Greetings from beautiful Moscow where the cherry and crabapple trees are blushing all over campus and around town, and the Dr. Seuss-like Camperdown elms are showing off their newly emerging spring-green leaves. I miss being on campus. I miss hearing the Administration Building chimes. But most of all I miss our students!

No one could have predicted what we are all experiencing right now. No one could have guessed that we would all need to rapidly morph from in-person to online teaching and learning. These are unprecedented times in which we are living, and there remains substantial uncertainty regarding when (and if) we will ever go back to what we used to call “normal.”

But in this time of COVID-19, I have witnessed the strength, creativity and resilience that have forever defined the Margaret Ritchie School of Family and Consumer Sciences. Indeed, what we do has always been and will forever be powerful in the lives of individuals, families, communities and the world. Since the University of Idaho shuttered its doors right after spring break, I have observed our faculty, staff and students not just adjust and make do — but also shine. Here are but a few examples of the many silver linings I’ve seen come out of this incredibly challenging time.

Our teachers and interns in the Child Development Laboratory delivered creative and extremely well received daily distance programming to our preschoolers.
Apparel, textiles and design faculty (led by Chelsey Lewallen) designed a better face mask that actually fits. More on that story below.
Members of our Omicron Zeta chapter of Phi Upsilon Omicron produced an amazing website to provide families, children and others a timely collection of resources: https://uiphiupsilonomicron.weebly.com/.
Luke Erickson teamed up with UI Extension educators across the state to launch “Don’t Corona My Cash" online classes focused on finances during this pandemic.

Even my own research group asked what we could do during this pandemic, and we have teamed up with literally dozens of researchers around the globe to determine whether the SARS-CoV-2 virus can be passed from mother to infant via breastfeeding. We are currently recruiting, so if you know of infected breastfeeding women please send them our way (www.uidaho.edu/breastmilk).

I remain extremely grateful to lead this school, which has for over a century provided solid training that not only prepares our students to “live their best lives” but also to help others to do the same. What we do in family and consumer sciences is important. It is, indeed, timeless.

I hope you enjoy this edition of FCS Connections.

Shelley McGuire Sincerely,

Shelley McGuire
Director and Professor of Nutrition

Congratulations Graduates!

Congratulations and best wishes to the 34 FCS undergraduates and four graduates who will be wrapping up their studies at U of I in May:

Kawthar Alibrahim — apparel, textiles and design
Amanda Aske — child development and family relations
Chloe Bledsoe — early childhood development and education
Nicole Burch — food and nutrition, dietetics option
JoAnne Burke — early childhood development and education
Lillie Coleman — family development and aging
Kathleen Cox — apparel, textiles and design
Alisha Currier — food and nutrition
Mackenzie Danly — food and nutrition, nutrition option
Taylor Dunne — food and nutrition, dietetics option
Hannah Ferreyra — food and nutrition, dietetics option
Jordan Goins — child and youth development

Lindsay Gruwell — child and youth development
Lisa Hazeltine — early childhood development and education
Tasha Hetrick — food and nutrition
Myryda Johnson — child and youth development
Hailie Kuttler — food and nutrition
Kayla Lutz — food and nutrition
Andrew Martinez — family development and aging
Brianna McGrew — apparel, textiles and design
Myah Merino — food and nutrition, nutrition option
Toni Moore — child and youth development
Karina Moreland — family development and aging
Kayla Patarini — food and nutrition
Jordan Pratt — food and nutrition, nutrition option

Danielle Payne — food and nutrition, dietetics option
Alexandria Peterson — food and nutrition, dietetics option
Kiah Pulley — child and youth development
Darcy Rhodes — food and nutrition
BreAnne Servoss — apparel, textiles and design
Haley Smith — food and nutrition, dietetics option
Soledad Villalpando — apparel, textiles and design
Isabella Weight — child and youth development
Meghan White — food and nutrition, nutrition option; apparel, textiles and design
Meredith LaFrance — M.S. family and consumer sciences
Cassandra Partridge — M.S. family and consumer sciences
Elizabeth Ropski — M.S. family and consumer sciences
Nallely Vega — M.S. family and consumer sciences

Our Stories

COVID-19 and Breast Milk

FCS Director Shelley McGuire and research partner Mark McGuire (Associate Dean of Research in the U of I College of Agricultural and Life Sciences) are leading a national effort to test whether the milk of women who test positive for COVID-19 might contain the virus.

The McGuire’s will work with colleagues at the University of Rochester in New York to test human milk samples through a project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The $315,000 project will provide the most comprehensive testing of human milk for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It will help health officials better advise breastfeeding mothers who test positive for COVID-19. Women who want to volunteer can find more information at www.uidaho.edu/breastmilk.

Read press release.

Shelley and Mark McGuire

A Positive Influence

A negative experience with a teacher in high school propelled Brittney Anderson to become a teacher herself.

“I had one teacher growing up and she told me ‘you might as well give up, you’re not going to be able to do it, you can’t keep working on something if you’re not going to understand it,’ and that kind of pushed me to stick with it and keep going,” Anderson said. “When I was told that, I wanted to make sure that I could tell students at a young age that they can do anything, and they’ll never forget it no matter what someone tells them in the future.”

Anderson will graduate with her bachelor’s degree in early childhood development and education from the University of Idaho’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences in December 2020 and hopes to positively influence students as a second-grade teacher. Read more.

Woman standing outside holding children’s book.

Brittney Anderson

Sew Your Own

To wear a mask or not became the question that occupied medical professionals for days as people nationwide sought ways to protect themselves and others from COVID-19.

For University of Idaho College of Agricultural and Life Sciences apparel, textiles and design instructors Chelsey Lewallen and Lori Wahl, the question was more focused: If you want to make a mask, which mask style offers the best fit and what fabrics offer the best protection?

Their work targets home sewists who want to protect themselves, friends and families during errands and other non-medical duties. Read more.

Chelsey Lewallen testing the face mask with knit ties.

Resources for Parents

Faculty and students in the early childhood development and education program have developed a list of resources for parents who are juggling work and home learning during the COVID-19 crisis. View the list.

Student/Faculty Highlights

Food and nutrition students Emily Maus, Sarah Michaels, Carah Quigley and Kendi Smith (not pictured) have been named North Idaho Area Health Education Center Scholars. The North Idaho AHEC was developed in partnership with the WWAMI Medical Education Program and the University of Idaho. The inter-professional and nationally recognized certificate program emphasizes a team-based approach to addressing health disparities and helps students heighten their understanding of the unique health care needs of rural and underserved communities.

Food and nutrition student Jaqueline Davis was honored with the Alumni Award for Excellence by the University of Idaho Alumni Association. Davis also received the Outstanding Senior award and Donald R. and Cora E. Theophilus award from the U of I Department of Student Involvement (Jaqueline Davis and President Green).

FCS honored several students with outstanding student awards: Beth Ropski, outstanding graduate teaching assistant; Brittney Anderson, outstanding senior; Sarah Michaels, outstanding junior; Kaylee Flodin, outstanding sophomore. Additionally, Beth Ropski was named the 2020 CALS Outstanding Graduate Student.

Brittany Hurst, a sophomore studying child development and family relations, received the Outstanding Sophomore award from the University of Idaho’s Department of Student Involvement.

Associate Professor Ling Ling Tsao and two early childhood development and education undergraduate students traveled to the Council for Exceptional Children’s annual conference in Portland, Oregon in February. Tsao presented results from one of her research projects at the conference. The Council for Exceptional Children is a professional association of educators dedicated to advancing the success of children with exceptionalities.

The children from the Child Development Lab attended the U of I Jazz Band concert during Jazz Fest in February. The children had previously learned about rhythm and beat in preschool and the faculty thought this would be a great extension of that lesson and a great representation of our campus community for the children.

Several students from the AHEC Scholars program volunteered at the Idaho Foodbank in Lewiston, bagging 4,623 pounds of apples for distribution.

Apparel, textiles and design instructor Lori Wahl has received the University of Idaho Excellence in Outreach and Engagement award. This award is given to faculty members who demonstrate excellence in outreach and engagement that is anchored in scholarship and conducted in collaboration with individuals, communities, organizations or businesses in a context of partnership and reciprocity. Outreach and collaboration are natural ways of engagement for Wahl and have led to working on grant-funded interdisciplinary teams, development of statewide events that support the apparel and textile industry and collaborative projects with industry.

Faculty Corner

Research highlight

Assistant Professor Shiyi Chen is currently working with two teams of researchers on several projects. Her long-term research team includes three other professors in Florida, Indiana and New Jersey. They utilize large-scale international databases to investigate school and home factors that predict elementary students’ science and math achievement. In response to the current situation, this team of researchers is launching a new project to explore parents’ coping and homeschooling strategies during the quarantine.

Chen is also working with a group of multidisciplinary researchers at U of I and Washington State University to examine a novel intervention mechanism’s effect on young children’s self-regulation and cognitive performance. This intervention device harnesses the power of machine learning algorithms and human color perception to improve children’s self-regulation and working memory capacity via environment manipulations.

Faculty updates

The Margaret Ritchie School of Family and Consumer Sciences welcomed several new faculty members this past year.

Shiyi Chen

Assistant Professor Shiyi Chen joined the FCS family after obtaining her doctorate in educational psychology from Florida State University in 2019. Her current research interests focus on early science education. She sets out to explore this question: How can teachers enhance young children’s science learning experience (e.g., learning motivation and competency) by fostering metacognitive skills and improving their interaction quality with children.

Assistant Professor Yimin Chen is a human milk researcher with 15 years of clinical experience. She investigates the effects of human milk immunomodulatory components on the infant gastrointestinal and systemic immune response. She earned her doctorate from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2017.

Instructor Chelsey Byrd Lewallen is a professional sewist specializing in textile sustainability, garment construction, and clothing alterations and repairs. She teaches textiles, apparel construction, introduction to fashion and patternmaking. She earned her masters from the University of Idaho in 2015 while starting Altered Ego, a clothing alteration and repairs business located in downtown Moscow.

Best wishes to FCS Professor Sandra Evenson!

Evenson retired from U of I at the end of December after 25 years of service. She joined the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences family in 1994 as an assistant professor of clothing, textiles and design and served five years as the interim director of FCS.