ACF News Release

The Administration for Children and Families today announced the award of almost $344,000 to five universities to support research in child abuse and neglect. The purpose of the fellowships is to encourage the growth of university-based research capacity for child abuse and neglect and to encourage doctoral-level students and faculty to pursue careers in child abuse and neglect research. This is the fourth time these awards have been made in the last eight years.

"In 1993, the National Academy of Sciences recommended that ACF should encourage young researchers to work in this very important field," noted Olivia A. Golden, assistant secretary for children and families. "With the award of these fellowships we are continuing to show our commitment to supporting advances in knowledge that will lead to a decline in child maltreatment."

This year, one of the faculty members who will receive funds is Kerry Bolger, Ph.D. at the University of Miami at Coral Gables. In 1994, Dr. Bolger, then a graduate student at the University of Virginia, received an ACF-funded student stipend to apply to her dissertation research on peer relationships, behavior and self-concept among maltreated children. In 1997, while at Cornell, she won an ACF research grant to study the consequences of childhood maltreatment as children grow into adulthood. This year Dr. Bolger will receive funds to explore how maltreated individuals manifest the consequences of their childhood trauma. She also will supervise a student, Nicole Shiloff, whose dissertation research concerns neglected children.

"We are extremely gratified that these fellowships are doing what we hoped they would-developing a cadre of researchers devoted to child maltreatment," said Pat Montoya, commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families. "Dr. Bolger is a shining example of a scholar who is dedicating her career to studying abused and neglected children. We're proud that our stipends have enabled her to pursue a consistent line of research starting as a student and continuing as a faculty member."

The list of successful applicants follows:

The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, The Jane Adams School of Social Work, Champaign, Illinois $100,000

James Gleason, Ph.D., Faculty

Christina Bruhn, Student

Leslie Ford, Student

Reginald Richardson, Student

Maristela Zell, Student

The Regents of the University of California, Davis, California $65,008

Gail Goodman, Ph.D., Faculty

Ingrid Cordon, Student

Robin Edelstein, Student

University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois $81,243

John R. Schuerman, Ph.D., Faculty

Sandra Lyons, Student

Joseph Ryan, Student

Cheryl Smithgall, Student

University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida $43,750

Kerry Bolger, Ph.D., Faculty

Nicole Shiloff, Student

University of Oklahoma Health Sciences, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma $81,925

Jane Silovsky, Ph.D., Faculty

Shelli Shultz, Student

Misty Boyd, Student

Melissa Blundell, Student

Tatiana Balachova, Student

Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.

Contact: Pamela Carter, (202) 401-9215