Extension program to strengthen families expands

PULLMAN – WSU’s ability to support parents and youth through WSU Extension’s Strengthening Families Program for parents and youth 10 to 14-years-old has recently expanded to the state’s most populated area, thanks to a grant from the Raikes Foundation.

The Strengthening Families Program is a research-based, best-practices model that reaches families with 10 to 14-year-old youth to provide parent, youth and family education. The Raikes Foundation grant, in the amount of $140,815, will expand the program to audiences in King County. (full story)

Culture and Parenting

How should you raise your children? That question is the heart of the early childhood development/education research interests of Noriko Porter, instructor in the Department of Human Development in the College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences.It’s also the heart of Porter’s interests as a mother who has experience raising young children in two very different cultures – Japan and the United States. (full story)

NIH grant focuses on cost effectiveness

PULLMAN – Just how successful and cost-effective are community-based, substance abuse prevention programs? It’s a question that plagues politicians and policy makers, especially in a time of shrinking resources and increasing demand for services.

Now, thanks to a two-year, $400,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health, researchers at WSU are working on a new way to assess the effectiveness of those programs in the real world. That tool, they say, could help save time and money. (full story)

NIH Grant Brings Together Economists, Psychologists, Departments, Extension

PULLMAN – In many ways, it’s the perfect model. Faculty with research and teaching appointments working with faculty with research and Extension appointments to translate the theoretical into real-world application for the benefit of the people of Washington.

A new $400,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health brings together economists and psychologists, researchers and Extension educators in an effort to determine just how cost effective community-based, substance abuse prevention programs are in the real world. Robert Rosenman, professor and associate director of the WSU School of Economic Sciences, and Laura Griner Hill, associate professor and extension specialist in the WSU Department of Human Development specializing in prevention science, are co-principal investigators for the grant. Professor Ron Mittelhammer, SES director, and Bidisha Mandal, an extension economist specializing in health issues will also contribute to the research project. (full story)

Online Human Development Class Gives Students Unique Experience

PULLMAN, Wash. - Most online classes are usually focused on reading books, communicating asynchronously, writing papers and taking tests, but Human Development 205 is not your typical online class.

HD 205, Communication in Human Relations, is a life-skills enhancement course and is designed to help students learn how to communicate effectively while improving their teambuilding and leadership skills. In the fall 2008 semester, the class was offered online for the first time. (full story)

Two WSU Human Development Undergraduates Present Adolescent Sexuality Research at National Conference

Washington State University was well represented at the 70th Annual National Council on Family Relations Conference as two WSU seniors presented a poster detailing their research.

Senior Human Development majors Cheri Boyer and Danielle Broberg presented a poster on “Adolescent Identity Formation and Reasons to Have Sex: Links to Sexual Risk Taking.” The two undergraduates were advised by assistant professor of human development Jenifer McGuire, who has extensive research experience in adolescent sexuality. (full story)

Elizabeth Greggain helps students sort out options

Teaching is as much about questions as answers. Elizabeth Gr eggain knows that from her 30 years of classroom experience. Her new role as a Human Development/Distance Degree Programs Academic advisor hasn’t changed her approach.

“Some students want you to solve their problems,” said Greggain, who changed jobs this spring. “I try hard to not do that. “The best learning is for a student to start working through solutions instead of me providing them. It helps the student be in control. “That’s what advising is all about.” (full story)

Child development lab tackles accreditation

PULLMAN - WSU's Child Development Laboratory is tackling the voluntary process of national accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

"As a land-grant institution and leader in early childhood education, WSU recognizes the importance of providing nationally accredited programs to the children, families and communities in the state of Washington," said Brenda Boyd, assistant professor of human development at WSU. (full story)

Relationships influence children’s stress levels

Stress levels for children at child-care depends not only on the qualities of the teacher and the classroom, but also on the nature of the children’s relationship with their caregivers. That’s the finding of a new study conducted by WSU researcher Jared Lisonbee and his colleagues at Auburn University, Washington State Department of Early Learning and Pennsylvania State University. (full story)

Childhood bullies now torment online

Childhood bullying has taken to the internet.

According to the research of two WSU professors, 20 percent of middle school children have been victims or instigators of online bullying, and these aggressive occurrences negatively affect the children’s self esteem.

Nicole Werner and Matthew Bumpus, assistant professors of human development, teamed up to explore the online lives of Pullman's Lincoln Middle School students and study the social consequences of Internet aggression. (full story)

Poverty Class Pays Off for Students, Communities

In Republic, Wash., an anti-poverty group needed a Web expert. In Pullman, WSU instructor Mary Garcia needed a way to enhance her online “Families in Poverty” class. Washington State University brought the two together in a happy symbiosis. (full story)