Marriage, Family, and Close Relationships

A woman with straight, blonde hair and a red checkered top poses in front of a dark blue, studio-style background.

Antonoudi, Efthymia (Effie)

Assistant Professor, Financial Planning, Housing and Consumer Economics
website | eanton@uga.edu

Research Interests include:  Bias, Discrimination, and Inequality, Diversity, Education and Learning, Immigration, Marriage, Family, and Close Relationships, Mental Health, Substance Use and Addiction

Analisa Arroyo

Arroyo, Analisa

Professor, Communication Studies
2015-17 GDP Participant, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | arroyo@uga.edu

Research Interests include intergenerational transmission of body image issues and its relation to mental and physical health outcomes (e.g. depression, eating disorders, overweight/obesity, exercise, dieting, etc.) among grandmother-mother-daughter triads

A man in a dark blazer and white shirt smiles at the camera in front of a gray background.

Barger, Michael

Associate Professor, Educational Psychology
2023-2025 Grant Development Program Participant
website | michael.barger@uga.edu

Research Interests include motivation, STEM, developmental psychology, mindsets, and beliefs

Steven R.H. Beach

Beach, Steven R.H.

Regents’ Professor, Psychology
Co-Director, Center for Family Research
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
2023 OIBR Service Legacy Award Recipient
website | srhbeach@uga.edu

Research Interests include preventive intervention, epigenetic processes, family health, and marriage

Margaret Caughy

Caughy, Margaret

Georgia Athletic Association Professor, Family Health Disparities
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
websitemargaret.caughy@uga.edu

Research Interests include academic achievement, self-regulation, and minoritized populations

Malissa Clark

Clark, Malissa

Professor and Dept. Head Psychology
Distinguished Scholar, OIBR
website | clarkm@uga.edu

Research Interests include workaholism, employee well-being, work-family dynamics, and burnout

A woman with straight, light brown hair, wearing a blue and white patterned blouse, smiles outdoors with green foliage in the background.

Ehrlich, Katie

Professor, Psychology
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | kehrlich@uga.edu

Research Interests include social determinants of health, inflammation, stress, and resilience

Tisha Lewis Ellison

Ellison, Tisha Lewis

Associate Professor, Language and Literacy Education
website | tellison@uga.edu

Research Interests include family literacy, digital libraries, multimodal literacies and community literacies

A woman with long dark hair, wearing a black blazer, black top, and a pearl necklace, smiles in front of a cloudy gray background.

Fields-Smith, Cheryl

Professor, Educational Theory and Practice
website | cfields@uga.edu

Research Interests include family involvement, sociocultural context of teaching and learning, multicultural education, homeschooling among African American families, and African American educational history

A person with straight, shoulder-length brown hair and glasses is smiling outdoors, wearing a black and white checkered blazer and a black shirt. Green foliage is in the background.

Foohey, Pamela

Professor, School of Law
website | pamela.foohey@uga.edu

Research Interests: Aging and Gerontology, Bias, Discrimination, and Inequality, Emotion, Gender, Marriage, Family, and Close Relationships, Mental Health, Networks, Organizations, Physical Health and Well-being, Policy, Regulation, and Compliance, Sexuality and Sexual Identity, Substance Use and Addiction, Survey Methods, Work and Occupations

Ted Futris

Futris, Ted

Georgia Athletic Association Professor, Family & Consumer Sciences
website | tfutris@uga.edu

Research Interests include couples, relationships, outreach, evaluation, and community engagement

A woman with short curly hair wearing a purple dress stands outdoors, smiling at the camera with greenery in the background.

Gonlin, Vanessa

Assistant Professor, Sociology
website | vgonlin@uga.edu

Research Interests include African Americans, couples, and families

Steve Kogan

Kogan, Steve

Professor, Human Development and Family Science
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
2021 OIBR Mentoring Legacy Award Recipient
website | smkogan@uga.edu

Research Interests include Black youth, adolescent development, mental health, and racial discrimination

Justin Lavner

Lavner, Justin

Professor, Psychology
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
2022 OIBR Rising Star Award Recipient
2015-17 GDP Participant
website | lavner@uga.edu

Research Interests include couples, families, prevention, health disparities and LGBTQ

Rebecca Lieberman-Betz

Lieberman-Betz, Rebecca

Professor, Communication Sciences & Special Education
website | rglb@uga.edu

Research Interests include special needs, parent responsibility, communication development, autism spectrum disorder, developmental disabilities, early childhood, and special education

A woman with long dark hair tied back, wearing a gray striped top with a black ribbon collar, smiling at the camera against a plain light background.

Liu, Liu

Assistant Research Scientist, Social Work
website | liuuil@uga.edu

Research Interests: Assessment and Evaluation, Computational Methods, Education and Learning, Experimental Methods, Marriage, Family, and Close Relationships, STEM, Survey Methods, Youth, Adolescence, and Emerging Adulthood

Woman with short blonde hair wearing a plaid blazer, light blue blouse, and silver earrings, smiling at the camera against a gray background.

Murphy, Patricia

Instructor, School of Law
website | trish.murphy@uga.edu

Research Interests: Conflict, Emotion, Maltreatment and Trauma, Marriage, Family, and Close Relationships, Mental Health, Social Psychology

Catherine O'Neal

O’Neal, Catherine

Associate Professor, Human Development & Family Science
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | cwalker1@uga.edu

Research Interests include life course, cumulative life experiences, health and well-being, adolescent life stage, vulnerable populations, military families; racial/ethnic minorities, and health outcomes

Anne Shaffer

Shaffer, Anne

Professor, Psychology
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | ashaffer@uga.edu

Research Interests include parenting, emotion regulation, measurement, and emotion socialization

Leslie Simons

Simons, Leslie Gordon

Meigs Professor, Sociology
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | lgsimons@uga.edu

Research Interests include family, crime, and intimate partner violence

A man in a blue suit jacket and white shirt smiles at the camera outdoors, with trees and a building blurred in the background.

Slatcher, Richard

Gail M. Williamson Distinguished Professor, Psychology
website | richard.slatcher@uga.edu

Research Interests include social relationships, health and well-being, asthma, and psychoneuroimmunology

A man with short blond hair and a trimmed beard is wearing a dark suit jacket and light shirt, smiling in front of a gray mottled background.

Tuma, Trevor

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
website | trevor.tuma@uga.edu

Research Interests include: Assessment and Evaluation, Diversity, Education and Learning, Marriage, Family, and Close Relationships, Mental Health, STEM

Watkins, Kimberly

Watkins, Kimberly

Assistant Professor, Financial Planning, Housing, and Consumer Economics
website | kimberly.watkins@uga.edu

Research Interests include: Bias, Discrimination, and Inequality, Culture, Diversity, Education and Learning, Emotion, Gender, Identity, Marriage, Family, and Close Relationships, Mental Health, Personality, Physical Health and Well-being, Sexuality and Sexual Identity, Social Psychology, Survey Methods

A woman with long blonde hair, wearing a black top and a gold necklace, smiles in front of a dark blue background.

Winkelman Richardson, Evin

Assistant Research Scientist, Human Development and Family Science

website | evinr@uga.edu

Research Interests include: Communication, Conflict, Marriage, Family, and Close Relationships