OKPOLICY.ORG
The senior vice president and director of the Human Services Research Division of Mathematica Policy Research, Inc will be the final speaker in the spring 2011 OKDHS Policy and Practice Lecture Series. Barbara Devaney, Ph.D., will present “Oklahoma’s Building Strong Families Project” on Thursday, May 19, from Noon to 1pm at the Oklahoma History Center in the Chesapeake Room. The event is free and open to the public.
Devaney received her Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan. She is a nationally recognized expert in maternal and child health, nutrition and risk-reduction programs for youth. She is co-director of Mathematica’s Building Strong Families study and has served as principal investigator for the firm’s evaluation of abstinence education programs, which received the 2009 Outstanding Evaluation Award from the American Evaluation Association.
Devaney has played a leading role in many of Mathematica’s studies of family formation, children’s nutrition and public health programs. She has served on scientific committees convened by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. She publishes widely in peer-reviewed journals and presents findings at conferences of researchers, policymakers and practitioners.
The Building Strong Families project is an initiative to develop and evaluate programs designed to help interested unwed parents strengthen and stabilize their relationships.
- Guest blog post by Scott Stanley on Family Expectation, one component of this initiative in Oklahoma.
- OK Policy roundtable: Should Oklahoma be promoting marriage?
