Sense of Belonging A Powerful Fundamental Human Need

Associate Professor Kimberly Bender serves as Associate Dean for Doctoral Education. Her recent research includes a study of gender-specific pathways from childhood maltreatment to juvenile delinquency among youth in the child welfare system. Bender's research aims to improve services and develop empirically based interventions for adolescents at risk of problem behavior. She recently contributed to an intervention research project on methods for engaging runaway youth in substance-use treatment funded by the National Institute for Drug Abuse.