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Awardee Jane Lanigan with WSU Vancouver Chancellor
Mel Netzhammer. |
VANCOUVER, Wash. – A researcher of children’s health and family wellbeing is the recipient of the annual Washington State University Vancouver Chancellor’s Award for Research Excellence.
Jane Lanigan, associate professor of human development, focuses on supporting the professional development of family home child care providers, researching the role of technology in family interaction and addressing childhood obesity through early intervention in childcare and family settings.
The Chancellor’s Award for Research Excellence is bestowed annually upon a WSU Vancouver faculty member whose research quality and quantity are exemplary and whose work has had a positive influence on the broader community.
Lannigan’s research often integrates with projects from WSU Extension where she co-directs professional development opportunities for educators, partners with Just in Time Parenting outreach and works on the national leadership team for the eXtension Alliance for Better Child Care.
“The vast majority of Lanigan’s research projects are participatory, community-based projects where stakeholders have input at all phases of the project,” said one of Lanigan’s nominators. “Such work is extremely difficult to conduct because it involves work with a large number of stakeholders.
“The faculty member must create projects that provide meaningful, evidence-based services to the stakeholders while contributing research to the larger discipline,” said the nominator. “Lanigan has been very successful in creating such partnerships.”
Her primary research projects include ENcouraging Healthy Activity and Eating in Child Care. She was lead researcher on the three-year pilot project in collaboration with community groups such as Educational Service District 112, Childcare Resource and Referral, Educational Opportunities for Children and Families, Clark College and the Kaiser Permanente Community Health Fund. The project has resulted in nationally recognized research on childhood obesity and healthy weight practices.
Her research has appeared in first lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” project, the United Nations International Congress on Diet and Activity Measurement and the National Head Start Research Conference. Her research served as the basis for a $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture aimed at developing a family-based program for preventing obesity in preschool children.
She has consistently shared her research with the community and has published extensively in scholarly journals since starting her tenure-track position in 2006.
“Dr. Lanigan’s research on the prevention of childhood obesity and the training of childcare workers has brought her recognition nationally and internationally as a key leader in this important academic field,” said Mel Netzhammer, chancellor at WSU Vancouver.