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Child and Family Science

Faculty and Staff

 

Faculty

Facutlies in front of library holding up a picture frame

Faculty

Kabeljit Atwal head shot

Office: FFS 205

Phone: 559-278-5310

Email: katwal@csufresno.edu

Education: M.A. Education with an emphasis in Early Childhood Education, California State University, Fresno

Experience and Research: Since 1983 Kabeljit has had numerous opportunities to experience diverse roles in the field of Early Childhood Education. She has worked for a variety of organizations such as Head Start, AB212 CARES Program, and WestEd, Center for Child Family Studies. In 2003, she began teaching part-time for the State Center Community College and California State University of Fresno (CSUF). She was hired as a full-time lecturer in 2008 for the Child, Family, and Consumer Sciences Department at Fresno State.

Kabeljit has been inspired by advocating for the emotional life of a child. She is a PITC-certified infant toddler specialist. She believes that exposure to character education blossoms children to be respectful and socially competent as adults. She is an advocate for understanding children's behavior through honoring the inner emotional life of a child. She is a co-author of an article that was published in the textbook. Next Steps Toward Teaching the Reggio Way, (2nd ed.) She also has extensive interest and training in the Hanna Perkins Consultation Model. In 2011, she completed the 15-month Infant-Parent Mental Health Post-Graduate Certificate Program (IPMHPCP) and earned a graduate certificate in infant-parent mental health from the University of Massachusetts, Boston (satellite location in Napa, California).

Rhett Billen head shot

Office: FFS 201

Phone: 559-278-3228

Email: rbillen@csufresno.edu

Education: Ph.D. Child and Family Studies, University of Tennessee-Knoxville; M.S. Child and Family Studies, University of Tennessee-Knoxville;
B.S. Marriage, Family, and Human Development,
Brigham Young University

Experience and Research: Joining the Fresno State faculty full-time in the fall of 2016, Rhett served the previous year as a lecturer for child growth and development, family crisis, adolescent learning and development classes at Fresno State and Clovis Community College. He also taught classes at Tennessee in family stress, human sexuality, parent-child relations, and served as a graduate research assistant. At Fresno State, Rhett enjoys teaching family science courses and the upper-division writing course. His research has focused on families with young children with developmental disabilities and determinants of parental involvement among families of children receiving early intervention services. In August 2017, Rhett became a provisional Certified Family Life Educator (CFLE) through the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR). He is working towards collaborating with families of children with disabilities in the central valley to conduct research and develop family life education materials.

Kathleen Dyer head shot

Phone: 559-278-4720

Email: kdyer@csufresno.edu

Education: Ph.D. Human Development and Family Studies, University of Missouri-Columbia; M.S. Human Development and Family Studies, University of Missouri-Columbia

Experience and Research: Katie's current research explores attachment cognitions of toddlers in relation to sleep and family history. The unifying theme of Katie's research agenda is an interest in parenting practices pertaining to infant sleep and how those strategies (such as cosleeping and sleep training) are related to attachment and emotional development. In addition, she conducts evaluation research to explore the effects of a developmental pediatric intervention called Healthy Steps at a local medical clinic.

To make an appointment, click here. 

 Amber Hammonds head shot

Office: FFS 214

Phone:  559-278-1158

Email: ahammons@csufresno.edu

Website: https://sites.google.com/mail.fresnostate.edu/amberhammons

Education:  Ph.D. Psychology, University of California, Riverside; M.A. Psychology, University of California, Riverside; B.S. Psychology, University of California, San Diego

Research Interests:
     Developmental Psychology
     Family Health
     Behavior Change
     Prevention/Intervention Programming
     Positive Psychology

Selected Publications:
Professor Hammons' publications may be accessed through her website, https://sites.google.com/mail.fresnostate.edu/amberhammons 

 Falon Kartch head shot

Office: FFS 203

Phone: 559-278-2878

Email: fkartch@csufresno.edu

Education: Ph.D., 2013, Communication, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; M.A., 2009, Communication, Northern Illinois University; B.A., Communication and Political Science, 2007, Northern Illinois University

Research Interests: Family Communication, Interpersonal Communication, Dark Side of Close Relationships, Gender Communication, Menstruation Studies, and Qualitive Methods

Experience and Research:

Dr. Falon Kartch's research centers on exploring how familial bonds are formed and maintained as well as how various populations define what it means to be "family," particularly in contexts in which "family" occurs outside of social and cultural conventions. Her recent work has explored nonresidential parenting practices and nonresidential parent/child relationships. She is also interested in the application of nonviolent communication and relational justice frameworks to understand, develop, maintain, and terminate close relationships. More specifically, her recent line of inquiry explores the use of relational justice frameworks for understanding co-parenting relationships. Her most current research project explores parent/child communication regarding menstruation. Her research has been competitively selected for presentation at multiple meetings of the National Communication Association as well as the International Association for Relationship Researchers and has been featured in numerous edited volumes, including Family Communication, Casing the Family: Theoretical and Applied Approaches to Understanding Family Communication, and the SAGE Encyclopedia of Communication Research Methods. She is currently co-editing an interdisciplinary, edited volume titled Gandhi's Global Legacy: Lessons from Our Modern Times and Moral Challenges, under contract with Lexington Books. 

Dr. Kartch teaches Undergraduate and Graduate courses in social and personal relationships including Family Communication, Interpersonal Communication, Conflict and Communication, and the Dark Side of Close Relationships, as well as Communication Theory and Gender Communication. Dr. Kartch has also presented invited lecturers, at both the Undergraduate and Graduate level, on qualitative inquiry and data analysis.

Dr. Kartch is particularly interested in the use of service-learning as a means of promoting student engagement with the local community and has worked with local community partners, most notably the grassroots initiative Better Period, to address menstrual stigma and period poverty in the Central Valley through her Gender Communication course.  She has completed several trainings in service-learning and was a recipient of the 2019-2020 Service-Learning Development Grant from the Jan & Bud Richter Center for Community Engagement and Service-Learning at Fresno State.

Jessica Mckenzie head shot

Office: FFS 302

Phone: 559.278.1659

Email: jmckenzie@csufresno.edu

Website: www.jessica-mckenzie.com

Education: Ph.D., 2014, Psychology, Clark University; M.A., 2011, Psychology, Clark University; B.A., 2006, Psychology, Miami University

Experience and Research: Jessica bridges developmental and cultural perspectives to examine how people make sense of themselves across the life course, and the role of culture and cultural change in sense-making processes. Employing qualitative and quantitative methods, Jessica has studied the beliefs (about divinity, morality, self) and practices (religious, linguistic, dietary, media) of adolescents and parents in Thailand, and of children, adolescents, and adults in the United States. Her ongoing ethnographic fieldwork in northern Thailand has contributed to the developmental science of globalization, and her work in the U.S. has contributed to the scientific understanding of the cultural nature of moral development.

Students in Jessica’s Human Development and Culture Research Lab have published empirical articles in leading journals in the discipline and have presented the results of their research internationally, nationally, and locally. HD&C lab members have studied a range of topics, including: the transformation and maintenance of moral values in contexts of rapid sociocultural change, adolescent orientations toward religion in globalizing Northern Thailand, dyadic perspectives of media use in rural and urban Thailand, and globalization-based cultural brokerage among urban Thai adolescent—parent dyads. Additional information on the research in which Jessica and her students are engaged can be found here.

Megan Pronovost head shot

Office: FFS 301

Phone: 559-278-5323

Email: megpronovost@csufresno.edu

Education: Ph.D. Psychological Sciences, University of California, Merced

Experience and Research: Megan joined the Fresno State faculty in 2019 after receiving a Ph.D. in Psychological Sciences with an emphasis in Developmental Psychology from UC Merced. Her research is primarily related to the development of social cognition from infancy to early childhood.

Broadly, her research investigates the origins and nature of social-group based inferences, and how environmental factors shape these inferences throughout early childhood. Specifically, she investigates the types of characteristics that infants expect members of a social group to share, such as food preferences and social behaviors.

Additionally, her research investigates how environmental influences, such as how parents discuss social groups with their children, as well as the other environmental factors, impact the beliefs and inferences that children form about social groups.

 Andrea Roach head shot

Office: FFS 305

Phone: 559-278-5141

Email: aroach@csufresno.edu

Curriculum Vitae (PDF)

Education: Ph.D. Human Development and Family Science, University of Missouri - Columbia; M.A., Child and Family Studies, Fontbonne University, St. Louis, MO; B.A., Vocational Family and Consumer Sciences, Missouri State University, Springfield, MO

Experience and Research: Joining the Fresno State faculty in the fall of 2016, Andrea received her Ph.D. degree from the University of Missouri with an emphasis on domestic violence and family relations. Her research interests include intimate partner violence, parent-child relationships, adolescence and emerging adulthood, sibling relationships, divorce and remarriage, and sexuality. She has been an active member of the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) since 2011, is a member of the Journal of Family Theory and Review Inaugural Digital Scholarship Board, and is the Students and New Professionals Representative-Elect for the NCFR Board.

At the University of Missouri, she was a graduate instructor and teaching assistant. She taught classes in family studies, intimate relationships and marriage, human sexuality, human development, adolescence and young adulthood. She also served as a postdoctoral research assistant for the Family Services Department of the State of Missouri in a comparative analysis for child support collection techniques. She also taught Family and Consumer Sciences at McCluer South-Berkeley High School while she was a graduate student at Fontbonne University. Courses she taught included child care and development, housing, fashion design, nutrition and wellness, food science, and senior survival.

 

Lecturers

Courtney Angell head shot

Office: FFS 312

Email: cberk@csufresno.edu

Education: MA (2020) Early Childhood Education, Fresno State; BS (2019) Child Development, Fresno State; Hired: 2021

Experience and Research: Master teacher in a pre-K classroom

Marcy Davidson

Office: FFS 312

Phone: 559-259-4254

Email: marcydavidson@csufresno.edu

Education: MA (2007) Human Development with specializations in ECE, Teaching Adults and College Teaching, Leadership in Education and Human Services Admin., Pacific Oaks College; Hired: 2017

Experience and Research: Reedley College faculty/chair, early childhood education

Jasmine De La Torre head shot

Office: FFS 312

Email: j.delatorre@csufresno.edu 

Education: MS (2022) Marriage, Family, and Child Counseling, Fresno State; BS (2018) Child Development, Fresno State; Hired: 2023

Experience and Research: Associate Marriage and Family Therapist

cLinda Dekruif headshot

Office: FFS 206

Phone: 559-696-4425

Email: lindad@csufresno.edu 

Education: MS (1994) Psychology, Fresno State; Hired: 1994

Experience and Research: Full-time child development faculty at Fresno City College

Caroline Dower-Serrano head shot

Office: FFS 312

Phone: 559-273-5958

Email: carolined18@csufresno.edu 

Education: MS (2018) Marriage and Family Therapy, Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary; BS (2008) Child Development, Fresno State; Hired: 2018

Experience and Research: Family Healing Center – forensic interviewer

Beth Fransen head shot

Office: FFS 312

Email: bethann1@csufresno.edu 

Education: MA (2020) Early Childhood Education, Fresno State; Hired: 2022

Experience and Research: Assistant Director at Kids Kare since 1999

Davey Jones head shot

Office: FFS 312

Email: daveyrjones@csufresno.edu 

Education: PhD (2021) Human Development, Fielding Graduate University; Hired: 2022

Experience and Research: Full-time employee in Education at Fresno Pacific University

Erica Lassen head shot

Office: FFS 312

Email: elassen@csufresno.edu 

Education: MA (2022) Communication, Fresno State Hired: 2023

Experience and Research: ASSIST System trainer, University of California Office of the President

   Deborah Lewis headshot

Office: FFS 312

Email: deblewis@csufresno.edu 

Education: MA Ed. (2003) Early Childhood Education, Fresno State; Hired: 2023

Experience and Research: Full-time lecturer at Fresno City College; has previously run the CD labs at FCC
 

Christina Macias head shot

Office: FFS 206

Phone: 559-349-9159

Email: clmacias@csufresno.edu 

Education: MA Ed. (2018) Early Childhood Education, Fresno State; BS (2010) Biology, Fresno State; Hired: 2019

Experience and Research: Also teaches at Reedley Community College, Science Education

Kacey Medellin headstot

Office: FFS 312

Email: kaceymedellin@csufresno.edu 

Education: MS (2020) Marriage and Family Therapy, CSU Fullerton; BS (2017) Child Development, Fresno State; Hired: 2020

Experience and Research: Private clinical practice

Celeste Naik head shot

Office: FFS 312

Phone: 559-903-3732

Email: cnaik@csufresno.edu 

Education: MS (2013) Marriage and Family Therapy, Fresno State; BA (2010) Psychology, Fresno State; Hired: 2018

Experience and Research: Private clinical practice, foster care, also teaches in Psych Dept., advisor for Psych Dept.

Valente Orozco head shot

Office: FFS 312

Email: valente1@csufresno.edu 

Education: MSW (2008) Social Work, Fresno State; BS (2005) Social Work, Fresno State; Hired: 2023

Experience and Research: Private clinical practice and Administrative Director, West Coast Institute for Gestalt Therapy with Children and Adolescents
 

Melissa Putman head shot

Office: FFS 312

Email: mputman@csufresno.edu 

Education: MA (2018) Marriage and Family Therapy, Fresno Pacific University Biblical Seminary; BA (2011) Family Science, Fresno State; Hired: 2018-2020 Rehired: 2023

Experience and Research: Private clinical practice

Ryan Robart head shot

Office: FFS 312

Phone: 559-259-2596

Email: rrobart@csufresno.edu 

Education: PhD (2010) Cognitive Psychology, UC Riverside; Hired: 2019

Experience and Research: Cognition, perception, family interactions and child health

Alexandra Smith head shot

Office: FFS 312

Email: alexandrasmith@csufresno.edu 

Education: MS (2021) Marriage and Family Therapy, Fresno State; BA (2019) Psychology, Fresno State; Hired: 2022

Experience and Research: Associate Marriage and Family Therapist

Xueyan Yang head shot

Office: FFS 312

Email: xueyan@csufresno.edu 

Education: PhD (2018) Special Education, University of Washington; Hired: 2023

Experience and Research: Lecturer in Education, Fresno State

Staff

Administrative Support Coordinator

Office: FFS 214

Phone: 559-278-1601

Email: lwalters@mail.fresnostate.edu

 

Emeriti Faculty

Want to know what our emeritus faculty have been up to since you graduated? https://sites.google.com/mail.fresnostate.edu/fresnostatecfsemeritusfaculty/home