November 2018 Newsletter

Spotlight: Francesca Longo, Cohort Five Fellow

Dr. Francesca Longo is an applied developmental psychologist with a PhD from Boston College. Last year, she was an SRCD Congressional Fellow in Senator Gillibrand’s office working on Defense, Nutrition, Immigration, Health and Education portfolios. She is also an active member of STAFF: Scholars Taking Action for Families, a group formed by Doris Duke Fellows that brings together child welfare and child development scholars with immigration experts. Currently, Francesca is an SRCD Executive Branch Fellow working in the Office of Child Care in the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S Department of Health and Human Services where she works on state child care quality initiatives.

Francesca presented at the most recent Doris Duke Fellowships Annual Meeting at Chapin Hall, collaborating with Ireta Gasner from the Ounce of Prevention Fund on Connecting Research to Policymaking.

Remembering Dr. Devah Pager, Doris Duke Fellowships Mentor

We mourn the passing of Dr. Devah Pager, Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Sociology at Harvard University and academic mentor to Kelley Fong, Cohort Six Fellow. The New York Times, Boston Globe, and Harvard Gazette published obituaries. Devah was just 46 when she passed away following a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer. Devah exemplified and modeled the spirit of the Doris Duke Fellowships with her steadfast commitment to rigorous research as a means to influence public policy and advance justice. Indeed, her dissertation research garnered national attention, providing undeniable evidence about labor market discrimination on the basis of race and criminal justice history. The main paper, book, and replication of this research have been cited over 4,000 times and informed federal reentry programs as well as state and local “Ban the Box” campaigns. She continued an ambitious research agenda until her passing, with ongoing collaborative projects examining the organizational bases of discrimination and the consequences of legal fines and fees. Even still, her brilliant scholarly accomplishments were surpassed by her radiant warmth and enormous heart. Everyone who met Devah loved her. She nurtured community wherever she went – mentoring and teaching a generation of young scholars and directing interdisciplinary programs on inequality and social policy at Princeton and Harvard. Devah will be greatly missed by her many friends, colleagues, and students.

APHA Award Winner: Elizabeth Jarpe-Ratner, Cohort Five

Elizabeth Jarpe-Ratner, Cohort Five Fellow and Evaluation Director/Research Specialist at the MidAmerica Center for Public Health Practice at University of Illinois - Chicago, presented at the American Public Health Association (APHA) Annual Convention in San Diego, CA. Not only did Elizabeth present at the conference, but she was the winner of the Outstanding Student Research in School Health award for her work on LGBTQ+ inclusive sex education in Chicago Public Schools.

Fellows Updates:

Kate Stepleton, Cohort Six Fellow; Emily Bosk, Cohort Two Fellow; Jackie Duron, Cohort Two Fellow; and Kerrie Ocasio, Cohort One Fellow, recently published an article in Children and Youth Services Review entitled “Exploring associations between maternal adverse childhood experiences and child behavior.”

Reeve Kennedy, Cohort Eight Fellow, recently published an article in The Journal of Interpersonal Violence entitled, “Bully-Victims: An Analysis of Subtypes and Risk Characteristics.”

Upcoming Dates:

Society for Social Work Research (SSWR) Annual Conference: January 16, 2019 - January 20, 2019 - San Francisco, CA
Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting: March 21, 2019 - March 23, 2019 - Baltimore, MD