Christian M. Connell, professor of human development and family studies, was recently named The Ken Young Family Professor for Healthy Children in the College of Health and Human Development.
The professorship is part of a $1 million gift to support a faculty member focused on enhancing the health and well-being of vulnerable children, especially survivors of child maltreatment. The professorship was established in 2017 by Penn State alumnus Ken Young of Tampa, Florida. Connell is the second College of Health and Human Development faculty member to hold this professorship.
“I am incredibly grateful for the support of this endowed professorship,” Connell said. “The resources provided through this gift to the college will play a vital role in advancing the work my team and I are doing to study child health and safety outcomes following child maltreatment and involvement with children’s services.”
Connell is also director of Penn State’s Child Maltreatment Solutions Network and Social Science Research Institute cofunded faculty member. Additionally, Connell serves as one of the principal investigators of Penn State’s Translational Center for Child Maltreatment Studies, an NICHD-funded Capstone Center for child maltreatment research.
Connell received his Ph.D. in clinical-community psychology from the University of South Carolina and completed both pre- and postdoctoral training in the department of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. His research centers on the experiences of youth who have been maltreated or involved in the child welfare system and other child-serving systems.
His work explores how individual, family, and contextual factors influence child safety and wellbeing following maltreatment or system involvement. He also examines community-based efforts to prevent or mitigate the negative effects of maltreatment and trauma in children and adolescents.
Connell’s research has been supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Administration for Children and Families, and the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.