Chun Chen of the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology at UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School won the 2019-20 International Center for School-Based Youth Development Award for Student Leadership in School-Based Research.
Chen successfully defended her dissertation this May, and will have an internship at the Santa Barbara Psychology Internship Consortium during 2020-21. Her Ph.D. featured an emphasis in school psychology, and she worked with Dr. Chunyan Yang. She received her bachelor’s in psychology from the University of Pittsburgh and her master’s from Vanderbilt University. Her research is grounded in a contextual view of development; she is particularly interested in cross-cultural variation. Chen primarily focuses on bullying and victimization, prosocial behavior, and school intervention. Her secondary research interests focus on cross-cultural psychology and Asian/Asian American psychology.
This award is presented to a student who has demonstrated leadership in school-based research. Their project must address the mission of the International Center for School-Based Youth Development (iCSBYD), which is to engage in research that informs educators how to enhance school engagement and thereby promote all students’ social and academic competence.
The award is funded by a donation from alumna Sunny Crandell made to Drs. Michael Furlong and Jill Sharkey to support their research, leading them to create a $100 annual cash prize for deserving graduate students.
iCYSBD is a community of researchers devoted to developing a better understanding of the role of school engagement as a protective force in children's lives that promotes academic, social, emotional, and physical well-being. The team, Dr. Matt Quirk (Director), Dr. Erin Dowdy, Dr. Erika Felix, Dr. Michael Furlong, Dr. Karen Nylund-Gibson, Dr. Jill Sharkey, and Antoniya Terzieva, and is based in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology at UCSB’s Gevirtz School. The Center was formed in 2002 through the Gevirtz Funds for Excellence through the generosity of Ambassador Don Gevirtz and his wife, Marilyn Gevirtz.