Christina J. Groark, PhD

Christina J. Groark, PhD

For the past 20 years, Christina J. Groark, PhD, associate professor of education, has provided administrative oversight, management, and practical and scholarly guidance for interdisciplinary projects at the University of Pittsburgh Office of Child Development (OCD). The Office of Child Development is a university/community collaborative unit devoted to applied issues of children, youth, and families, especially of those in urban and low-income communities. Dr. Groark's extensive career has been devoted to improving the lives of all children, including institutionalized children, children with severe mental and physical disabilities, at-risk children, and more recently, helping children by focusing on the entire family and caregiving environment. Her specific interests are in the areas of early care and education, early intervention, orphanage care, nonprofit management and program development. Dr. Groark has designed and implemented innovative service demonstration programs, policy initiatives, needs assessments, experimental interventions, program evaluations, and research studies. Internationally, she is working on examining orphanages through projects in the Russian Federation and El Salvador. In addition, Dr. Groark has been a consultant to many national and international programs, funders, policymakers, and universities. She is the author of many articles and book chapters in the areas of universitycommunity collaborations, improved interventions in orphanages, applied developmental psychology, and early intervention.