Christina Groark
School of Education
University of Pittsburgh
LL104 LXONE
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
PHONE: 412-244-5303
EMAIL:
cgroark@pitt.eduFull Time Faculty - Associate Professor
For the past 20 years, Christina J. Groark, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Education and Co-Director of the University of Pittsburgh Office of Child Development (OCD), has provided administrative oversight, management, and practical and scholarly guidance for international, national, and local interdisciplinary projects. Her expertise includes applied issues of children, youth, and families, especially of those in urban and low-income communities. Her extensive career has been devoted to improving the lives of all children, including institutionalized children, children with severe mental and physical disabilities, at-risk children, and helping children by focusing on the entire family and caregiving environment. Her specific interests are in the areas of early care and education, early intervention, orphanage care, nonprofit management, and program development. Dr. Groark has designed and implemented innovative service demonstration programs, policy initiatives, needs assessments, experimental interventions, program evaluations, and research studies. Internationally, she is working on examining orphanages through projects in the Russian Federation, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. In addition, Dr. Groark has been a consultant to many national and international programs, funders, policy makers, and universities. She is the author of many articles and book chapters in the areas of university-community collaborations, improved interventions in orphanages, applied developmental psychology, and early intervention and is a consulting editor of the Journal of the International Association of Special Education. Dr. Groark is the recipient of the University of Pittsburgh’s 2005 Chancellor’s Award for Public Service. She is currently a member of numerous committees and professional associations.
School Affiliations
- Department: Office of Child Development - Assoc Professor/Co-Director Office of Child Dev.
- Department: Psychology in Education - Assoc Professor/Co-Director Office of Child Dev.
- Program: Applied Developmental Psychology - Associate Professor
Education
Recent Publications
Book Chapters
- Groark, C. J. & McCall, R. B. (2008). Community-based interventions. In M. Rutter et al. (Eds.), Rutter’s Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 5th Ed. London, GB: Blackwell Publishing Company.
- McCall, R. B., & Groark, C. J. (in press). Challenges and issues in designing applied research. In V. Maholmes (Ed.), Applied research in child and adolescent development: A practical guide. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.
Books
- Groark, C. J. (in press). Early childhood intervention: Programs and policies for special needs children, three volumes. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger Publishing.
Journal Articles
- McCall, R. B., Groark, C. J., & Fish, L. (in press). A Caregiver-Child Social/Emotional and Relationship Rating Scale (CCSERRS). Infant Mental Health Journal.
Monographs
- St. Petersburg-USA Orphanage Research Team (2008). The effects of early social-emotional-relationship experience on the development of young orphanage children. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 73, Serial No. 291(3).
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Recent Course Instruction
Fall 2009 (2101)
Summer 2009 (2097)
Spring 2009 (2094)
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Recent Presentations
- Post-Institutional Children's Development
Presented at International Interdisciplinary Conference in Leiden
- Evidence-Based Practices
Defining Evidence Roundtable Presented at Society for Research in Child Development, Denver, CO
- Non-Academic Careers
SRCD Alternative Careers Coffee Hour held at SRCD Biennial Conference, Denver, CO
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Current Professional Participation
- I oversaw the organization, management, funding, and implementation of the Family Support Conference 2008 -"What’s Love Got to Do with It? The Heart of School Readiness and Success." CEUs are available. This is an annual family support conference for parents, neighborhood leaders, faith-based groups, family support participants, community development and economic development organizers, social service agencies, child care workers, educators, health care providers, practitioners, and human service administrators of human services, child advocacy groups, foundations, public agency staff, policy makers, and elected officials.
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Recent Consulting
- Journal of the International Association of Special Education.
- Consulting Editor, Journal of the International Association of Special Education.
- United Way of Allegheny County
- Children, Youth, and Families Selection Committee
- Universities Children's Policy Collaborative (UCPC)
- The Universities Children's Policy Collaborative (UCPC): UCPC is dedicated to contributing to the health and welfare of children, youth, and families by providing nonpartisan information on public policies. A collaboration between researchers from three state-related universities (Penn State University, Temple University, and the University of Pittsburgh), UCPC provides research, data, and experts to address issues affecting the well-being of children, youth, and families in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. UCPC works with foundations, legislators, journalists, and the executive branch of state government to provide scientific information to help improve child and family policy and program results in Pennsylvania. I consult through monthly conference calls and bimonthly meetings in Harrisburg.
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Recent Grants
- PhotoVoice Project, $8,000, from the Howard Heinz Endowment.
- Russian Orphanage Playground Project, $11,000, from a private sponsor.
- Long-Term Effects of Early Social-Emotiaonl Experience,(Co-PI), $2,216,592 from NICHD
- Howard Heinz Endowment to the University of Pittsburgh Office of Child Development, to provide core services of dissemination, training, and networking in areas pertaining to children, youth, and families, $500,000.
- Howard Heinz Endowment, $93,744, for the Senator Heinz Memorial
- Latin American Orphanage Project - Whole Child International, $135,940.
- Richard King Mellon Foundation to the University of Pittsburgh Office of Child Development, to provide core services of dissemination, training, and networking in areas pertaining to children, youth, and families, $150,000.
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Recent Collaborative Efforts
- Research or Scholarship
- A collaboration between researchers at Leiden University, Netherlands and the University of Pittsburgh Office of Child Development to review issues related to institutionalized children.
- Co-authored book chapter with Joan Eichman (University of Pittsburgh Department of Public Health and GSPIA).
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