The National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) conferred the prestigious status of fellow upon Illinois State University’s Dr. Ani Yazedjian. Currently serving as acting provost for Illinois State, Yazedjian is a University Professor in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences.
“Dr. Yazedjian has contributed significantly to family science through her service, research, and leadership,” noted the NCFR announcement of her fellow status. “Her integration of teaching, research, and outreach has meaningfully impacted youth and families.” The NCFR lauded Yazedjian, saying “As a leader in administrative roles among family health and policy professionals, she has benefited Family Science scholars nationwide.” Read the full announcement.
The National Council on Family Relations, the premiere professional association for the multidisciplinary understanding of families, has a membership of nearly 3,000 family researchers, practitioners, and educators. NCFR Fellows, which can only make up three percent of the membership, are nominated by their peers and are selected by the NCFR Fellows Committee.
Yazedjian’s early research contributed to ethnic identity development among adolescents. More recently, her scholarship, funded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Healthy Marriage/Responsible Fatherhood initiative, has transformed the discipline through collaborative partnerships with local high schools. Through this initiative, trained professionals facilitated weekly group discussions about relationship education, job readiness, and financial literacy in schools for the purpose of developing adolescents’ life skills.
The NCFR announcement praised Yazedjian for her “profound and sustained contributions” to the council, making note of her leadership of the Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Families Section, and efforts to engage NCFR members, “from developing a fundraiser for the creation of travel awards to co-sponsoring sessions, to making the elections process more equitable and expanding awareness, which only diversifies NCFR that much more.”
Yazedjian will be recognized as a new fellow at the 2023 NCFR Annual Conference in November.
