CSCH News Archive

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2024 WSCC Academy

Join us for a day of FREE professional development on implementation of the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model! On Friday, May 17, 2024, CSCH and the UConn Rudd Center will host our 2024 WSCC Academy (more…)

Kim Gans headshot

Affiliate Profile: Kim Gans

Background

Kim Gans, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences at UConn whose research primarily focuses on community-based interventions geared to reduce food insecurity, improve nutrition, physical activity, and prevent obesity (more…)

Group of diverse college students smiling

Career Wellness in School and Child Health Spring 2024

Early career professionals and graduate students! Join us for the next event in our continuing event series on Thursday, March 21 from 10-11 am ET (more…)

CSCH In-person networking event. Co-sponsored by the Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy and the UConn Health Department of Psychiatry. Photo of affiliates chatting at a 2017 CSCH Encore Conference

CSCH Networking Event

Join us for our free in-person CSCH affiliate networking event in Hartford on Tuesday, March 5 (more…)

wooden balls balanced on flat pieces of wood within yellow circle on dark blue background

Balancing Work and Well-being Fall 2023

Early career professionals and graduate students! Join us for the next event in our continuing series on on balancing work and well-being on Wednesday, November 1 from 11-1 pm ET (more…)

5 colorful stick figures in swirl

Building Partnerships to Advance Inclusive Team Science

Join us for a virtual event, Building Partnerships to Advance Inclusive Team Science, on Monday, November 6 from 12-1 pm ET (more…)

Emma Zuk stands to the right of the UConn Husky statue. She is wearing glasses and in a white dress.

Affiliate Profile: Emma Zuk

Background
Emma Zuk will soon receive her PhD from UConn in the Department of Kinesiology, focusing on physical activity engagement in children (more…)

Nursing professor Michelle Cole stands in front of a group fo UConn students in Guatemala

Affiliate Profile: Michelle Cole

Background

Michelle Cole, DNP, MSN, RN, CPN, is an Associate Clinical Professor in the UConn School of Nursing. Her main areas of scholarship involve global health, global learning, and pediatric health (more…)

Jean Coffey

Steering Committee Member: Jean S. Coffey

Background

Dr. Jean S. Coffey Ph.D., APRN, CPNP, FAAN is a Clinical Professor in the UConn School of Nursing and has worked in the clinical setting for over 40 years (more…)

Rachel Chazan Cohen

Affiliate Profile: Rachel Chazen Cohen

Background

Dr. Rachal Chazan Cohen Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Human Development and Family Sciences Department at the University of Connecticut. Her main research interest is in how early childhood programs support children’s development and family well-being (more…)

Preeti Sandhu

Affiliate Profile: Preeti Sandhu

Background

Preeti Sandhu PsyD, is a pediatric psychologist in the division of Pain and Palliative Medicine at Connecticut Children’s Hospital. Her main research interest is in chronic pediatric pain management and she has past experience in providing education on the utilization of trauma-based therapy. (more…)

little girl with earrings looks to her right and smiles

Q & A on the Human Rights of Children

We recently interviewed Richard Hiskes about his thoughts on the human rights of children for a CSCH Podcast Episode. (more…)

Christina Ross

Affiliate Profile: Christina Ross

Background

Christina Ross PhD, RN, is an Assistant Professor in the UConn School of Nursing. Her main research interests focus on the promotion of sexual and reproductive health among vulnerable youth, specifically African-American girls in foster care. (more…)

Mapping Your Policy Network Workshop March 30 2022 3:00 to 4:30 pm ET

Mapping Your Policy Network Workshop

Join us for a virtual workshop about how researchers can map their policy landscape and create a plan to build relationships with policy stakeholders on Wednesday, March 30, from 3:00 pm to 4:30 p.m. Eastern. (more…)

Sudha Srinivasan

Affiliate Profile: Sudha Srinivasan

Background

Sudha Srinivasan PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Physical Therapy program within the Department of Kinesiology in the UConn College of Agriculture Health and Natural Resources. (more…)

Panel Discussion – Whole Child Well-Being: Advancing Research Dissemination in Policy and Practice

Join us for a virtual panel discussion about how to effectively communicate research results within a policy sphere on Monday, February 28, 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m. (more…)

Ido Davidesco

Affiliate Profile: Ido Davidesco

Background

Ido Davidesco, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Learning Sciences in the Department of Educational Psychology at UConn’s Neag School of Education (more…)

L to R, Top: McFarlane, Hussain, Ojide; Bottom, L to R: Perry, Brown CSCH 2021-22 Reserarch Team

Meet our CSCH Student Research Team

We have a strong student research team this year! We asked our student team members to share bit about themselves, their interests, and what drew them to CSCH (more…)

Building Simple Action Plans to Strengthen Your Well-being with CSCH and UConn Logos

Building Simple Action Plans to Strengthen Your Well Being

CSCH has developed a Webinar “Building Simple Action Plans to Strengthen Your Well Being” and Related Materials for School Personnel (more…)

Screenshot of Healthy Family Connecticut Website with UConn banner on top and picture of carrots and beets with "Fruits & Veggies in Season" and a linbk to "find local markets." "Fact-based food and nutrition information to help you make informed choices for you and your family."

Q & A on the Healthy Family CT Project

CSCH recently asked CSCH Affiliate Valerie Duffy, Professor in the Department of Allied Health Sciences, to tell us about the Healthy Family Connecticut Project, which provides food and nutrition information for Connecticut families. (more…)

Valerie Duffy

Affiliate Profile: Valerie Duffy

Background
Valerie Duffy, PhD is a registered dietitian, Professor, and Director of the Graduate Program in Health Promotion Sciences, the Department of Allied Health Sciences (more…)

Mother wearing white and green cloth face mask faces son while putting on black coth fask mask on this face.

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Well-being of Caregivers of Children

In April 2020 CSCH staff surveyed family caregivers of children with and without disabilities to explore their mental and emotional well-being resulting from COVID-19. We followed up 6 months later to see how they were faring. Our three briefs describe how they were managing. (more…)

Assistant HDFS Professor Caitlin Lombardi

Affiliate Profile: Caitlin Lombardi

Background
Caitlin Lombardi, Ph.D is an Assistant Professor in UConn’s Department of Human Development and Family Sciences . Her primary research interests are the role of family, early care and education, school, and community in promoting cognitive, language, socioemotional, and health outcomes and the ways in which socioeconomic disadvantage is related to children’s development (more…)

Jesse Mala

Affiliate Profile: Jesse Mala

Background
Jesse Mala is an Assistant Visiting Professor in the UConn Department of Educational Leadership sports management program. He studies how sport can be used to promote positive development among Black and Latinx youth in poverty. (more…)

Text A CSCH Brief within color

Latest Briefs

Check out our CSCH briefs on CT School Administrator Perspectives on Shifting Priorities During COVID-19, Alternatives to Exclusionary Discipline Practices, Virtual Peace Rooms, and the Social and Emotional Well-being of College Students: https://csch.uconn.edu/brief-reports/

UConn Social Work Professor Jon Phillips

Affiliate Profile: Jon Phillips

Background

Jon Phillips, PhD is an Assistant Professor at UConn’s School of Social Work. His primary research concerns inter-professional collaboration in people-serving systems. Phillips is particularly interested in the child welfare system (more…)

boy wearing mask with head on a couch and family in backgroundronavirus.

COVID-19 Resources: a Trauma-informed, Whole Child Response

CSCH recently released two reports about schools’ trauma-informed response to COVID-19. (more…)

UConn Collaboratory on School and Child Health - banner and CSCH logo

COVID-19 Study and Resources

Our latest email shared information about a COVID-19 study that our research team is doing, a short list of resources from some great organizations and how to help those in need and provided needed supplies. We have included some of those here.
(more…)

Judge hammer on brown lacquered wooden desk

Project Profile: Family Treatment Court Best Practices

Oklahoma Multi-Site Family Treatment Court Model Standards Study

Principal Investigator: Margaret Lloyd, UConn School of Social Work

Key Partners: The OKMSS will be conducted in partnership with the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (more…)

Jaci VanHeest

Affiliate Profile: Jaci VanHeest

Background

Jaci L. VanHeest, Ph.D is an Associate Professor in the Neag School of Education’s Department of Educational Psychology. Her primary research interest is the endocrine control of bodyweight and how that is impacted by physical activity among elite female athletes and children at risk of obesity. (more…)

UConn Assistant Professor Ran Xu

Affiliate Profile: Ran Xu

Background

Ran Xu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Allied Health Sciences and is interested in using statistics to address various social science problems. After earning his bachelor’s degree in mathematics, Dr. Xu became interested in how math and statistics can be applied to model human behavior and improve public outcomes. (more…)

Think about the Link academic social emotional physical behavioral shows gears with 10 domains of whole school, whole community, whole child model in each gear with blue children walking together

WSCC Think about the Link Toolkit

In partnership with staff from New Haven Public Schools and the Connecticut State Department of Education, CSCH has put together a series of brief video modules and written practice briefs to explain the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) components, synthesize related evidence, and share examples of school initiatives and resulting positive outcomes. Check out our WSCC Think about the Link Toolkit!

Sian Charles-Harris and Carolyn Lumsden working at table

Telling Your Story Media Training

In March and April of 2019, CSCH sponsored a two-part workshop series called Telling Your Story: Tips from Journalists to Bring Your Research to the Public.

Attended by over 25 people from across schools and colleges at UConn, the first session offered perspectives from journalists on how to write for the public about your research. (more…)

Debbie Cornman

Steering Committee Member Profile: Deborah Cornman

Our profile of Deborah Cornman was originally written in 2018. In celebration of her 2022 retirement we have added the final section, Future Plans. (more…)

Closeup shot of a diverse group of people applauding together

Announcement of CSCH Encore Grant Awardees

CSCH is pleased to announce and congratulate the awardees of our FY2019 seed grant competition. These grants provide funds to investigators to support projects that align with the vision of CSCH to promote an integrated approach to health and learning through collaborations across the components within the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model. (more…)

Six blank speech bubbles hanging from thread,

Writing for The Conversation Discussion – November 15

Would you like to bring your research to a wider audience? Please join us on November 15, 2018 as we talk to professors about their experience writing for and being published in The Conversation, one of the many resources used by UConn Communications to help disseminate faculty research to the general public (more…)

Michele Femc-Bagwell

Steering Committee Member Profile: Michele Femc-Bagwell

Background

Michele Femc-Bagwell is Associate Professor in Residence in the Department of Educational Leadership in the Neag School of Education at UConn. She is a former high school English teacher, middle school assistant principal, principal, and holds a Connecticut Superintendent’s certificate (more…)

Lisa Sanetti in breakout session with UConn students

Building Links in Health and Education Undergraduate Event

On October 30, 2018 CSCH collaborated with the Public Health House Learning Community to host an event titled Field of Dreams: Building Links in Health and Education Using the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) Model (more…)

CSCH Booth at Research Connections event surrounded by students

2018 Research Connections

On October 17, 2018, for the second year, CSCH participated in Research Connections, a networking event sponsored by the UConn Learning Communities intended to expose first and second year students to undergraduate research. The CSCH booth stayed busy throughout the evening, with undergraduate students from many disciplines stopping to engage in conversation about opportunities in school and child health. Dr. Chafouleas, CSCH Co-Director, demonstrated how the CSCH website can be used as a resource to connect and learn about opportunities at UConn—from working with researchers to finding related courses to exploring career paths.

Read about our October 2018 Twitter Chat: The Importance of Bridging the Gap between Home and School for Diverse Students

CSCH #schoolequity Twitter Chat

Together with the UConn Neag School of Education, CSCH cohosted a Twitter Chat about the importance of bridging the gap between home and school for diverse students on Monday, October 10, 2018. The chat was co-sponsored by El Instituto and Rebecca Campbell-Montalvo, Postdoctoral Researcher in the Neag School of Education, was the featured guest (more…)

Ruth Lucas

Steering Committee Member Profile: Ruth Lucas

Background

Ruth Lucas, RN, is an Assistant Professor in UConn’s School of Nursing. She began her career as a maternal child nurse and spent much of it working with mothers as they tried to breastfeed (more…)

Encore Conference participants listening to pitches

2018 CSCH Encore Conference and Stage One Winners

On September 24, 2018, the UConn Collaboratory on School and Child Health held its second Encore Conference. The Encore conference provided an opportunity for participants to learn about work related to school and/or child health that CSCH affiliates had presented previously at external conferences (more…)

Read about our April 2018 Twiter Chat (birds talking)

CSCH Twitter Chat: Teacher Stress and Teacher Well-being

Together with the UConn Neag School of Education, CSCH cohosted a Twitter Chat about teacher stress and teacher well-being on Monday, April 23, 2018. Lisa Sanetti, Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, was the featured guest (more…)

Alice Forrester

Steering Committee Member Profile: Alice Forrester

Background

Alice Forrester is the Chief Executive Officer of Clifford Beers Clinic in New Haven, CT. She graduated with a BA in Art History and was a performance artist in the East Village of New York City before her interest in drama and group work led her to get a Masters Degree in Drama Therapy (more…)

Kathyrn Libal

Steering Committee Member Profile: Kathryn Libal

Background

Kathryn Libal is an anthropologist who has a joint appointment between the UConn School of Social Work and Human Rights Institute (HRI) and directs HRI. Her early love for learning language and travel led her to anthropology (more…)

Read about our April 2018 Twiter Chat (birds talking)

CSCH Twitter Chat: The Effect of Play on the Brain

Together with the UConn Neag School of Education, CSCH cohosted a Twitter Chat about the effect of play on the brain on Thursday, February 15, 2018. Jaci VanHeest, Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and the Department of Kinesiology, was the featured guest (more…)

Lindsay DiStefano

Steering Committee Member Profile: Lindsay DiStefano

Background

Lindsay DiStefano is the Athletic Training Program Director and an Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at UConn. With a background in athletic training and sports medicine and an appreciation of working with children, DiStefano found that “working to prevent sport-related injury in a youth athlete population was a natural fit.” (more…)

CSCH Logo and Text: 2018 Encore Seed Grant Winners

Announcement of CSCH Encore Grant Awardees

CSCH is pleased to announce and congratulate the awardees of our FY2018 seed grant competition. These grants provide funds to investigators to support projects that align with the vision of CSCH to promote an integrated approach to health and learning through collaborations across the components within the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model. (more…)

Lisa Sanetti

Steering Committee Member Profile: Lisa Sanetti

Background

Lisa Sanetti is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology within the Neag School of Education. Her primary area of research relates to implementation science, specifically how interventions are implemented in schools (more…)

Kerri Raissian

Steering Committee Member Profile: Kerri Raissian

Background

Kerri Raissian is an Assistant Professor in the UConn Department of Public Policy who studies policies that relate to kids and the family. She has a particular interest in policies designed to reduce family violence, either between parents/adults or directed towards children (more…)

Encore Conference attendees

First CSCH Encore Conference

On September 18, 2017, the UConn Collaboratory on School and Child Health held its first annual Encore Conference. The Encore conference provided an opportunity for participants to learn about work related to school and/or child health that CSCH affiliates had presented previously at external conferences (more…)

Carol Polifroni

Steering Committee Member Profile: Carol Polifroni

Our profile of Carol Polifroni was originally written in 2017. In celebration of her 2022 retirement we have added the final section, Future Plans. (more…)

Marlene Schwartz and Amy Mobley

Announcement of CSCH Grant Awardees

CSCH is pleased to announce and congratulate the two awardees of our FY2017 seed grant competition. These grants provide funds to investigators to support projects that align with the vision of CSCH to promote an integrated approach to health and learning through collaborations across the components within the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model (more…)

audience with stage

Enhancing Media Presentation Skills in School and Child Health‐Related Topics

CSCH is sponsoring media training for affiliates interested in enhancing skills in effective dissemination and promotion of their work. We are pleased to partner with Drs. Rory McGloin and Stephen Stifano in the Department of Communication, who will lead attendees throughout the fall semester in developing knowledge of effective communication and using skills to produce a TED-style video presentation (more…)

UConn Academic plan logo

CSCH Receives 3-year UConn Academic Vision Grant

In 2013, UConn launched a comprehensive process to develop a new academic vision and identify initiatives that will enable the University to enhance excellence in research and education. One of the priority areas identified in that process was health and wellness. CSCH is pleased to announce that is has received a 3-year Academic Vision grant as part of the UConn Academic Plan.