Center for Families

Learn how small changes in leadership and workplace culture can make a big difference in well-being, performance, and family engagement at this year’s Kanter Lecture, March 6 at 3 p.m. Kanter Award Finalist, Ellen Ernst Kossek will highlight how training supervisors to be more supportive can help employees feel less burned out and more engaged.

Each year, the Center for Families’ offers funding opportunities that encourage collaborative, multi-disciplinary work focused on families across the life course. With an emphasis on real-world impact, this program helps faculty and students generate knowledge that supports and strengthens families...

Laura Elenbaas joins CFF as an Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Science. Research interests include moral development, social identities, social cognition, and peer relationships.

The Thompson is a national initiative that recognizes and amplifies the most impactful research on military and veteran families. It is a dynamic platform designed to elevate outstanding research and ensure that evidence-based insights reach practitioners working with military and veteran families. An evolution and expansion of MFRI’s annual research award, The Thompson brings together several key initiatives under one name.

Review the slides: At the second CFF Fellowship Lecture, Libby Richards explored the role family dynamics play in disease management.

Melissa Franks, PhD, Director of the Center for Families, is pleased to announce Kameron Moding, PhD, Human Development and Family Science, as Associate Director of CFF. In this new role, Kameron will guide the strategic direction of the Annual Funding Program. Kameron brings a wealth of research expertise, a collaborative spirit, and a strong commitment to advancing multi-disciplinary research about families at Purdue, and through the work of CFF.

This event recognizes and shares findings from articles selected as finalists for the 2025 Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award for Excellence in Work-Family Research. In engaging TED-style talks, authors will share the major takeaways from their studies, and Dr. Reynolds will facilitate a Q&A to follow.

Oliver Wendt, CFF Kontos Faculty Scholar, has been elected a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) — one of the highest honors awarded by the association. The distinction recognizes Oliver’s significant contributions to the field of communication sciences and disorders through research, teaching, and professional leadership.

Leanne Nieforth – “We’re advocating for the option of having service dogs as part of a treatment modality for PTSD and overcoming sexual assault trauma,” Senter said. “I interact with the people. I’ve conducted interviews with the participants just asking them about their experiences, the process of getting their service dog, how their service dog assists them in their day-to-day life and the changes that have come from that, and the advantages and disadvantages of having a service dog in 2025.”

Annabelle Atkin – A common racial stressor for Multiracial people is racial identity invalidation: the experience of having one’s racial identity denied by others. This preregistered, exploratory study investigated Biracial people’s experiences of identity invalidation within a family setting.