CSCH facilitates opportunities for interested researchers to collaborate on projects of common interest as related to school and child health topics. As such, CCSH provides a valuable role in recognizing existing work conducted across and within other groups, organizations, and agencies, and connecting partnerships that can enhance individual efforts.
Primary coordination of CSCH occurs through the Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP) and the Neag School of Education in collaboration with other University of Connecticut schools and departments.
CSCH leadership includes two co-directors and a steering committee comprised of university researchers and community stakeholders engaged in school and child health efforts with focus on research partnerships. The steering committee is comprised of no more than 12 university-based members and no more than 3 community-based members. Each steering committee member agrees to serve a two-year term, which may be renewable. CSCH affiliates are invited to apply to become steering committee members. New steering committee members are selected by current members based on review of the overall composition of the committee to ensure adequate balance across WSCC domains.
SANDRA M. CHAFOULEAS
CSCH Co-Director
Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor and Neag Endowed Professor of Educational Psychology in the Neag School of Education
Expertise: behavior assessment, school mental health, coordinated school health
BETH RUSSELL
CSCH Co-Director
Associate Professor in HDFS
Director, Center for Applied Research in Human Development
Expertise: community partnerships, program evaluation, parent-child relationships, development of emotion regulation
STEERING COMMITTEE 2022-23
JEANA BRACEY
Associate Vice President of School and Community Initiatives, CHDI, Inc.
Expertise: school-based mental and behavioral health, school-family-community partnerships, juvenile justice diversion
JEAN COFFEY
Clinical Professor in Nursing
Expertise: child health, primary care, children in nature, nursing education
LINDSAY DISTEFANO
Professor in Kinesiology
Expertise: physical health,
injury prevention in children
ALICE FORRESTER
CEO, Clifford Beers Community Health Partners
Director, New Haven Trauma Coalition
Member, Sandy Hook Commission
Expertise: mental health in children, families, and communities in Connecticut
DAMION GRASSO
Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics
Expertise: childhood adversity and trauma, posttraumatic stress, evidence-based assessment and psychotherapy
KATHRYN LIBAL
Associate Professor in Social Work
Director, Human Rights Institute
Expertise: social welfare, children’s rights movements, human rights, social work
LISA H. SANETTI
Professor in
Educational Psychology
Expertise: educators’ wellness, implementation of effective practices, educator-student relationships
JACI VANHEEST
Associate Professor in Educational Psychology and Kinesiology
Director, Public Health Learning Community
Expertise: impact of play on bioenergetic, fitness and academic parameters in children and adults
STAFF
EMILY IOVINO
CSCH Postdoctoral Scholar
Expertise: caregiver health and well-being, school-based social, emotional, and behavioral supports
JESSICA KOSLOUSKI
CSCH Postdoctoral Scholar
Expertise: trauma-informed schools implementation, child and adolescent mental health, design-based research, data visualization
HELENE MARCY
CSCH Director of Programs & Communications
Expertise: poverty-related issues and policies, community partnerships, survey research
KATHLEEN WILLIAMSON
CSCH Postdoctoral Scholar
Expertise: school-based social-emotional/behavioral supports, implementation fidelity, psychoeducational assessment and intervention