Who We Are

CORE MEMBERS

Nancy Martland: Director of CFN
Nancy Martland taught young children in both private and public schools in Brookline, Massachusetts, for fifteen years before coming to Tufts University's Department of Child Development as a doctoral candidate in 1993. She is currently pursuing research in the areas of special needs inclusion, urban school leadership, and the use of experts in media coverage of children.

Fred Rothbaum: Professor of Child Development; CFN Science Coordinator
Dr. Fred Rothbaum has been a professor at Tufts University since 1979. He is also a licensed clinician who specializes in parent-child and family relationships. He has numerous publications in the areas of family relationships and problem behavior of children and cultural differences. Dr. Rothbaum, who is the founder of Child & Family News, has developed strategies to bridge the gap between the media and academia and has taught courses on this topic.

Larry Brown: Professor of Nutrition; CFN Science Coordinator
Dr. Larry Brown directs the national Center on Hunger, Poverty, and Nutrition Policy at Tufts University. Formerly on the faculty of the Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Brown has served as chairman of the Physicians Task Force on Hunger in America, where he led a team of nationally prominent doctors on field investigations throughout the states. He is the immediate past chair of Oxfam America and also chaired the medical task force of the United States for Africa. He is the author of numerous articles in both lay and scientific journals and several books and appears frequently on national television, including Nightline and Good Morning America.


ADJUNCT MEMBERS

Katy Abel: Reporter and Producer
Katy Abel created the first and only parenting beat in Boston television in March, 1995. She was a reporter in the WHDH-TV news department from 1992-1998, covering parenting and education issues daily with "Parent-to-Parent" and "7 Education" reports. In addition to her broadcast duties, she authors a monthly column for the Boston Parents Paper.

Julie Dobrow: Child and Media Scholar
Dr. Julie Dobrow, Acting Director of the Communications and Media Studies Program at Tufts University, focuses her work in the areas of children and media, and the effects of portrayals of ethnicity and gender in the media. She received her graduate degree in communications from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Dobrow's interdisciplinary approach investigates the meanings of media in people's lives.

Stan Franzeen: Media Consultant
Stan Franzeen is a media consultant and planner specializing in health communication. For 20 years he has organized conferences, produced videotapes, created media strategies, and trained hundreds of students and professionals. He coordinates training of childcare providers for Work Family Directions, providing research-based curricula.

CHILD & FAMILY NEWS ADVISORY BOARD

David Elkind
David Elkind is currently Professor of Child Development at Tufts University. After receiving his Ph.D. from UCLA, he was a National Science Foundation Senior Postdoctoral Fellow at Piaget's Institut d'Epistemologie Gentique in Geneva, Switzerland. Building on the theories of Jean Piaget, Elkind has done extensive research in the areas of perceptual, cognitive, and social development over the years.

Elkind is a renowned author and speaker. He has written thirteen books, including The Hurried Child, All Grown Up and No Place to Go, and Miseducation. He is the author of over four hundred articles and book chapters, as well as several children's stories published in Jack and Jill magazine. In addition to appearing in academic texts and journals, his work has been published in more popular publications such as Good Housekeeping and The Boston Globe Magazine. He has been profiled in People and Boston Magazine and is a Contributing Editor to Parents Magazine. Dr. Elkind presents his research in lectures throughout the United States, Canada, and abroad. He has appeared on The Today Show, The CBS Morning News, 20/20, Donahue, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.

In addition, Dr. Elkind is a member of ten professional organizations and a consultant to state education departments, clinics, mental health centers, government agencies, and private foundations. He is a past President of the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Natalie Jacobson
The first woman to anchor an evening newscast in Boston, Natalie Jacobson is currently the co-anchor and reporter for WCVB-TV's NewsCenter 5. With Jacobson as an anchor, the newscast has won virtually every broadcasting award, including several New England Emmys and awards from the Associated Press and United Press International. In 1990, NewsCenter 5 was voted the nation's top newscast by United Press International

A graduate of the University of New Hampshire, Ms. Jacobson holds honorary doctorates from Babson College, the University of Massachusetts, Curry College, Central New England College, and the University of New Hampshire.

In addition to her work on NewsCenter 5, Jacobson has cohosted numerous local telethons and participates in several national telethon broadcasts each year. She hosted several live specials for Channel 5's 1989-1990 public service campaign, Great Expectations: The Education Project, as well as two specials on immigrants for a prejudice-awareness campaign. Jacobson's work has earned her many honors. Her coverage of the 1988 Presidential campaign earned a first-place National Headliners Award and the top national honor in its category from the National Radio and Television News Directors Association. She received a New England Emmy in 1984 for hosting The Spirit and the Flame, a tribute to Special Olympians.

Along with her husband and co-anchor Chet Curtis, Jacobson has been involved in, and honored by, numerous community service organizations over the years. They currently serve on the Board of Directors of the Genesis Fund and the Board of the Scleroderma Research Fund. Jacobson is the annual state chairperson of the American Heart Association campaign, "Hearts in Bloom," and serves as state co-chairperson of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. In 1992, she received the Institute of Human Relations Community Service Award.

Richard M. Lerner
Richard M. Lerner is currently the Bergstrom Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Tufts University. Before coming to Tufts, Lerner held faculty and administrative positions at Michigan State University, Pennsylvania State University, and Boston College. During his stay at Boston College, he was named the Anita L. Brennan Professor of Education and the Director of the Center for Child, Family, and Community Partnerships. He also held the Tyler Eminent Scholar Chair in the Human Sciences at Florida State University.

Dr. Lerner received a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology in 1971 from the City University of New York. He has been a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and is now a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and the American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology.

Dr. Lerner has written or edited 40 books, including America's Youth in Crisis: Challenges and Options for Programs and Policies, as well as over 275 articles. He is the founding editor of both the Journal of Research on Adolescence and Applied Developmental Science. Much of his research focuses on the ways in which contextual or ecological change relates to human development, and his theory on the topic is well-known

Fred Rogers
Fred Rogers is the creator and host of the highly acclaimed children's program Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. The longest running show on PBS, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood has promoted the emotional, social, and intellectual development of children for more than thirty years.

A graduate of Rollins College, Rogers has been awarded honorary degrees from over thirty colleges and universities, including Yale University, Hobart and William Smith, Carnegie Mellon University, and Boston University. In addition to winning three Emmys and a George Foster Peabody Award, Rogers has received virtually every major award in children's television. Numerous special-interest groups in education, communications, and early childhood development have formally recognized his contributions.

Besides his efforts on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Rogers has written dozens of books to help children understand and cope with various life issues, such as moving, dealing with parental divorce, or having an operation. He has also hosted videotapes that accompany the books.

The "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood Child Care Partnership," a program developed in conjunction with Rogers' show, aims to help child care providers supplement their day care curricula by providing lessons and activities that relate to episodes of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

Edward Zigler
Edward Zigler is currently Sterling Professor of Psychology at Yale University, where he also directs the Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy and heads the Psychology Section of the Child Study Center. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Missouri at Kansas City and earned his Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. His work at Yale has included research in a variety of fields, including child development, family functioning, and psychopathology.

In addition to his work at Yale, Dr. Zigler was a member of the National Planning and Steering Committee of Project Head Start and Project Follow Through, intervention programs for economically disadvantaged children. As the first Director of the Office of Child Development and Chief of the U.S. Children's Bureau in 1970, Zigler was in charge of developing and implementing a number of new intervention programs. Since that time, he has served on the President's Committee on Mental Retardation and chaired both the Vietnamese Children's Resettlement Advisory Group and the Fifteenth Anniversary Head Start Committee. He also headed a national committee whose work led to passing of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.

Dr. Zigler has written or edited 26 books and over 500 articles. He is on the editorial boards of 10 professional journals. His honors include the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education and awards from the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Association for Retarded Citizens, the American Association on Mental Deficiency, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the National Head Start Association, and the American Orthopsychiatric Association. He serves as a special consultant for the media and various private foundations, and often appears as an expert witness before many Congressional Committees.