Alumna Dr. Autumn Bermea Receives 2019 NCFR Student Award

Dr. Autumn Bermea, a 2019 graduate from the Family Science and Human Development department, recently received the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) 2019 Student Award, which is given to an NCFR graduate student member who has demonstrated excellence as a student and shows great potential for contributing to Family Science.

Dr. Bermea is a Dean’s Diversity Postdoctoral Fellow at the Ohio State University College of Education and Human Ecology. Her research interests include intimate partner violence in queer relationships, and she received grant funding from the Clinical Research Institute at Smith College School for Social Work to study best practices when working with queer survivors.

Dr. Lyndal Khaw, Department Chair of Family Science and Human Development, nominated Dr. Bermea for the award and praised her exemplary qualifications, noting that her curriculum vitae as a graduate student looks like one you might anticipate from an established tenure-track faculty member: “[Dr. Bermea] has a clearly articulated research program, strong research and teaching skills, an incredible record of publications and presentations, knowledge of the discipline, and commitment to community engagement and to the professional field of Family Science.”

Dr. Bermea will be recognized for her achievement at the 2019 NCFR Annual Conference, November 20-23, 2019 in Fort Worth, Texas.

In addition to this award, Dr. Bermea also received a Best Paper from a Feminist Perspective award from the same organization.

Dr. Bermea’s dissertation was titled, Queer Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence: Developing Queer Theory and Practice for Responsive Service Provision. Dr. Bermea’s dissertation advisor was Dr. Brad van Eeden-Moorefield.