meet the experts
Scott Coltrane
Scott Coltrane is a sociologist whose research focuses on families, gender, and social inequality. He completed his undergraduate studies at Yale University and the University of California, Santa Cruz, and received M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is Professor of Sociology and Associate Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at UC Riverside, Associate Director of the UCR Center for Family Studies, recipient of the UCR Distinguished Teaching Award, and past President of the Pacific Sociological Association. Coltrane is the author of Family Man: Fatherhood, Housework, and Gender Equity (Oxford University Press, 1996), winner of the American Library Association CHOICE Outstanding Academic Book Award. He is also author of Gender and Families (Sage, 1998), coauthor (with Randall Collins) of Sociology of Marriage and the Family: Gender Love and Property (Wadsworth, 2001), and Editor of Families and Society (Wadsworth, 2004). His research has been published in various scholarly journals, including the American Journal of Sociology, Social Problems, Sociological Perspectives, Journal of Marriage and the Family, Journal of Family Issues, Family Relations, Gender & Society, Sex Roles; and Masculinities, as well as in book chapters (e.g., Men in Families, Fatherhood, Men's Lives, Theorizing Masculinities, Men, Work, & Family, Contemporary Parenting, Gender Stratification, Work and Family, and Working Families). His most recent NIH-funded research projects investigate the impact of economic stress and the meaning of fatherhood and step-fatherhood in Mexican American and European American families.
Linda Nielsen
Linda Nielsen is a nationally recognized expert on father-daughter relationships, especially divorced fathers and their daughters. She is a professor of Adolescent Psychology and Women's Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston Salem, NC. Since 1991 she has been teaching the only college course in the country devoted exclusively to father-daughter relationships. Her research has been published in various scholarly journals and book chapters, as well as a PBS documentary, NPR, more than 400 newspapers and radio shows, and magazines such as PTA's Our Children. Her most recent book, Embracing Your Father: How to Build the Relationship You Always Wanted with Your Dad ( McGraw Hill, 2004), presents the most recent research and practical advice for adult daughters who want to rebuild or strengthen their relationships with their fathers. Her web site provides research, resources and advice for practitioners and for families.
Ralph LaRossa
Ralph LaRossa is Professor of Sociology at Georgia State University. He is the author of Conflict and Power in Marriage: Expecting the First Child; Transition to Parenthood: How Infants Change Families (with Maureen Mulligan LaRossa); Becoming a Parent; and The Modernization of Fatherhood: A Social and Political History (selected by Choice as an "Outstanding Academic Book"). He also is the editor of Family Case Studies: A Sociological Perspective, and a co-editor of the Sourcebook of Family Theories and Methods: A Contextual Approach (with Pauline Boss, William Doherty, Walter Schumm, and Suzanne Steinmetz). He has received grants from the National Science Foundation (principal investigator) and National Institutes of Health (co-investigator) in support of research on the history of fatherhood during the Machine Age (1918-1941) and on the experience of becoming a father in contemporary society. His most recent publications have focused on the history of fatherhood in post World II America; the transition to parenthood in contemporary society; the social meaning of fatherhood and the symbolism in the game of playing catch; the changing culture of fatherhood in Sunday comic strips; the history of Father's Day and Mother's Day; the social reconstruction of childhood in the early twentieth century; and the theorizing process in qualitative family research. He currently is writing a book on American fatherhood during and after the Second World War.
Jessica DeGroot
Jessica DeGroot is one of the nation’s leading figures in the work/life field. Passionately committed to educating others about work and family issues and how these impact organizations, communities, parents and children, Jessica founded the ThirdPath Institute, a nonprofit with the mission of providing individuals and organizations practical information for developing integrated work-life solutions. Jessica has been featured in national and local newspapers and radio shows, including Working Mother magazine, Fast Company magazine, the National Public Radio show The Parents Journal, and a number of local and regional cable and television shows. Jessica received her MBA from the Wharton School in 1994, where she was co-founder of the Wharton Work/Life Roundtable. She has been published in The Harvard Business Review, Sloan Work and Family Encyclopedia, The American Woman 2003-2004, and is co-author of the Wharton Work/Life Resource Guide. Jessica and her husband live in Philadelphia and share in the care of their two children.
