News
Family Social Science faculty research roundup
Family Social Science faculty have had a productive year of authorship, workshops, and outreach.
Ron Asiimwe, assistant professor, led a teen suicide prevention workshop in Ghana during summer 2025.
Ron Asiimwe, assistant professor, conducted a workshop in Uganda this past summer supported by a grant from the UMN Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility. The workshop for practitioners on teen suicide prevention was featured on the Center's website. He also co-authored the article, "Pathways for Public Impact: Utilizing Engagement Scholarship for Translating Systemic Family Therapy Research to Policy and Practice," published in the Journal of Marriage and Family Therapy.
Assistant Professor Michael Curtis' research article, “Bullying and depression serially mediate the association between perceived gender nonconformity and suicidality among U.S. adolescents: a theory-driven intersectional analysis,” has been published in BMC Public Health. He has also been interviewed by several news outlets about LSU football player Kyren Lacy's suicide last spring.
Jodi Dworkin, professor and extension specialist, and her team have created a youth development curriculum on Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR). The guide is now live on the Extension website. Dworkin also did several interviews on teens and technology this fall.
Left to right: Avelina Rivero, Vianney Atugonza, Jodi Dworkin, Celia Lee, and Eunyoung Park.
Avelina Rivero, assistant professor, and Dworkin led a research team that surveyed visitors during the Minnesota State Fair. Assisting them were graduate students Vianney Atugonza, Celia Tseyen Lee, Eunyoung Park, and Priscilla Tetteh.
Cathy Solheim delivered the David and Karen Olson Family Studies Program Fall lecture at St. Olaf College in November.
Lindsey Weiler, associate professor, and graduate students Kay He and Chandima Herath, are authors of the paper, "Building Responsive Mentoring Systems Through Real-Time Observations," that has been published in the Child And Adolescent Social Work Journal.
Zha Blong Xiong, associate professor, is lead author of the paper, "Hmongcentric Niche Charter Schools: The Role of Social Capital on Students' Perceived Academic Competence," that was published in the Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement. Co-authors are graduate students Ting Xu, Kyle Nickodem, and Malina Her.
Clockwise from left: Dixon, Chalandra Bryant, professor and Dr. Pauline Boss Professorship in Ambiguous Loss; Stacey Horn, department head and professor; Zha Blong Xiong, associate professor; Jennifer George, associate teaching professor; Jenifer McGuire, professor and extension specialist; and Xiaoran Sun, assistant professor.
Tai Mendenhall was co-organizer of the Medical Family Therapy (MedFT) Intensive Conference this past summer that explored the roots, growth, and future of the MedFT discipline. The conference was sponsored by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy's (AAMFT) Family Therapists in Healthcare Settings Topical Interest Network and held in McNeal Hall.
FSoS faculty welcomed Devona L. Dixon, associate professor, Family and Consumer Sciences, from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State College to work on a collaborative research project funded by the University of Minnesota's Research and Innovation Office (RIO). They discussed their project, "Understanding Associations between Body Image, Dress & Appearance, Gender Roles and Media Use among LGBTQ+ Black Youth." Dixon and McGuire are co-principal investigators.