Message from the Director

I am grateful and excited to begin as the new Director for the VCU Clark-Hill Institute for Positive Youth Development. In doing so, I want to recognize the outstanding contributions of our Founding Director, Dr. Albert Farrell, who served in this role from 2005 to 2023. The VCU Clark-Hill Institute for Positive Youth Development is named in honor of two former VCU faculty members, Dr. Maxine Clark and Dr. John Hill.

The Clark-Hill Institute is a university-level center that includes an interdisciplinary team of faculty from the School of Medicine – Drs. An Pham and Nicholas Thomson, School of Education – Drs. Chin-Chih Chen and Kevin Sutherland, School of Social Work – Dr. Jamie Cage, and the College of Humanities and Sciences - Drs. Rosalie Corona, Gabriela León-Pérez, Fantasy Lozada, Bryce McLeod, Terri Sullivan, and Chelsea Williams.

The vision of the Clark-Hill Institute is to conduct high-quality, impactful research that is developed in partnership with youth and their families and community members and organizations.

The Clark Hill Institute envisions families, schools, and communities that are empowered and supported by evidence-based research in providing opportunities for youth to (1) develop positive and healthy relationships, (2) realize and enhance their strengths, (3) view themselves as leaders, and (4) make positive contributions to their schools and communities. To help achieve this, we strive to conduct research that utilizes various community-based participatory approaches and through offering impactful training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students and early career researchers to develop the next generation of community-based researchers. We have a strong network of community partners and our research is centered on community-identified needs that address important societal issues (e.g., community-derived action strategies that promote increased opportunities for positive youth
development).

Our recent accomplishments include having five faculty who were recipients of the VCU National/International Recognition Awards including Drs. Lozada, McLeod, Sullivan, Sutherland, and Thompson.

This semester we are looking forward to research presentations by Drs. McKenzie Green, Gabriela León- Pérez, and Hollee McGinnis and also our Meet the Scientists program where Clark-Hill faculty talk to undergraduate students about their program of research.

Best wishes,

Terri Sullivan, Ph.D.
Director, Clark-Hill Institute