A career dedicated to improving children’s development has earned CYFS director Susan Sheridan the University of Nebraska’s highest honor for research.
Sheridan, a George Holmes University Professor of educational psychology, has been named a 2014 recipient of NU’s Outstanding Research and Creative Activity award. Sheridan will accept the honor at the University-wide Teaching, Research and Engagement Awards on April 30.
Sheridan has spent more than 25 years developing intervention approaches that foster meaningful parent-child and family-school relationships, which her research has shown to enhance the long-term prospects of underserved children living in impoverished and rural settings. Given the collaborative nature of her work, Sheridan said she sees the ORCA award as a culmination of contributions from those within the academic community and across the state.
“I have felt very supported by the entire University of Nebraska community, and the vast majority of my work has taken place in Nebraska homes, schools and communities,” said Sheridan. “Receiving this award reinforces for me the shared commitment to excellence that defines our university and our state. This award would not have been possible without the many relationships I’ve had the pleasure of forming at Nebraska, as this kind of research cannot occur in a vacuum. It is all about the people, and this award is really for all of us.”
Sheridan has dedicated much of her research to Conjoint Behavioral Consultation, a family-school partnership approach she developed early in her career. The CBC approach aims to help teachers, parents and caregivers collaboratively identify children’s strengths and needs, develop effectual plans, and implement evidence-based strategies that address those needs.
“I truly hope that the research we are conducting will be recognized across the country as an exemplar for engaging and connecting children, families and schools in ways that support long-term relationships and healthy development,” Sheridan said. “It is very important that the practices being introduced in schools and early childhood programs are research-based – that they have met the highest standards of rigor and demonstrated unequivocally positive effects. Because our interventions are doing just that, it is encouraging to see that they are making their way into both scholarly literature and daily practices.”
Sheridan noted that seeing her research put into practice has served as a continual source of inspiration since she arrived at UNL in 1998.
“I love hearing about the people and the lives that are being impacted,” she said, “along with the excitement that parents and teachers share when their work together creates meaningful differences for kids.”