Family Science Review
Research Articles
Patricia Kain Knaub
ABSTRACT: My essay traces a fifty year journey from a high school teacher to professor to administrator(s) to a consultant from the perspective of now being retired. Arguably it could be concluded that I had an unlikely career considering the time and place in which I grew up and was educated. The focus is on the factors influencing my personal transformation, the lessons learned along the way, and the application of those lessons to the role or roles I played.
Pamela A. Monroe
ABSTRACT: This essay chronicles an unintended journey into university teaching by a scholar who planned to engage in every kind of professional activity except teaching. I begin by locating myself within my professional and private domains and describe my early professional career including my first awkward attempts at university teaching. The hard-earned lesson that teaching is not performance but is being fully present to students while opening myself to them is shared.
Kay Pasley
ABSTRACT: Here I reflect on the teaching and mentoring aspects of my long term career as a family scientist and discuss some early experiences that framed my career and later experiences that refined my skills in these important roles. Having been privileged to work with outstanding undergraduate and graduate students during my tenure at several universities, I use their comments to summarize several key lessons learned.
Jason D. Hans
ABSTRACT: My career trajectory has been primarily shaped by an industrious work ethic, resiliency in the face of adverse circumstances, and a series of fortunate circumstances. Most important among those fortunate circumstances has been the mentorship I received from exceptional and established scholars during my undergraduate and graduate training; I have since strived to emulate those role models as I progress in my own career. This article describes the key pathways and turning points that have impacted my career as a family scientist, and describes the affirmation I have found for my career ambition through traumatic personal life experiences that have elicited introspection on the meaning of life and the importance of forming a legacy.
Joel A. Muraco, Casey J. Totenhagen, Shannon A. Corkery, Melissa A. Curran
ABSTRACT: Reflecting on our unique journeys and shared experiences as family science educators, as well as empirical and pedagogical literature, we review three salient issues that in our experiences impact family science classrooms: (1) integration of technology, (2) how experience does not equate expertise, and (3) the importance of representing diversity. For each issue, we identify potential strengths and challenges as well as offer possible solutions to challenges based on relevant literature and our own experiences. We also draw connections to how these issues relate directly to student outcomes as they pertain to our students’ preparedness to enter family science oriented fields. Ultimately, our reflections serve two purposes: (1) they allows us to critically examine what we know, uncovering multiple truths in the process and (2) they may prove helpful to other family science educators seeking to become more effective in their teaching endeavors.
J. Roberto Reyes
ABSTRACT: Ethnic identity development theory highlights the individual’s development of his/her ethnic or racial awareness as he/she is confronted with experiences of racism and social inequality (Ponterotto, Casas, Suzuki, & Alexander, 1995). In this paper, we will examine the task of teaching, through this theoretical lens and consider how issues of power and race influence this process in the classroom. In doing so, we will consider the role that the professor’s ethnic/racial identity plays in the teaching of diversity. We will explore in what ways or to what extent does race or ethnicity work for and also work against a faculty member of color in addressing diversity issues in the classroom. Finally, we will structure our analysis by considering the development of a course as a journey that has its own beginning, development and resolution.
G. Kevin Randall
ABSTRACT: Looking back over the last 20 years of co-learning with my students in the university classroom, I see some things have radically changed while others have stayed fairly constant – both for them and for me. There is no question that each year students in my marriage and family class believe “love” is a necessary precursor to one of life’s major transitions, marriage. However, as they ponder their own life course, and as I have lived mine, what “love” is by definition and how it develops may be different for individuals sharing the same age or birth cohort, necessitating at least a “love primer” for a class on close relationships. Also, what the future holds regarding a lifetime of love has become increasingly salient, as it seems to be conventional wisdom today (albeit quite the conundrum) that marriage may well be a risk factor for love. This article outlines an assignment on the definition and development of love that continues to be rated very highly by students on anonymous, end-of semester evaluations. In addition, I share some insights gleaned over the years as to how I introduce the topic and particularly how I try to help students glean pertinent information from the existing literature on love. It’s hoped readers will build upon this work and adapt it for their own classrooms.
