News & Events

News: 2018 A Cross-Cultural Examination of Female Bodies & Behaviors October 22, 2018 Research scientist LaShawnda Lindsay-Dennis, Ph.D., will lead an interactive body image discussion. Read more... NIH Awards Wellesley Centers for Women Funding to Promote Undergraduate Research 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. Read more... Wellesley College Researchers to Share Findings on Digital Citizenship and Health October 1, 2018 Linda Charmaraman, Ph.D., and members of the WCW Youth, Media & Wellbeing Research Lab will share updates of two works in progress surrounding the 2016 U.S. presidential election and teen social media use. Read more... Wellesley Centers for Women to Partner with University of Illinois at Chicago on $7 Million Depression Prevention Research Study September 18, 2018 The Wellesley Centers for Women will partner with...

News: 2017 Leadership Changes at the National Institute on Out-of-School Time For Immediate Release: December 14, 2017 Read more... Life in the Trump Era: A Look at Gender, Culture, and Civic Engagement For Immediate Release: November 6, 2017 Read more... A Call for Research on Growing Health Issue: Children and Screen Time For Immediate Release: November 1, 2017 Read more... Reading From a Novel by Amy Hoffman: The Off Season For Immediate Release: October 16, 2017 Read more... Our Plural Selves: No Cause for Feelings of Fraudulence For Immediate Release: October 2, 2017 Read more... The National Afterschool Matters 2017-2019 Fellowship Begins For Immediate Release: September 26, 2017 Read more... Wellesley College Students Bring Science Education to Ghana For Immediate Release: September 25, 2017 Read more... Open Circle Announces the Appointment of New Director and Staff For Immediate Release: September 25, 2017 Read more... Motoko Maegawa and Ruth Mendoza named National SEED...

News: 2016 Black Girls Matter: Social Change Through Research, Practice, and Policy For Immediate Release: October 24, 2016 Read more... Physician Incentives and Health Care Delivery in the U.S. For Immediate Release: October 17, 2016 Read more... Deciphering the Code: Girls in the STEM Pipeline For Immediate Release: October 10, 2016 Read more... Teens and Depression: Snapshot of a High-School-Based Intervention For Immediate Release: September 19, 2016 Read more... Advancing Early Childhood Education Policy in the U.S. For Immediate Release: September 12, 2016 Read more... The CARE Program: Integrating Science into the Art of Therapy For Immediate Release: May 9, 2016 Read more... Who Do You Think You Are: Moving Beyond Words to Re-write Our Racial Narrative For Immediate Release: May 2, 2016 Read more... Let’s Talk About Sex – Conversations between Teens and Parents For Immediate Release: April 25, 2016 Read more... Dot and Ralfie – A Reading from a Novel in Progress For...

News: 2015 Innovative Research Findings Help Meet Diverse Needs of Afterschool Programming For Immediate Release: December 11, 2015 Read more... NIOST to Partner on Afterschool and Summer Enrichment For Immediate Release: November 2, 2015 Read more... Risk and Resilience of Online Social Media Relationships For Immediate Release: October 14, 2015 Read more... Preventing Depression in Women Recovering from Fistula Repair Surgery For Immediate Release: October 6, 2015  Read more... Family Responses to the CATCH-IT Depression Intervention Study For Immediate Release: April 23, 2015 Read more... Capitals, Cultures, Cognitions: An Interactive Peek into Social Class as a Worldview For Immediate Release: April 9, 2015 Read more... Communications About Sex in the Nuclear Family and Beyond: How Extended Families Support Teens' Sexual Health For Immediate Release: April 2, 2015 Read more... Latest Issue of Women’s Review of Books Explores Autism and Gender For Immediate Release: March 20,...

News: 2014 U.N. CSW Parallel Event: How Research Advances Social Change for Women and Girls For immediate release: March 4, 2014 Read more... Open Circle in Uganda: Planting the Seeds of Social and Emotional Learning For Immediate Release: October 30, 2014 Read more... Why Are Middle School Kids in the White House Report on Ending Campus Sexual Assault? For Immediate Release: October 23, 2014 Read more... WCW Research Shows Effectiveness of PPLM Middle School Sex Ed Program For Immediate Release: October 20, 2014 Read more... The Competitive Edge: How Do Corporate Recruiters Evaluate Collegiate Varsity Athletes? For Immediate Release: October 9, 2014 Read more... Televised and Social Media: Promoting Healthy Wellbeing for Vulnerable Youth For Immediate Release: October 2, 2014 Read more... From 40 to 50: A Roadmap to WCW’s Half Century Mark For Immediate Release: September 18, 2014 Read more... Photo Op: 6/4 -- MA Ed Secty Malone to Visit Weston School to See Students in Open...

News: 2013 and Earlier Criminal justice reform at pre-trial stage discussed at public meeting 11/13 For Immediate Release: November 7, 2013 Read more... Summer Slide: Not Your Average Playground (Free Lunchtime Seminar) For Immediate Release: October 24, 2013 Read more... Stereotypes, Stigma, and Status: Results from the Adolescent Media & Identity Project (Free Lunchtime Seminar) For Immediate Release: October 17, 2013 Read more... Womanism, Relationality and Culture lecture at Wellesley College October 18 For Immediate Release: October 8, 2013 Read more... Parental Leave Legislation and Women's Work: A Story of Unequal Opportunities (Lunchtime Seminar) For Immediate Release: October 10, 2013 Read more... Women in Africa: Where is the Wasted Potential? (Free Lunchtime Seminar) For Immediate Release: October 3, 2013 Read more... A Reading from a Chapter of Hoffman's Novel-in-progress, The Off Season (Free Lunchtime Seminar) For Immediate Release: September 26, 2013 Read more...

Dr. Charmaraman, director  on 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. 

Wellesley Underground, October, 29 2018

October 22, 2018 Research scientist LaShawnda Lindsay-Dennis, Ph.D., will lead an interactive body image discussion.

Dr. Phil, October 18, 2018

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.

OnMilwaukee, October 14, 2018 By Gwen Rice

Boston Globe, October 13, 2018 By Kara Baskin

On 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, gave a presentation on young adolescents’ use of social media.

Variety, October 11, 2018 By Gene Maddaus

The Wellesley News, October 8, 2018 By Erin Kelly

In this October 2018 lunchtime seminar, Autumn Green, Ph.D and Sarah Galison discuss the unique challenges faced by students with children, particular 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.

Education Week, October 4, 2018 By Nan Stein and Bruce Taylor

Daily Shot, October 4, 2018 By Wellesley College

October 1, 2018 Linda Charmaraman, Ph.D., and members of the WCW Youth, Media & Wellbeing Research Lab will share updates of two works in progress surrounding the 2016 U.S. presidential election and teen social media use.

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.

HuffPost, September 27, 2018 By Angelina Chapin

NBC 10 Boston, September 24, 2018 By Alison King

Voice of OC, September, 21 2018 By Paul Hodgins

Vox, CEPR Policy Portal, September, 21 2018 By Sari Pekkala Kerr and William Kerr

(01:25 min.)

European Business Review, September 18, 2018 By Ineke Ceder and Sumru Erkut

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.

Daily Nigerian, September 12, 2018 By Ibrahim Sha’ban

September 10, 2018 Dr. Autumn Green will share findings from her research on student-parent programs in higher education.

September 4, 2018 Dr. Newell will share her motivation for founding the Centers and her reflections on its social change work over the last 50 years.

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.

Washington Post, July 1, 2018 By Laura Pappano

The New York Times, June 5, 2018 By Laura Pappano

1A, May 15, 2018 By Joshua Johnson

The Boston Globe, May 12, 2018 By Jennifer Grossman

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

What is it like to work at the Wellesley Centers for Women? You're surrounded by activists, social justice workers, and researchers, according to Kamaria Kaalund '20.

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.

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. 

Inter Press Service, May 2, 2018 By Rangita de Silva de Alwis

Bay State Parent, April 30, 2018 By Joan Goodchild

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.

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.

Care2, April 19, 2018 By Lauren Longo

April 16, 2018 Renowned human rights scholar to visit Wellesley College to discuss challenges to reforming child marriage laws.

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. 

Howlround, April 9, 2018 By Sara Brookner

New York Times, April 9, 2018 By Claire Cain Miller

Diverse Issues in Higher Education, April 8, 2018 By Nichole Margarita Garcia

April 2, 2018 Wellesley College program manager will discuss emerging research on gratitude in elementary school classrooms.

Christian Science Monitor, March 30, 2018 By Laura Pappano

Sydney Morning Herald, March 27, 2018 By Jane Gilmore

Here, 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 26, 2018 Wellesley College research scientist to discuss changes in the justice system response to sexual assault over the last four decades.

APPS Policy Forum, March 23, 2018 By Author

Does social media activism decrease in-person activism? Linda Charmaraman, Ph.D., discusses this in relation to the 2016 U.S. presidential election. 

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.

Tracy Gladstone, Ph.D., explains the cultural shift in mental health conversations within communities.

March 19, 2018 Robbin Chapman, Ph.D., higher education educator and strategist, will discuss the Thrive Mosaic.

Daily Californian, March 15, 2018 By Alicia Sadowski

Washington Post, March 13, 2018 By Laura Pappano

Hechinger Report, March 12, 2018 By Laura Pappano

Wellesley News, March 7, 2018 By Kendall Smith

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.

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. 

Forbes, February 27, 2018 By Robb Mandelbaum

Director of Open Circle Kamilah Drummond-Forrester, explains the importance of social and emotional learning (SEL) for students.

LaShawnda Lindsay-Dennis, Ph.D., discusses her research, which examined the population of Black women in STEM fields.

February 19, 2018 Wellesley College research scientist to discuss internet-based approach to depression prevention.

February 12, 2018 Team of Wellesley College faculty, researchers, and student to lead discussion.

Variety, February 7, 2018 By Mary McColl

Star Tribune, February 1, 2018 By Chris Hewitt

Washington Post, February 4, 2018 By Robert J. Samuelson

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 2, 2018 By Bo Emerson

BroadwayWorld, February 1, 2018 By BWW News Desk

RealClearMarkets, January 8, 2018 By Ray Keating

Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation, January 31, 2018 By Kira Taj

Wellesley College students share what they've gained from working with a WCW research scientist mentor.

Harvard Business Review, January 8, 2018 By Ineke Ceder and Sumru Erkut, Ph.D.

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? 

Georgia Hall, Ph.D., explains the importance of healthy eating and physical activity for kids.

Opinion 2018 Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW) researchers, program staff, and guest authors draw on their experiences and scholarship to reflect on issues of particular importance to women, children, and families. Their opinions are occasionally expressed through letters to the editor and commentaries submitted to media outlets. The selections below reflect the personal reflections and commentaries of the contributing authors.

Recent coverage - 2018 Wellesley Centers for Women researchers, program staff, and projects are often featured in news stories by regional, national, and international media outlets. Included on this page are summaries of some of the recent and past coverage for 2018. Click this year's date in the box to the right for a full listing of coverage, not just the most recent clippings below.

Research Scientist LaShawnda Lindsay-Dennis, Ph.D., explains why we need more diverse dolls that show different skin tones, eye shapes, and hair textures.

HowlRound, December 13, 2017 By Ineke Ceder and Catherine Mueller

For Immediate Release: December 14, 2017

Sari Kerr, Ph.D., economist and senior research scientist at WCW, explains how marriage affects the gender wage gap.

Chronicle on WCVB-5, December 6, 2017 Produced by Nina Varghese