HHD College Interim Dean Appointed

University Park, Pa. --- Dr. Lynne Vernon-Feagans, professor of human development and family studies and associate dean for research in Penn State’s College of Health and Human Development, was named interim dean of the College of Health and Human Development, effective January 1, 2000.

Dr. Vernon-Feagans has been serving as associate dean for research since 1995. She joined Penn State in 1985 as professor of human development.

Her extensive research focuses on the development of children at risk for poor school performance, including children born into poverty and children with middle ear disease. Her current grant focuses on understanding how middle ear disease affects language development, attention and social behavior in young children.

She is author or co-author of many publications, including a recent book on the language of and the transition to school for a group of African American children she followed from birth through elementary school, and a chapter "Language and Preliteracy Skills at Home and at School for At-Risk Children," in The Handbook on Research in Early Literacy, Guilford Publishers of New York.

Her research has received support from the Spencer Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, the U.S. Department of Education, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the National Institute of Medicine.

Dr. Vernon-Feagans has served on many college and University committees. She currently is associate editor of the International Journal of Behavioral Development and has served on Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, the national guideline panel for the diagnosis and treatment of otitis media. She was on the editorial boards of Development Psychology and Journal of Learning Disabilities.

Her honors include being named the 1999 Fellow of the International Association for Research in Learning Disabilities and the 1998 Maycie Southall Distinguished Lecturer at Vanderbilt University.

She holds a B.A. in economics from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and a Ph.D. in psycholinguistics from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She conducted post-doctoral work in psychology and communication disorders at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.