Endowed positions
College of Health
Endowed positions recognize and support faculty who are nationally known as scholars, educators, researchers and leaders in their fields. We honor our endowed faculty and applaud the donors who created these positions.
Celia Strickland Austin and G. Kenneth Austin III Endowed Professor
Veronica uses a community-engaged approach to develop, implement and evaluate behavior change programs across a comprehensive list of health priorities. Her primary area of focus is breast cancer and cancer screening and the role of lay health navigators. She also has translated her expertise in behavior change to the field of environmental health sciences.
Hallie E. Ford Center for Healthy Children & Families Endowed Director
Megan is well known for her research on optimizing children's development, especially as it relates to early social and cognitive development and success in school. Her research on self-regulation and kindergarten readiness has been widely cited in media in Oregon and across the nation and applied by state policy makers. In fact, 2013 marks the first year every Oregon kindergartner will be assessed by their teacher on skills related to self-control.
IMPACT for Life Faculty Scholar
Megan's research interests are related to how motor skills and physically active lifestyles improve the lives of children and youth with and without disabilities. She has a specific research interest in the movement skills of children with autism spectrum disorder including how to improve motor skills for children with autism and how motor skills interact with social communication skills.
Jo Anne Leonard Endowed Professor for Healthy Aging Research
Rick is a specialist in life-course and longitudinal studies, with expertise spanning adolescence, adulthood, and aging and a strong record of experience conducting research and collaborating across disciplines and life periods. His research has often focused on the first and last few decades of adulthood, always with an eye toward understanding the whole of human life.
Jo Anne Leonard Petersen Chair in Gerontology and Family Studies
Suzanne's research primarily addresses the interactions among psychological, cognitive, immunological, and physical health in older adults. She is particularly interested in understanding how aspects of self-regulation, including personality, behavior, and executive cognitive function, affect well-being and health.
Katherine E. Smith Healthy Children and Families Professor
Megan is well known for her research on optimizing children's development, especially as it relates to early social and cognitive development and success in school. Her research on self-regulation and kindergarten readiness has been widely cited in media in Oregon and across the nation and applied by state policy makers. In fact, 2013 marks the first year every Oregon kindergartner will be assessed by their teacher on skills related to self-control.
Knudson Endowed Chair in Family Policy
David's broad research interests include poverty, families, and social policy. In this work he aims to understand the mechanisms driving social and economic inequalities. He is currently researching child poverty across countries and over time, poverty measurement based on financial assets and net worth, financial stability of families with a child with a neurodevelopmental disability, and factors that influence financial capability and inclusion. Much of this work compares policies and institutional frameworks between the US, Canada, and other OECD countries.
Moore Family Center Endowed Director
Dave has made significant and innovative contributions to the field of nutrition through his research on human and bovine milk bioactives and their effects on gut health. He has successfully built and managed a robust research team of undergraduate and graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and research faculty. He is also deeply committed to fostering collaboration and to pursuing large, transdisciplinary funding opportunities. In addition to his outstanding research portfolio, he has provided important academic leadership as director of the undergraduate and graduate programs in nutrition.
Robert and Sara Rothschild Endowed Chair in Global Health
Sunil is internationally known for his research in the field of global health. He has worked on examining how inclusive, participatory, empowering, and sustainable strategies to engage communities in Botswana and India can lead to decolonization of global health and improve health and well-being of people in a manner that is locally relevant, engaging, and sustainable. Additionally, he is actively engaged in collaboratively working with a diverse group of stakeholders to enhance the effectiveness of efforts by governmental and non-governmental organizations to improve the health and well-being of the most vulnerable social groups and to promote social equity in the U.S. and globally.