Kristin Valentino, the William J. Shaw Center for Children and Families Associate Professor of Psychology, has been named the director of the William J. Shaw Center for Children and Families beginning July 1, 2019. Julie Braungart-Rieker, Mary Hesburgh Flaherty and James F. Flaherty III College Chair and Professor of Psychology, served in this role from 2008-2019 and is stepping down in preparation to become the chair of the Department of Psychology in the fall of 2020.
The Shaw Center is an off-campus facility where faculty, staff, and students conduct research along the themes of helping families thrive through adversity, translating basic science into evidence-based interventions, supporting healthy and constructive family relationships, and promoting healthy social, emotional, cognitive, physical, and moral development across the lifespan.
Dr. Valentino has been with the University since 2009 and has won two major research grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to develop and test the long-term effects of an intervention to enhance the mother-child relationship after a report of child maltreatment. She was awarded the Early Career Award for Outstanding Contributions to Research in Child Maltreatment from the American Psychological Association, is the Associate Editor of the journal Child Maltreatment, and serves on the editorial board of two other major journals. She applies her scholarly training and work in the community by serving on three different executive boards (CASIE Center, Prevent Child Abuse St. Joseph County, Fetal Infant Mortality Review Team).
In her role as director, Valentino plans to continue the Shaw Center’s strong track record of external research funding from the National Institutes of Health and to expand into other public and private funding sources. She looks forward to meeting with faculty and students from across the University with the shared goals of improving the lives of families. She will work closely with the Department of Psychology’s clinical program to expand the Child and Family Therapy clinic housed in the Shaw Center.