Affiliate Research | CYFS | Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools

Program creates pathways to graduation

Michael Scheel, right, with graduate students from the Building Bridges Program.

Donning black gowns and caps, they joined their peers among Lincoln Northeast High School’s 2014 graduating class. They waited patiently to cross the stage, grasp their diploma and finally, after four years, flip the tassel.

They are 37 of the 41 Lincoln Northeast students who, in ninth grade, joined the Building Bridges program — a dropout prevention initiative led by CYFS affiliate Michael Scheel and Gina Kunz, CYFS research associate professor. The program is designed to help freshmen transition to high school and navigate a four-year path to graduation. Full Article

Tyler using technology to study substance use among homeless

The mercurial nature of homelessness has kept researchers from pinpointing which factors limit substance use – and how others trigger it – among the nearly 3 million American youth living on the streets.

With a new $400,000 grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, CYFS affiliate Kimberly Tyler will use technology to address this sociological challenge for the sake of confronting the societal one. Full Article

Crockett leads study of contextual impacts on temperament, teen outcomes

A challenging 10-year-old responds to neglectful parents by acting out at home. At school, an attentive fourth-grade teacher tries to reach the child by listening, observing and encouraging him.

Can the child’s classroom experience curb the difficult temperament being compounded at home? How will the resulting short-term impacts shape his long-term development? Full Article

Davidson earns APA early career award

M. Meghan Davidson, a CYFS faculty affiliate and assistant professor of educational psychology at UNL, has earned the Fritz and Linn Kuder Early Career Scientist/Practitioner Award from Division 17 of the American Psychological Association.

The award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the science and practice of counseling psychology, is given to a scholar who has received a doctoral degree within the past 10 years. Full Article

Swearer named Willa Cather professor

Susan Swearer, professor of educational psychology and CYFS faculty affiliate, will receive the title of Willa Cather professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Honors Convocation on April 13.

The Willa Cather/Charles Bessey professorships recognize full professors who have established exceptional records of distinguished scholarship or creative activity, with recipients free to select either the Cather or Bessey designation. Full Article

Durden receives USDA award for extension efforts

CYFS faculty affiliate Tonia Durden, assistant professor of child, youth and family studies at UNL, has received the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2013 Early Achievement Award for helping communities support the healthy development of young children. Full Article

Dalla to found first quarterly journal on human trafficking

It’s everywhere – provided you know where to find it.

Years of research have taught CYFS faculty affiliate Rochelle Dalla that the lesson applies both to the shadowy practice of human trafficking and the scattered information surrounding it.

Dalla will aim to assemble research and foster discourse on the issue by founding the recently approved Journal of Human Trafficking, which she cited as the first of its kind. Full Article