led by Lori Skibbe in close collaboration with Laurie Linscott, Director of the CDLs, Head Teachers, and families. 

Check out our website at http://hdfs.msu.edu to read more about the department, the current programs, and research at the CDLs. 

2012 Graduate Meenal Rana, Ph.D. Appointed Visiting Assistant Professor at Brown University

Dr. Meenal RanaMeenal Rana, PhD, a 2012 graduate from HDFS, accepted the position of Visiting Assistant Professor in Human Development at the Department of Education at Brown University in fall 2012.  

Currently she is teaching two courses in the Department of Education. Meenal says, “I love teaching my courses. My students are active learners who participate enthusiastically in my classes. We construct knowledge in the classrooms with each other.”  Besides teaching, she is co-advising two honors students with their theses and getting acclimated.  “Providence is a beautiful city,” she says, “and I am settling into my new home.  I enjoy all my interactions with my new colleagues and students at Brown. Brown is a vibrant place with new learning challenges where I hope to grow as a scholar.” 

Meenal’s interests are the parent socialization practices in various ethnic immigrant communities from South Asia, particularly the parent socialization practices of Sikh immigrants from India towards ethno-religious identity formation of their 1st and 2nd generation children.  While at MSU, Meenal earned first place honors from the MSU Asian Studies Center Shao Chang Lee award committee for her research entitled, Socialization between Two Cultures: Three Family Case Studies of Pakistani Graduate Student in the United States.

Meenal expressed appreciation for her learning experiences at MSU and warmly remembers her teachers for the lessons they taught her.  The late Tom Luster was Meenal’s primary mentor when she first came to MSU.  His legacy continues through her teaching and scholarship and through the Tom Luster Endowed Scholarship awarded every year to an HDFS graduate student.  For more information on the Luster Endowed Scholarship visit http://www.givingto.msu.edu.

Current Student Spotlight

Meet Grace Grace Chee at KON

Third year HDFS doctoral student, Grace Chee, was elected as a student board member at Kappa Omicron Nu, the leading interdisciplinary honor society in the human and family sciences.  Specializing in Lifespan Human Development, Grace is interested in the influence of racial and contextual factors on the perceptions of Chinese immigrant grandparents in Singapore.  Specifically, she is studying how these factors influence their role as grandparents and their interactions with their grandchildren. 

Since completing her MSW at the University of Michigan, Grace has taught English to children in Southern China and has recently been involved in research on suicides among the elderly population at the National University of Singapore.  Her CV reflects her wide-ranging interests and expertise.  Currently, Grace is working on a paper (in press) with Dr. Schiamberg on abuse between nursing home residents.  She is also working with Dr. Schiamberg, Dr. Levine, and Dr. Holt on a bullying project in Lansing area schools.  Grace and Dr. Holt (School of Criminal Justice at MSU) have submitted a paper for publication on cyberbullying in Singapore.  She presented the paper at the APA Minority Division Conference in 2012.

CDL Shines at Grandparents University

Boys at Grandparents University

“If I were a teacher, I think I’d need a nap!”

Each summer, MSU welcomes alumni and their school-aged grandchildren (aged eight to twelve) to campus, living in the residence halls and taking classes for three days of Grandparents University (GU).  As part of this popular program, HDFS’s Child Development Laboratory (CDL) offers a highly acclaimed course titled Fun with Science: Science Experiences with Preschoolers that engages GU kids in teaching science to CDL preschoolers.   By choosing fun activities that engage the preschoolers, young GU participants and their grandparents learn science along with age-appropriate ways to teach science lessons in early childhood.

CDL Head Teachers set up four science stations with different activities. GU kids explored the science activities themselves and learned strategies to support children’s learning of the scientific process. CDL preschoolers were invited to the science fair and participated in all the activities, under the observant eyes and probing questions of the GU participants.  A favorite activity was making a boat from aluminum foil, predicting how many plastic bears it would hold and testing the prediction. 

“When the children arrived, they were excited to take on teacher roles and do what we usually do. They felt like they were the real teachers,” said CDL teacher, Lisa Foster. “They were really into learning about the science behind the activities and then guiding and supporting the younger children.”  Sarah Belanger, teacher of the preschool children who participated, added, “The grandparents were observing and participating. Everybody wanted to be hands-on and play with the materials and seemed to really enjoy watching their grandchildren in action – teaching.”

Veteran CDL Director Laurie Linscott, who has more than 25 years of experience in the field of early childhood care and education, notes that the activities increased community interest in the CDL’s involvement in the healthy development and education of science, technology, education, and mathematics (STEM) in early childhood.  The CDL session has quickly become one of most well-reviewed classes at GU, so spots fill quickly.  If you plan to attend GU 2013, bookmark the Grandparent University website at www.grandparents.msu.edu and register early for HDFS’s Fun with Science sessions!

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