2010 President’s Message

Greetings and welcome to the UCFR website. There is something positive we can all look forward to in 2010. No, it’s not the economy. It is our Utah Council on Family Relations Annual Conference held on the campus of Utah State University April 2, 2010! The conference is for undergraduates, graduates, faculty and professions. Special thanks to the planning committee chaired by Brian Higginbotham, for thoughtful planning for this year’s conference.

The conference theme is “Families in Hard Times: Stresses and Solutions.” The theme is broad enough that we hope those interested in family studies will be joined by others from Sociology, Social Work, Psychology, and Human Development for the conference.   We invite you to present a Poster, a Paper or to lead a Round-Table Discussion. It’s a time for you as students, faculty and professionals to share what you are doing; forms and deadlines are available on this website.

The keynote speaker will be Brian Barber, founder and director of the Center for the Study of Youth and Political Violence (see http://youthviolence.tennessee.edu).  Dr. Barber is Professor of Child & Family Studies and adjunct Professor of Psychology at UT Knoxville. He is also a Technical Advisor to the World Health Organization and UNICEF. His work is a model for bridging research, programming, and policy. 

Family Studies educators are invited to nominate an Outstanding Graduate Student and /or an Outstanding Undergraduate Student to be honored at the conference (forms available on this website).
May I invite you to join us; get acquainted, meet or keep in touch with colleagues, students, and community professionals.

Ivan Beutler, PhD, UCFR President 2009-2010