Faculty and Staff

Daily stress processes; adult development; family factors in mental health; work and family linkages; fatherhood; statistical techniques for measuring change.

Andrews is the director of field education for the HDFS online Master of Social Work program.

Roxanne Atterholt is an associate teaching professor focusing on the interdisciplinary nature of human services. She is committed to creating an engaging and inclusive learning environment that extends beyond the classroom.

Joanna Bissell-Havran focuses on teaching adolescent development, research methods, and motivation in the HDFS World Campus program.

Mary Campbell manages communications and marketing needs for the College of Health and Human Development, specifically the departments of Biobehavioral Health and Human Development and Family Studies.  This includes website, social media, and writing and press coverage.

Cleveland studies how people with substance use disorders maintain wellbeing in different domains and change their lives in positive ways, working closely with community partners to tailor his research goals to fit the needs of the community and elevate their voices.

Jessica Clontz teaches courses that focus on human services, interventions, and helping relationships.

Connell examines how child maltreatment and public child-serving systems affect children’s safety, health, and wellbeing, and tests policies and interventions to improve outcomes—leveraging large-scale data and partnerships with public systems to drive real-world change.

Max Crowley is a prevention scientist investigating how to optimize investments in healthy development—with a focus on preventive strategies to reduce substance misuse and delinquent behavior.

Researcher/practitioner interested in the development of social and emotional skills and wellbeing for youth and adults, including mindfulness and compassion-based strategies and systemic changes needed to promote individual and community growth, with a leadership focus.

Research interests include family systems processes underlying adolescent development (substance use, problem behavior, emotional distress, positive well-being) and understanding change processes in family-centered preventive interventions.

Steffany Fredman studies the intimate relationship context of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and related conditions across the lifespan and couple-based interventions for PTSD that simultaneously treat the disorder and enhance couple/family functioning.

Michael Hunter's research interests lie at the intersection of human development, mathematical modeling, and statistical computing.

Jayakody is the director of the online Master of Social Work program.

Jones' work addresses the syndemic of substance use disorders, violence, sexual risk behaviors, and HIV/STIs, as well as evaluation of structural and behavioral interventions aimed at reducing substance use and associated harms.

Lee directs the Sleep, Stress, and Health (STEALTH) laboratory. Her research aims to improve sleep and decrease stress in order to support health.

Lynn Martire’s research aims to identify the ways in which close relationships in adulthood affect health and chronic illness management, and the effects of chronic illness on close relationships.

Marc McCann's priority is to prepare undergraduate students for internships and careers in human services via coursework (455, 490, 495A, 495B) and connections with alumni and other professionals in the field.

Melnick is the academic adviser for the HDFS online Master of Social Work program. She is also a teaching professor at Penn State, Scranton campus.

Aaron Miller teaches courses on a range of topics including lifespan development, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and aging, family demography, and human services administration.

Zita Oravecz's research work has been focused on developing and disseminating innovative computational and statistical techniques for addressing questions related to emotional and cognitive functioning and development.

Ross is the director of the specialization in Children and Families for the online Master of Social Work program.

Elizabeth Skowron conducts basic, translational, and intervention research to prevent child abuse and neglect and support child and family well-being, studying the psychosocial and physiological bases of parenting that potentiate risk and impact response to intervention.

Kristopher Struckmeyer’s interest has centered around how aging families interact with their environments to improve their well-being, aiding in his focus on applicability in teaching.

Taylor Porter focuses on teaching in the Child Maltreatment and Advocacy Studies Minor, inspiring advocates for children and families and serving as an advisor to the CMAS minor.

Samantha Tornello has three major research interests: family, sexual orientation, and gender identity, the majority of which focuses on the role of family composition and parental sexual orientation and gender in the family system.

Twumasi-Ankrah is the director of the specialization in Mental Health and Substance Use for the online Master of Social Work program.

Chantelle assists the financial manager in monitoring budgets, and departmental income and expenses, preparing grants, processing standing and fixed term appointments, and producing spreadsheets and reports.