The Transition to Fatherhood project receives methodological and substantive input from an external advisory committee. The external advisory committee is expected to meet once a year in Washington D.C. during one of the regularly scheduled Program Project meetings. External Advisory Committee members will also be kept up to date with the progress of the research through the web site and through emails and phone calls. Short bios of the six committee members are listed below.
Jeanne Brooks-Gunn (http://ccf.tc.columbia.edu/jbgbio.html) is the Virginia and Leonard Marx Professor of Child Development and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She specializes in policy-oriented research that focuses on family and community influences on the development of young children. Her research centers on designing and evaluating interventions and policies aimed at enhancing the well-being of children living in poverty. The recipient of numerous awards, including the Urie Bronfenbrenner Award for lifetime contribution to developmental psychology in the areas of science and society from the American Psychological Association, the Nicholas Hobbs Award from the American Psychological Association, and the Jon B. Hill Award from the Society for Research in Child Development, Brooks-Gunn is also the author of 15 books and over 300 articles.
Greg J. Duncan (http://www.northwestern.edu/ipr/people/duncan.html) is the Edwina S. Tarry Professor of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University. Prior to joining the Northwestern faculty in 1995, he had been principal investigator of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics project at the University of Michigan and professor of economics. Duncan has published extensively on issues of income dynamics within and across generations, and on the impact of family and neighborhood poverty on children's development. Duncan was a member of the SRCD Public Policy Committee between 1995 and 1999, the "Neurons to Neighborhoods" Committee on Integrating the Science of Early Childhood Development of the National Research Council/Institute on Medicine, and the Advisory Committee on Head Start Research and Evaluation in 1999 and 2000. He is current a member of the MacArthur Networks on Successful Pathways through Middle Childhood and the Family and the Economy. He has directed the Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research since 2000.
Linda Mellgren is a senior social science analyst in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Her current areas of policy and research work include child support, fatherhood, marriage and the intersection of human services and criminal justice populations. Since 1985 she has been responsible for oversight of child support policy, evaluation and research. From 1995 to 2000 she was staff coordinator for the DHHS Fatherhood Initiative, established to promote opportunities for fathers, children and families by improving research, evaluation, policy development and program support for fatherhood. Since coming to Washington in 1977, she has also worked on issues relating to teenage pregnancy, domestic violence, and Native American health and social welfare. From 1969 to 1976 she worked for the Social Security Administration and the Office of Child Development/Head Start in the Chicago Regional Office of DHHS. She has a BA in psychology from the University of Minnesota and a MPA from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.
Ronald Mincy (http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ssw/faculty/profiles/mincy.html) is the Maurice V. Russell Professor of Social Policy and Social Work Practice at the School of Social Work, Columbia University, where he teaches graduate courses on social welfare policy and program evaluation. He has published widely on the effects of income security policy on family formation, responsible fatherhood, the urban under class, and urban poverty. Prior to joining the Columbia faculty, Mincy was Senior Program Officer in the Ford Foundation's Program, where he developed the Strengthening Fragile Families Initiative (SFFI). Through SFFI the Foundation supported work research policy and practice in responsible fatherhood. Mincy is a member of the Council of the National Institute of Child and Human Development, the Policy Council of the Association of Public Policy and Management, and the Advisory Board of the National Center on Poverty.
Frank Mott is Adjunct Professor of Sociology and Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Human Resource Research, Ohio State University. His particular research interests include the effects of family structure on child development and adolescent sexuality and childbearing. His current research focuses on substantive and methodological issues relating to a father's absence from the home, precursors to early adolescent non-normative behaviors, and demographic/sociological issues related to the American Jewish population. Mott is also the co-principle investigator of the Data Collection for Older NLSY Children, from National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Gary Sandefur (http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/soc/faculty/pages/sandefur.html) is Dean of the College of Letters and Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prior to becoming dean he served as Professor of Sociology, Associate Vice Chancellor, Interim Provost, and Director of the American Indian Studies Program, all at UW-Madison. He is the author of numerous articles and book chapters on families, children, and public policy. His 1994 book with Sara McLanahan, Growing Up with a Single Parent: What Hurts? What Helps?, published by Harvard University Press, won the Otis Dudley Duncan Award of the Population Section of the American Sociological Association and the William J. Goode Award of the Family Section of the American Sociological Association. His current work focuses on the role of families in assisting individuals with making successful transitions to adulthood.
