Co-Funding of Faculty

Attachment 1: Expanded Definitions of Current Priority Areas for Faculty Hiring

Health/Mental Health Care for Children and Youth: Policies, Impact, and Efficacy

With recent shifts to managed care and Medicaid funding of child health services, health plans are being asked to identify and deliver whatever broad range of preventive, educational, counseling, and medical services will be most effective in improving the health of children and youth.

These shifts provide an opportunity for new levels of integration between health systems and communities (including schools, health care, welfare, day care, nutrition, and social services) to decide how best to use funds to serve the needs of children and youth.

As families provide the key mechanism through which children gain access to health and mental health services, a focus on family factors that facilitate or impede child health is also critical.

Penn State is in a unique position to become a leader in research on health and mental health care systems for children and youth because of the unique partnership it has with The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.

The priority is for: 1) researchers who examine social policies and programs for children and youth in the area of health and mental health care, with an emphasis on the organization, financing, and impact/efficacy of various policies and delivery systems, and 2) researchers who study factors influencing the effectiveness of approaches to child health prevention or intervention services and/or who design and evaluate innovative approaches to prevention or intervention services and delivery systems.

The Influence of Biological Factors on Child Development and Parent/Family Functioning

Understanding how social and behavioral factors influence and are influenced by physiological, neurological, and genetic processes is critical. In parallel, advances in neuroscience have created new possibilities for the measurement and study of these biological processes.

New funding priorities reflect the need to clarify the interactions between biological and behavioral processes as they influence infant and youth development, and parent and family functioning.

The national agenda is to facilitate the integration of a biopsychosocial perspective into the mainstream focus of research on child development within the context of the family, community, and other social structures.

The priority is for new faculty who can network with current Penn State faculty in areas of behavioral endocrinology, psychophysiology, immunology, developmental neurobiology, developmental neuropsychology, behavioral genetics and other aspects of physiology, as they relate to child development, and parent/family functioning. These faculty must have basic training in child and/or family development with a specialized focus on the integration of biological factors with social and behavioral processes.

Welfare, Social and Educational Policy: Effects on Children, Youth and Families

It is important to understand how social policies and programs affect the development of children and youth across interlocking and crucial domains of their lives: 1) social welfare which includes economic programs and policies for families and children (welfare reform, child-care policies, policies regarding family dissolution and child custody/support, work-related family policies, etc.), and 2) education policy which includes a range of school programs and policies. Research is needed to better understand the impact of these policies on family functioning and on child development and well-being.

Penn State has a group of policy scholars scattered across various colleges, and has often been noted for its strength in social policy. Hires through the CYFC would solidify a sufficient critical mass of scholars to make a significant impact in the area of children, youth, and families, and move Penn State into a position to become a leading institution in the area of research on policy concerning children, youth, and families. With this growth, Penn State should and can exert an important influence at the state and federal levels affecting future policy directions.

The hiring priority is for faculty who can bridge with and expand upon the expertise of current Penn State faculty in the area of policy research affecting children, youth, and families.

Promoting Competence: Bridging Developmental Research and Practice

Programs designed to promote academic, social, emotional, and civic competence must be based upon a solid understanding of developmental processes and the contexts in which they occur. There is a need to build stronger linkages between researchers focused on developmental processes and those involved in the design and evaluation of school or community-based programs. Two specific areas of linkage require strengthening: 1) the linkage between developmental research and academic practices, including research on factors contributing to academic achievement and the design and evaluation of programs that promote academic success; and 2) given the increasing instability and mobility that characterizes families and communities in modern society, an important linkage involves the integration of basic research with programs focused on strengthening youth social, civic, and moral development.

Currently, Penn State has faculty strengths in basic research focused on cognitive and social-emotional development. However, in many cases, these faculty are not well-linked with faculty or staff engaged in applied program development or evaluation.

Hence, the priority is to hire faculty who can strengthen the links between these two groups, and who can move forward the integration of basic developmental research and educational and community-based promotion efforts.

Last modified: 09/27/06 | Contact Webmaster