Marriage, Family, and Close Relationships

Arroyo, Analisa
Associate 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

Barger, Michael
Assistant Professor, Educational Psychology
2023-2025 Grant Development Program Participant
website | michael.barger@uga.edu
Research Interests include motivation, STEM, developmental psychology, mindsets, and beliefs

Beach, Steven R.H.
Co-Director, Center for Family Research
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | srhbeach@uga.edu

Brown, Geoffrey
Associate Professor, Human Development and Family Science
Distinguished Scholar, 2014 GDP Graduate, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | glbrown@uga.edu
Research Interests: fathering, socioemotional development, infancy, attachment, and African American families

Caughy, Margaret
Georgia Athletic Association Professor, Family Health Disparities
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | margaret.caughy@uga.edu
Research Interests include academic achievement, self-regulation, and minoritized populations

Clark, Malissa
Associate Professor, Psychology
website | clarkm@uga.edu
Research Interests include workaholism, employee well-being, work-family dynamics, and burnout

Eby, Lillian
Distinguished Research Professor, Psychology
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | leby@uga.edu
Research Interests include occupational health, relationship science, mentoring, and mindfulness

Ehrlich, Katie
Associate Professor, Psychology
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | kehrlich@uga.edu
Research Interests include social determinants of health, inflammation, stress, and resilience

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

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

Futris, Ted
Georgia Athletic Association Professor, Family & Consumer Sciences
website | tfutris@uga.edu
Research Interests include couples, relationships, outreach, evaluation, and community engagement

Gonlin, Vanessa
Assistant Professor, Sociology
website | vgonlin@uga.edu
Research Interests include African Americans, couples, and families

Kogan, Steve
Professor, Human Development and Family Science
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | smkogan@uga.edu
Research Interests include Black youth, adolescent development, mental health, and racial discrimination

Lavner, Justin
Associate Professor, Psychology
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | lavner@uga.edu
Research Interests include couples, families, prevention, health disparities and LGBTQ

Lieberman-Betz, Rebecca
Associate 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

O’Neal, Catherine
Associate Research Scientist, 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

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

Simons, Leslie
Professor, Sociology
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | lgsimons@uga.edu
Research Interests include family, crime, and intimate partner violence

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

vanDellen, Michelle
Professor, Psychology
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | mvd@uga.edu
Research Interests include motivation, self-regulation, smoking, health behavior change, and relationships

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

Wickrama, Kandauda A.
Emeritus Professor, Human Development and Family Sciences
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | wickrama@uga.edu
Research Interests include social determinants of health, health inequality across the life course, and racial/ethnical inequalities in mental and physical health of children and adults