In the HDFS graduate program, we encourage our students to apply for funding to support their graduate studies, and faculty support their students’ efforts by mentoring students in crafting their proposals. Fellowships allow students more time to pursue their own research interests, and/or provide students the opportunity to expand their developing expertise into new areas of scholarship or application.

This academic year, we are pleased to highlight 5 students whose graduate studies are supported by prestigious fellowships:

Brittany Brakenhoff

Ashley Hicks

Brittany Brakenhoff (advisor: Natasha Slesnick) and Ashley Hicks (advisor: Tasha Snyder) were both awarded minority fellowships from the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. These fellowships offer students supplemental funding to pursue clinical work and professional development related to their research and outreach with underserved populations.

Rachel Brown, Diandra Gordon, and Sara Sandberg-Thoma (advisor: Claire Kamp Dush). Rachel Brown won a prestigious 3-year National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship that will support her emerging program of research on marital expectations. Diandra Gordon received funding from the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship program for her Family Time Initiative, a weekly evening program designed to foster cultural health in Near East Columbus and educate, empower, and strengthen families to make healthier choices.

Diandra Gordon

Rachel Brown

Sara Sandberg-Thoma

Sara Sandberg-Thoma’s important research on mental health, casual romantic relationships, union formation, and emerging adulthood is supported by a College of Education and Human Ecology Dissertation Research Fellowship, which will allow her to focus on her dissertation this year.

Congratulations to these students and their supportive advisors! We are proud of you!