Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance

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Youth Development
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Department: Education and Human Sciences
Institution: University of Nebraska Lincoln

Douglas A. Abbott is a professor of Education and Human Sciences at University of Nebraska Lincoln. He earned his doctorate in child and family psychology from the University of Georgia. He currently teaches preparation for marriage, research design and child and family theories. He conducts research on sexual decision making in adolescents and on mate selection in foreign countries. more

Department: Family and Consumer Sciences
Institution: University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Richard J Bischoff is a associate professor in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, College of Education and Human Sciences at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He earned his doctorate with a specialization in marriage and family therapy at Purdue University. He teaches the Youth Development course for the Youth Development program. more

Department: Family and Consumer Sciences
Institution: University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Rochelle L. Dalla is an Associate Professor in the College of Education and Human Sciences (CEHS) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She teaches courses related to individual and family development. Her research interests focus on vulnerable female populations. She has published numerous articles on street-level prostituted women, Navajo teenage parenting, and rural latino immigration. She received a B.A. from the University of Colorado-Boulder, and her advanced degrees from the University of Arizona. more

Department: School of Family Studies and Human Services
Institution: Kansas State University

Elaine Johannes is an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist of Youth Development. Her interests include fostering healthy lifestyles through community youth development and addressing the unique stressors of youth whose parents are deployed in war or disaster response. Additionally, she supports Extension 4-H programs for health, and directs three, multi-year grants addressing childhood obesity through increased physical activity. Elaine currently teaches Adolescents and Their Families, Youth Violence and Administration and Program Management through the Great PlainsIDEA network. more

Department: Family and Consumer Sciences
Institution: Michigan State University

Joanne Keith is a Professor in the Department of Family and Child Ecology at Michigan State University (1977 to present). Her area of expertise is youth development and families as ecological systems. Her scholarship has included research, teaching and outreach. She has integrated these areas and has had a wide variety of state, national, international projects and professional experiences. Current areas of scholarship include: 1) an assets- based approach to positive youth development; 2) demographic trends related to children, youth and families at national, state, county and community levels; 3) community collaborations on behalf of children, youth and their families; 4) community youth development; and 5) families as systems. She has served as principal investigator on several youth development research projects, worked extensively with graduate students, faculty and communities on approaches to community youth development. In terms of distance education she has taught several graduate courses through interactive video and for the past 5 years has developed and taught on line courses. more

Department: Textiles, Clothing and Design
Institution: University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Harriet McLeod is Assistant Professor in the Textiles, Clothing and Design department in the Education and Human Sciences College at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her doctorate is in Textiles and Clothing from Iowa State University. She examines the role of dress in work environments. Dr. McLeod's teaching and research specifically focus on the social-psychological aspects of appearance and clothing in society.

Department: Family Studies and Human Services
Institution: Kansas State University

John P. Murray is a Professor of Developmental Psychology in the School of Family Studies and Human Services at Kansas State University. During 2004-2005 he is also a Senior Scientist and Visiting Scholar in the Center on Media and Child Health at Harvard Medical School. He has conducted research on children and television for over 30 years. His current research is focused on mapping children’s brain activations (using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging—fMRI) while they view violent and nonviolent videos. He has published 14 books and about 90 articles on children and media. His forthcoming book—Children and Television: 50 Years of Research—with Norma Pecora and Ellen Wartella, will be published by Erlbaum Publishers in December. more

Department: Family and Child Ecology
Institution: Michigan State University

Francisco A. Villarruel is a University Outreach Senior Fellow and a Professor of Family and Child Ecology at Michigan State University. Villarruel's recent work has focused on policy issues related to Latino youth and the US Justice system. He is co-author of the nation's first report that focuses on analysis of disproportionate and disparate treatment of Latino and Latina youth by the U.S. justice system. The report, entitled, "Dónde Está la Justicia: A Call to Action on Behalf of Latino and Latina Youth in the U.S. Justice System," was published by the Building Blocks for Youth initiative and has received national and international visibility. Villarruel coauthored the book Lost Opportunities: The reality of Latinos in the US Criminal Justice System.

Villarruel has received numerous awards and distinctions during his career, including a W.K. Kellogg Foundation National Fellowship, an MSU-Lilly Foundation Teaching Fellowship, the HACU-ETS Policy Fellowship, and the 1996 MSU Teacher-Scholar Award for dedication and skill in teaching and scholarly promise. more

Department: Department of Family and Consumer Sciences
Institution: University of Nebraska

Yan R. Xia is an assistant professor in Family and Consumer Sciences. Dr. Xia has most recently focused her research on three areas: (a) resiliency in immigrant families, (b) adolescent behavioral health, Asian adolescents in particular, and (c) Chinese marriage and family. One of her research projects examines the risk and protective factors for substance abuse among Vietnamese youths. She is involved in another research project that investigates the risk and protective factors for substance abuse among the immigrants in rural Nebraska. She and her colleagues have also developed a classification system of family problem-solving interaction for families with adolescents. Her other scholarly interests include program evaluation and culturally sensitive measures. In her research, she has employed a variety of methodologies and statistical data analyses. more