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April 8, 2021
A statement about the future of Open Circle, our social and emotional learning program.
March 30, 2021
Panelists discussed how the Biden-Harris administration can support the child care industry.
March 25, 2021
This study found that young adolescents who reported greater negative attitudes toward their body image checked their social media more frequently.
March 17, 2021
Our statement on the senseless killings of eight people in Atlanta.
March 9, 2021
Panelists discussed what the Biden-Harris administration has done so far and what still needs to be done to support educators and students.
March 8, 2021
Research Scientist Autumn Green, M.Ed., Ph.D., spoke at a hearing of the Oregon State Senate Committee on Education about a proposed bill to collect and report data on college students who are parents.
February 24, 2021
A recently published journal article explores social media’s role in influencing adolescents' attitudes toward body image.
February 9, 2021
Nora Pearce, a Wellesley College student in the class of 2022, discusses research findings from a journal article she co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Grossman.
December 15, 2020
Senior Research Scientist Linda Charmaraman, Ph.D., has been appointed as Forbes Ignite’s new Scientific Advisor.
December 2, 2020
Senior Research Scientist and Associate Director Nancy L. Marshall, Ed.D., who is retiring after 35 years at the Wellesley Centers for Women, took a moment to reflect on her experiences.
November 11, 2020
Our Work, Families & Children Research Group will examine how nonstandard and/or unpredictable work schedules make it difficult for low-income parents to access quality child care.
November 5, 2020
The Youth, Media & Wellbeing Research Lab shares findings from a study of middle school students' social media use.
November 2, 2020
A new study finds that the quantity of social technology use, type of content viewed, and social context is significantly related to later bedtimes and less sleep for early adolescents.
October 28, 2020
Panelists discussed how they advance racial justice in their work at WCW and shared ways that participants can take steps in their own lives to dismantle systemic racism.
October 27, 2020
The written testimony of Kamilah Drummond-Forrester, M.A., CAGS, presented to the Boston City Council Committee on Education.
October 22, 2020
Layli Maparyan, Ph.D., moderated a discussion panel on women's suffrage.
October 19, 2020
Experts from WCW discussed the unique ways COVID-19 is impacting women's work-life balance, economic opportunities, and mental wellbeing during this virtual panel.
October 8, 2020
The Path 2 Purpose campaign aims to help teens cope during the COVID-19 pandemic.
October 6, 2020
The Jacob Bluestein Foundation awarded a $15,000 gift to the Wellesley Centers for Women to support the Higher Education Access for Student Parents Research Initiative.
August 13, 2020
Georgia Hall, Ph.D., of WCW was part of a virtual panel composed of three leading national organizations in the out-of-school time quality improvement, coaching, and measurement space that facilitated discussion about virtual summer and afterschool programs.
September 29, 2020
Jennifer Grossman, Ph.D., received a grant from the NIH to study whether fathers’ communication with their teenage children can protect teens from risky sexual behavior.
September 24, 2020
Six Wellesley College students recently began internships through the Class of 1967 Internship Program at the Wellesley Centers for Women.
August 25, 2020
WCW Visiting Scholar Karen Craddock, Ph.D., spoke on a virtual panel hosted by Six Seconds on the topic of emotional complexity as it relates to oppression.
August 20, 2020
The Wellesley Centers for Women teamed up with the Wellesley College Computer Science Department to host a virtual workshop that helped adolescents explore their identities, introduced them to STEM concepts, and taught them about healthy social media use.
July 31, 2020
Two programs of the Wellesley Centers for Women collaborated to host a webinar that explored the roles of social technology and SEL in remote learning.
July 21, 2020
Kamilah Drummond-Forrester, M.A., CAGS, of Open Circle discussed equity in education during a webinar hosted by Six Seconds.
July 14, 2020
At a time when teens are particularly vulnerable to anxiety and depression, the new funding will allow an additional group of teens to participate in an ongoing prevention study.
July 13, 2020
The Youth, Media & Wellbeing Research Lab is looking for middle school students to participate in a free summer learning program that begins July 27.
July 6, 2020
Linda Charmaraman, Ph.D., presented on a virtual panel hosted by Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development.
June 2, 2020
Our statement on the anti-racism protests in response to the killing of George Floyd.
May 29, 2020
During the 2019-2020 academic year, Dhanya Nageswaran, a Wellesley College student in the class of 2021, worked with mentor Linda M. Williams, Ph.D., to study the ways colleges and universities respond to sexual assault on campus.
May 28, 2020
Jessica Abowitz, a Wellesley College student in the class of 2022, studied student activist movements against sexual harassment in K-12 schools with mentor Nan Stein, Ed.D., during the 2019-2020 academic year.
May 27, 2020
Ninotska Love, a Wellesley College student and Davis Scholar in the class of 2020, reflects on her internship with Wendy Robeson, Ed.D., during the 2019-2020 academic year.
May 26, 2020
A report on campus sexual assault by our Justice and Gender-Based Violence Research Initiative was published days before new Title IX rules were issued by the Department of Education.
May 26, 2020
Nora Pearce, a Wellesley College student in the class of 2022, reflects on her internship with Jennifer Grossman, Ph.D., during the 2019-2020 academic year.
May 14, 2020
Undergraduate student research assistant Katie Du reflects on her work with our Youth, Media & Wellbeing Research Lab, and her experience as an international student at Wellesley during a pandemic.
March 16, 2020
Our Work, Families, & Children Research Group assisted with a report on child care accessibility and affordability in Boston.
March 5, 2020
Hauwa Ibrahim, J.D., S.J.D., M.L., gave a keynote address during a celebration of International Women's Day at Wellesley College.
March 1, 2020
In celebration of Women’s History Month, we look back on the very first Women’s Review of Books.
February 26, 2020
During Black History Month, LaShawnda Lindsay, Ph.D., reflects on the Black women who have influenced her research and her life.
January 29, 2020
Senior Research Scientist Linda Charmaraman, Ph.D., served as a guest editor for a special issue of the Journal of Adolescent Research focused on adolescent and emerging adult development in an age of social media.
December 6, 2019
Members of the WCW community gathered at the Wellesley College Club in November 2019 to celebrate the publication of a new book by activist and changemaker Peggy McIntosh, Ph.D.
November 26, 2019
The Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesley Club of Atlanta, and The Lola, a women-focused coworking space, joined together in Atlanta, GA, in November 2019 to discuss women's entrepreneurship, the gender pay gap, and work-life balance.
November 14, 2019
Karen Craddock, Ph.D., shares findings from a case study centering the voices of women with Black-Indigenous American ancestry.
November 13, 2019
Visiting Scholar Karen Craddock, Ph.D., participated in a symposium in Washington, D.C., on religion, spirituality, and mental health for youth of color.
October 17, 2019
Jonathan F. Zaff, Ph.D discusses young people’s need for a “web of support.”
October 3, 2019
Dr. Linda Charmaraman, Wellesley’s Professor Catherine Delcourt, and student researchers discuss their efforts to design an app that promotes healthy social media use in middle school students.
September 20, 2019
Throughout the 2019-2020 academic year, five Wellesley College students will gain hands-on social science research experience and mentorship from a WCW research scientist through the Class of 1967 Internship Program.
September 19, 2019
Scholars discuss their journey in designing and implementing a science and art education program for students in Nigeria.
July 29, 2019
Dr. Linda Charmaraman turned her research into action when she co-led a workshop teaching middle schoolers to use social media in healthy ways.
July 3, 2019
Senior research scientist Jennifer Grossman, Ph.D., explains why having open conversations among family members about sex, dating, and relationships can help protect teens from risky sexual behavior.
June 26, 2019
Sari Pekkala Kerr, Ph.D., economist and senior research scientist, testified before the U.S. House Committee on the Budget at a hearing on the economic benefits of immigration.
April 18, 2019
Researchers look at what has and hasn't changed for gender equality in college basketball over the last ten years.
March 29, 2019
Jennifer Grossman, Ph.D., and Wellesley College student Anmol Nagar '21 discuss how conversations between teens and extended family can prevent teens' risky sexual behavior.
March 21, 2019
A DOJ-funded study from our Justice and Gender-Based Violence Research Initiative highlights the striking number of sexual assault cases that never lead to an arrest or trial.
March 15, 2019
Hauwa Ibrahim discusses her hands-on work to tame the rising tide of extremism while fostering a culture of peace.
March 12, 2019
Researchers from the National Institute on Out-of-School Time examine workforce trends in the afterschool and out-of-school time field.
March 1, 2019
Three Wellesley students share what they enjoy about working at WCW.
January 30, 2019
Linda Charmaraman, Ph.D., discusses the effects of online video game Fortnite on teen health and wellbeing.
November 23, 2018
Afterschool Matters reflects on the out-of-school time field's ability to provide students with experiences outside of the classroom that give them opportunities to stretch their skills, grow friendships, and challenge limits.
November 15, 2018
In this November 2018 lunchtime seminar led by LaShawnda Lindsay, Ph.D., and Wellesley College student Vei Vei Thomas '21, participants examined how respectability politics influence the lived experiences of girls from diverse cultural backgrounds.
October 25, 2018
Linda Charmaraman,Ph.D., director of the Youth, Media & Wellbeing Research Lab, and her student research assistants shared findings from two research projects - a 2016 post-election survey on media and identity, which had over 1500 participants, and a 2017-18 study on early adolescent social media use and wellbeing.
October 17, 2018
NIH awarded WCW $450,000 over three years to study social media use of early adolescents while providing Wellesley College students with hands-on research opportunities.
October 15, 2018
Linda Charmaraman, Ph.D., spoke on a panel during the Digital Media and Developing Minds Conference.
October 4, 2018
Autumn Green, Ph.D., and Sarah Galison discuss the unique challenges faced by students with children, particularly those who are low-income, single parents, and women of color, and share results from the nation's first comprehensive research study on student parents programs.
September 27, 2018
During her time as president of Wellesley College, Barbara Newell, Ph.D., an economist and ardent advocate for women's education and economic equity, founded what would later become the Wellesley Centers for Women. She shares the story of its founding during the September 2018 Lunchtime Seminar.
September 19, 2018
Jennifer Baumgardner, editor of Women's Review of Books shares themes and highlights from the September/October 2018 issue of the publication.
September 18, 2018
The Wellesley Centers for Women will partner with University of Illinois at Chicago on a $7 million, multi-year project to evaluate and compare depression prevention programs for teens.
September 6, 2018
Linda Charmaraman, Ph.D., and Jennifer Grossman, Ph.D., both of the Wellesley Centers for Women, and their colleague Megan Moreno, M.D., of the University of Wisconsin, discuss young adolescents’ use of social media.
August 22, 2018
Researchers at WCW investigate and eliminate cultural biases in assessment tool to ensure that results accurately indicate the quality level of youth afterschool educational programs.
June 27, 2018
Georgia Hall, Ph.D., director of the National Institute on Out-of-School Time at WCW, explains how research informs the afterschool field.
June 26, 2018
The National AfterSchool Association (NAA), the lead organization for the advancement of the afterschool professional, has selected the National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST) as one of NAA’s 2018 Most Influential in Research and Evaluation. Honorees are distinguished for their contributions to research and evaluation on youth and adolescent development.
August 6, 2018
Self care, rejuvenation, creativity, and empowerment were promoted throughout the Women of Color Conference held in partnership by WCW and The Home for Little Wanderers in June 2018 at Wellesley College.
June 18, 2018
WCW staff member Dana Rudolph '88 and award-winning journalist Katie Couric were recognized for their commitment to the LGBTQ community.
June 13, 2018
Summer isn’t just about basketball hoops, sprinkler parks, and popsicles. It’s an ideal time to help adolescents and children catch up on building their reading, writing, and math skills.
May 23, 2018
Six Wellesley College students have been accepted to a hands-on social science research internship program at the Wellesley Centers for Women during the 2018-2019 academic year.
May 16, 2018
For Tanushree Mohan '18, getting involved with WCW during her four years at Wellesley College gave her tremendous opportunities. This year she was awarded The Morse Fellowship, an endowed WCW internship, and is studying under Dr. Sari Kerr.
May 14, 2018
For Wellesley College student Tabia Smith '19, working in communications at WCW is a way to explore her passions for social justice while developing technical skills, like video production and social media management.
May 10, 2018
As many as 13–20 percent of adolescents in the U.S. and other developed countries experience minor or major depressive episodes each year, according to Tracy Gladstone, Ph.D., a senior research scientist at the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW). To address this problem, Gladstone developed a unique intervention, which she discussed during this May 2018 Lunchtime Seminar presentation.
May 10, 2018
The Wellesley Centers for Women is mourning the death of Deborah Holmes, Chair of the WCW Council of Advisors and a passionate activist committed to the lives of women, people of color, equity, and social justice across the world.
May 9, 2018
What is it like to work at the Wellesley Centers for Women? You're surrounded by activists, social justice workers, and researchers, says Kamaria Kaalund '20.
May 7, 2018
Elinor Higgins '18 has been working at the Wellesley Centers for Women since her first year at Wellesley College. While at WCW, she says she had access to great mentors that created a very supportive environment throughout her undergraduate career.
May 4, 2018
In this May 2018 Lunchtime Seminar Spring Series, renowned human rights scholar Rangita de Silva de Alwis, S.J.D., discussed the challenges to reforming child marriage laws.
April 26, 2018
In this April 2018 Lunchtime Seminar presentation, Jim Strouse, a program manager at Open Circle, provided data and analysis of those resources along with an overview of the emerging research in the field of gratitude in education.
April 24, 2018
The newest issue of Afterschool Matters, the national, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to promoting professionalism, scholarship, and consciousness in the field of afterschool education, reflects on the field’s commitment to the value of the life of every student, in school and out—a timely focus as youth and young adults rally for safety and equity nationwide and educators strive to provide the highest quality environments that encourage learning and growth.
April 23, 2018
Most research about family sexuality communication has focused on teens and their parents, but Dr. Jennifer Grossman is including conversations with extended family members to understand how they can help teens make smarter decisions about dating, sex, and relationships.
April 19, 2018
In this April 2018 lunchtime seminar, members of WCW's Justice and Gender-Based Violence Research team presented new findings of a recent study of sexual assault case attrition, which discovered that that most cases of rape reported to the police do not result in prosecution -- in fact one in three cases with probable cause did not result in arrest.
April 12, 2018
In this April 2018 lunchtime seminar, Robbin Chapman, Ph.D. presented a developmental framework for equitable development, access, and opportunity for scholars across higher education.
March 21, 2018
Emmy Howe, M.Ed., of the National SEED Project, explains the systems of dominance and oppression that each of us face, and how to be a change agent in these spaces.
March 21, 2018
During the March 2018 United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, WCW hosted a parallel event during which panelists discussed how gender-focused research can support rural women and girls in Africa.
March 19, 2018
Does social media activism decrease in-person activism? Linda Charmaraman, Ph.D., discusses this in relation to the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
March 19, 2018
Tracy Gladstone, Ph.D., explains the cultural shift in mental health conversations within communities.
March 5, 2018
The Wellesley Centers for Women and Old City Publishing are pleased to announce that feminist writer and activist Jennifer Baumgardner has been named editor in chief of Women’s Review of Books, the long-running publication that provides a forum for serious, informed discussion of new writing by and about women.
March 5, 2018
In this March 2018 lunchtime seminar, focused on women in NCAA basketball, a team of researchers explored the social discrimination, policy, and bureaucratic issues that impede women's recognition and success within the organization.
February 22, 2018
Director of Open Circle Kamilah Drummond-Forrester, explains the importance of social and emotional learning (SEL) for students.
February 20, 2018
LaShawnda Lindsay, Ph.D., discusses her research, which examined the population of Black women in STEM fields.
January 10, 2018
Wellesley College students share what they've gained from working with a WCW research scientist mentor.
January 8, 2018
Linda M. Williams, Ph.D., discusses how one of her major findings changed how we understand memory loss and childhood trauma.
Research & Action Annual Report 2017
While not always a pressing domestic priority for all Americans, early childhood care and education (ECCE) for young children has been in the forefront for many working families for decades. In order to work or go to school or training, parents need someone to watch their young children before they are old enough to go to school. Sixty-one percent of children under the age of five are in some type of regular ECCE arrangement, and ECEE serves dual purposes. It not only allows parents to be employed or be in school or training, it also helps prepare children for school and academic success—this is especially true for children from families with low incomes. Even quality afterschool care or out-of-school-time care for school-age children can be hard to obtain. Finding the kind of care mothers and fathers want for their children and then learning they can’t afford it has broken many parents’ hearts and budgets. What are they to do?
January 3, 2018
Georgia Hall, Ph.D., explains the importance of healthy eating and physical activity for kids.