College of Education and Human Development

Family Social Science

Community impacts on individual and family heath and well-being

Avelina Rivero

Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist

Dr. Rivero's research identifies how family members can influence and shape Latina young women’s body image perceptions and development and explores the unique role cultural values play in shaping family interactions and relationships.

A professor.

Zha Blong Xiong

Associate Professor

Refugees are more vulnerable than most Americans to experience family disruptions and secondary changes without adequate resources and necessary support. My research and community-engagement efforts aim to understand how families, especially Hmong…

Zha Blong Xiong

Michelle Pasco

Assistant Professor

Dr. Pasco’s research uses a culturally-informed lens to understand the lived experiences of ethnic-racial minoritized youth and families within neighborhood contexts and uses different methods to examine how neighborhood factors influence them.

Michelle Pasco

Tai Mendenhall

Professor, Couple & Family Therapy Specialization
I am a Medical Family Therapist and Director of the UMN Medical Reserve Corps’ Mental Health Disaster-Response Teams. My research examines collaborative family health care and community-based participatory research focused on public health issues.
Tai Mendenhall

Christopher Mehus

Research Associate Professor

I am a Prevention Scientist with a background in family science, family therapy, parenting interventions, primary care research, and psychological trauma. My overarching goal is to improve public health by supporting parents in raising healthy…

Christopher Mehus

Sara Axtell

Senior Lecturer and Faculty-at-Large, Cultural Wellness Center

Axtell's work focuses on developing mutually beneficial collaborations between UMN and communities that addresses how to share intellectual authority and bring together academic knowledge and the knowledge systems of cultural communities.

Sara Axtell, senior lecturer