Alumni Stories

These stories share alumni work achievements, reflections on the CCFL experience, and service contributions throughout the Center's 30 year history.

I got to work on so many projects! I worked on the Y2Kids conference held in 1999, wrote for the Research Advancing Practice (RAP) publication, student edited the Juvenile Law Digest, assisted with the Nebraska Juvenile Code revision,  working on a research project examining reasons for termination of parental rights cases, examined child sex abuse prosecutions, and many more!  I always felt like my CCFL Research Assistant time was a reprieve into the real world. The work I got to do while at CCFL brought to life all the skills I was learning in graduate school and made learning research methodology, statistics, and theory seem much more relevant and important.  

Eve Brank Former graduate research assistant for Vicky Weisz on the Court Improvement Project, currently the Director of CCFL

My favorite memory from working at CCFL is assisting in child protective service worker training. During role play simulations, I was able to help trainees learn to cope with situations such as abusive live-in boyfriends walking in on interviews, sexual harassment, and other difficult scenarios. CCFL always does its best to ensure that the professionals it trains are prepared for a wide range of circumstances.

Marc W. Pearce Former Graduate research assistant, currently Assistant Dean for Student Affairs and Administration at University of Nebraska College of Law

What I loved about CCFL was collaborating with a wide range of professional disciplines to do work that really mattered: synthesizing evidence on adolescent pregnancy prevention programs, role-playing to assist in the evaluation of the new Child Advocacy Center, translating research for non-scientific audiences, and writing about the implications of welfare reform on children. I will always be grateful for my CCFL experiences, that prepared me so well for the work I do today.

Jennifer Kaminski, PhD Former Graduate Research Assistant, currently Team Lead for Child Development Studies at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention