Alumni of Family Social Science undergraduate and graduate programs can be found around the world in a variety of leadership roles. From undergraduates who use their bachelor’s degree in FSOS as a launch pad to advanced and professional degrees to master’s students applying their knowledge in service of others to doctoral students stepping into academic leadership, the Department of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota prepares our students to use research to discover and apply knowledge, build communication skills, and develop as a lifelong learners and effective leaders. We have curated these profiles to highlight the breadth of achievements. To read more profiles visit the FSOS alumni page or the CEHD news blog.
Dan-neya Yancey, (B.S. 2020)
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A 2020 alumna in Family Social Science, Dan-neya Yancey was the student commencement speaker and also honored with a University of Minnesota President’s Student Leadership and Service Award for her work helping students develop financial literacy as a Peer$ Money Mentor. Yancey’s career goals include becoming a licensed clinical therapist and an entrepreneur in a health/wellness business. She’s taken a step towards that goal as she stepped into project manage a new mobile health collaboration that Brooklyn Bridge Alliance for Youth launched with the cities of Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park. Here’s a CEHD news blog story about how this young professional is making a difference for diverse families in her community.
Damir Utržan, PhD (2017)
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A 2017 PhD alumnus, Dr. Damir Utržan is manager of mental health services at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation (HBFF) headquarters. Previously, he was treatment director of an Intensive Residential Treatment Services (IRTS) facility operated by the Minnesota (MN) Department of Human Services (DHS). Dr. Utržan has authored peer-refereed journal articles and book chapters while also presenting at professional organizations, such as the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and Pennsylvania (PA) DHS. He has gained a well-earned reputation for conducting sensitive and thorough evaluations of children seeking asylum in the U.S. The Advocates for Human Rights (AHR), UMN Law School, and Children’s Law Center of California (CA) are among the organizations for whom he served as an expert witness. The CEHD Office of Graduate Education profiled him.
Ashley Landers, PhD (2016)
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Ashley Landers, an assistant professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State College (Virginia Tech), graduated with a Ph.D. in Family Social Science in 2016. She won the best dissertation award at the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy’s 2017 annual conference. During her U of M academic career, she was honored with a President’s Student Leadership and Service Award, a M. Janice Hogan Fellowship, a Family Process Institute’s New Writers Fellowship, and a Waller Summer Fellowship (twice), as well as a AAMFT Graduate Student Research Award from American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. Her peer-reviewed presentations included national and regional conferences on child welfare, the impact of trauma on relationships, and diversity. In this 2015 Connect profile, she discusses her research.
Christopher Mehus, PhD (2015)
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Christopher Mehus received his PhD in 2015 and currently is a member of the research faculty in the UMN Institute for Translational Research in Children’s Mental Health where he seeks to improve public health by supporting parents in raising healthy children. Through research, he fosters engagement and seeks to create sustainable access to effective parenting interventions and support, with an emphasis on highly stressed families. Read more about his research agenda in this CEHD news blog story.
Holli (Trombley) Kelly, PhD. (2014)
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Holli (Trombley) Kelly received her PhD in Family Social Science in 2014. Co-advised by Bill Doherty and Elizabeth Wieling, Kelly has grown to be a leader in the field of marriage and family therapy (MFT). She is the Director of the Marietta Vet Center in Georgia that helps combat veterans, survivors of military sexual trauma, and military bereavement cases and also serves as acting director for the Savannah Vet Center. In addition, she is an adjunct faculty member at Northcentral University and an American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy Approved Supervisor. Read more about her.
Doua Yang, (B.S. 2013)
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Doua Yang is currently the TRIO Upward Bound Program Coordinator for Metropolitan State University and was honored in 2019 as a CEHD Rising Alumni. She grew up in the Frogtown neighborhood of St. Paul and was the first female among her 15 siblings to graduate from college. While at the U, she conducted collaborative research with Dr. Zha Blong Xiong, FSOS professor, in the St. Paul Promise Neighborhood. On campus, she was a student board member of the Hmong Minnesota Student Association (HMSA) from 2011 to 2012, and recipient of the Tony Diggs Award for Most Outstanding Event for HMSA. She also served a group leader for the Midwest Asian American Student Union (MAASU) in the spring of 2012, a Welcome Week leader and an MCAE Multicultural Kick-off Leader in the summer of 2012, and an HMSA Advisor from 2015 to 2018. She was profiled in the fall 2019 issue of Connect magazine.
Kimberly Diggles, PhD (2013)
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This 2013 PhD alumna is currently a licensed family and marriage therapist in Long Beach, California, where she empowers clients to take control of their own stories as they seek to solve their life challenges. She is also a clinical supervisor for the Seneca Family of Agencies where she mentors therapists in training to build culturally competence practices and manage compassion fatigue. She believes that talking openly about mental health can help individuals realize that struggle is not unique and that connections with others “can be the difference between surrendering to weakness and reclaiming your strength.” In the February 2011 issue of Connect magazine, she shares what attracted her to couple and family therapy.
Chris Gonzalez (PhD, 2010)
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Honored as a CEHD Rising Alumni in 2018, Chris Gonzalez received his doctoral degree in 2010. He joined Lipscomb University in Nashville where he is director of the Marriage and Family Therapy program. His research explores family and spiritual influences on positive youth development. Read more about him on the CEHD Rising Alumni site.
Amanda Koonjbeharry (B.S. 2009)
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Amanda Koonjbeharry became director of public policy for the Citizen League (CL) in July 2019. The nonpartisan, nonprofit organization empowers Minnesotans to engage in civic life and public policy to make the state a better place to live and work for everyone. Previously she led Hennepin County’s No Wrong Door program that provides victim services and works to end and prevent the commercial sexual exploitation of children and youth. In the lead up to Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis, she co-chaired a statewide committee of 80 volunteers that supported victim services, outreach and enforcement with the goal of not only addressing a potential problem; but establishing a model that could be used by other cities hosting championship games. Read more about her.
Amira Adawe, MPH (B.S. 2007, MPH, 2015)
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Amira Adawe received a bachelor’s in Family Social Science in 2007 and a Master of Public Health in 2015. In 2018 she was named a CEHD Rising Alumni as well as honored with a Bush Fellowship.
After conducting research on Skin-lightening Practices and Chemical Exposure for her MPH, Adawe has been leading policy and system changes to combat the skin-lightening practices and chemical exposure in the immigrant and refugee communities in Minnesota and nationwide. She launched the Beautywell Project, a community-based organization that aims to end these practices and reduce chemical exposures among women of color. The organization works to empower women in the community through promotion of health and well-being, increasing their health literacy. The organization also conducts research and policy work as well as leadership training.
William Allen, PhD (1997)
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In 2014, Dr. Allen was named president-elect of the National Council on Family Relations. He was the first UMN Family Social Science alumni to serve in this role. (The Department previously had seven faculty members serve as NCFR presidents). He was profiled in in the CEHD Connect magazine.
Yoav Lavee, PhD (1985)
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In 2011, Yoav Lavee was honored as a College of Education and Human Development Distinguished International Alumni Awardee and was profiled in the CEHD Connect magazine.
Susan Hartman (Master’s, 1974)
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In the late 1980’s, Susan Hartman began a multi-year collaboration with Jan Hogan, FSOS Department Head, to organize and fund an exchange of scholars between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. This ground-breaking exchange fostered an exchange of ideas and perspectives that would culminate in the book, Families in the U.S. and U.S.S.R: On the Threshold of the Twenty-First Century with chapters written by U.S./U.S.S.R. teams and co-edited by Hogan and Professor James Maddock. Roger Light wrote this profile of her for the 1991 spring/summer edition of Interactions.
Candyce Russell, Ph.D. (1975) (B.S. 1972)
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Candyce Russell (1946-April 8, 2019 )was co-developer (along with FSOS Professor David Olson and Douglas Sprenkle, a fellow graduate student) of the Circumplex Model of Marital and Family Systems, which continues to inform research and practice in family therapy and family studies and used globally as a tool for pre-marital couples.
She taught in the Kansas State University Department of Human Development and Family Studies for thirty-seven years. Read more about her.
Robert Staples, PhD (1971)
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The first African-American PhD to graduate from the family social science program, Robert Staples was an international, leading authority in the study and analysis of the black family and race relations. Over the course of his career, he published over 200 articles in scholarly publications and wrote or edited books on Black families, many of which have been adopted as standard texts in more than 500 colleges and universities in the United States, Africa, the West Indies, and England.
Sharon Augenstein, PhD (1970)
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In November 2018, Sharon (Grossbach) Augenstein, a 1979 Family Social Science (then Home Economics) master’s alumna, was honored as a “Distinguished Alumni” by the College of Education and Human Development for her pioneering work as a woman in higher education. Read the full story.
June Henton, PhD (1970)
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June Henton, Dean of the College of Human Sciences at Auburn University, was honored with Auburn University’s Spirit of Sustainability award in 2017. In the release, Auburn University described Dr. Henton as a leader and champion for human and environmental sustainability throughout her career and credits her – “…more than any single individual…” –for sustainability being held as a strategic priority at Auburn University. She earned her Ph.D. in Family Social Science in 1970. She retired from Auburn in 2019 following a 34 year career as Dean. Read more in this profile.