Joan I. Vondra received her Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University in 1986. She is an Associate Professor of Psychology in Education at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests are in the development of competence among children at social and demographic risk for later school problems and failure.


Douglas Barnett received his Ph.D. from University of Rochester in 1993. He is Associate Professor of Psychology at Wayne State University in Detroit. His research interests include parenting and interventions that promote the development of health attachments and sense of self among children at high risk for socioemotional and scholastic problems.