Engaged Faculty in the News
Over the past few days, two of our faculty (one active, one retired) have been the subject of major stories in the StarTribune.
Marti Erickson was featured (see http://www.startribune.com/389/story/457518.html because she and her daughter have just started a call-in radio show, "Good Enough Moms". Marti is no stranger to the media. In addition to her distinguished career as founding Director of the Children, Youth and Family Consortium and her current status as Professor of Child Development and Co-Chair of the President’s Initiative on Children, Youth and Families, her biography at The Center of Excellence in Children's Mental Health says
In addition to a busy schedule of public speaking, Marti appears regularly on television as the child and family expert on the KARE-11 (NBC) Today Show and Sunrise Show. She also writes music and is lead vocalist with Free Spirit, performing at professional conferences and community events to raise awareness about child and family issues.From 1994 to 2001 Marti worked closely with former Vice President Al Gore and his wife Tipper to help coordinate their series of annual family policy conferences(Family Re-Union) and related activities. She serves on several nonprofit boards, including Prevent Child Abuse America, the National Institute on Media and the Family, and the National Council on Family Relations. During her career Marti has received many awards from state and national organizations, most recently the Minnesota Psychological Association’s 2003 Outstanding Contribution to Psychology Award and the 2003 Distinguished Best Practices Award from the Minnesota School Psychologists Association.
Gerry Neubeck, retired as one of our most distinguished faculty in Family Social Science, was featured (see http://www.startribune.com/120/story/461546.html because as a 17-year-old Jewish boy in Nazi Germany, he nearly qualified for the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games in the 3000m run. His story is told in an exhibit developed by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and currently on display at the Minnesota Historical Society, "NAZI OLYMPICS Berlin 1936".
Neubeck and his family left Germany in the late 1930s and emigrated to the United States, where after completing his studies he became a leader in the fields of human sexuality and marriage therapy. According to the Winter 2004 issue of the Family Social Science publication, Interactions, "In the 1960s he taught the first college course on human sexuality. Profiled in Look magazine, this course gained Dr. Neubeck scores of attention for his work. He’s credited for being the first to use group sessions for marriage therapy and also was the first to pen a book on the topic of extramarital affairs." In retirement, he's been an active, published poet.
Erickson and Neubeck are both leaders in their academic fields, but they have had the energy and talent to extend beyond academia - in very different ways - to engage with the broader concerns of society.