MERRILL PALMER SKILLMAN INSTITUTE

NATIONAL STEERING COMMITTEE REPORT

November, 2015
Laura D. Pittman, Ph.D., Northern Illinois University (Chair)
Michael Foley, MSW, Michigan Childrens Trust Fund
Gary Ladd, Ed.D., Arizona State University
Michael Patterson, Macomb County North Central DHS
Donna R. Weston, Ph.D., Childrens Hospital and Research Center, Oakland, CA
Deborah A. Willis, MSW, Ph.D., Eastern Michigan University
Marc A. Zimmerman, Ph.D., University of Michigan
The Steering Committee for the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute (MPSI) met on November 2,
2015 in order to be updated on the current status of programs. Presentations were given by the
following individuals: Dr. Peter Lichtenberg, Director; Dr. Steven Ondersma, the Deputy
Director; Dr. Hilary Ratner, the Training Director; Anna Miller, the Executive Director of the
Early Childhood Centers; and Dr. Ann Stacks, the Director of the Infant Mental Health Program.
In addition, the Steering Committee had lunch with MPSI pre- and post-doctoral fellows. Since
the Steering Committee was formed in 2010, MPSI has shown remarkable progress across
multiple domains with growth in faculty size, scholarship, grant funding, and community
outreach. Overall, MPSI serves as a model to Wayne State University (WSU) and the broader
academic community of how to engage in interdisciplinary research that is translational in
nature. We strongly urge WSU to provide MPSI the recognition and support that is needed to
continue to allow it to foster excellent research and community outreach as it relates to children
and youth.
Notable Accomplishments
Success of Strategic Plan 2011-2015. Prior to 2008, MPSI was lacking direction, but with the
new leadership of Dr. Peter Lichtenberg and Dr. John Hannigan MPSI has been revitalized. In
the spring of 2010, a Strategic Plan was developed, which has been a successful roadmap to
create this now vital and exciting organization. Specifically, seven strategic directions were
identified and have been met including: (1) sustaining research excellence; (2) strengthening
graduate research training; (3) enhancing the Early Childhood Center; (4) leading superior
community outreach and professional development; (5) facilitating administrative function and
research infrastructure; (6) restoring and enhancing the Freer House; and (7) promoting financial
sustainability. Underlying the success across all of these goals is the insightful leadership
provided by Dr. Peter Lichtenberg, and Dr. John Hannigan, former Deputy and Training Director.
While Dr. Hannigan has stepped down from his position in the last year, Dr. Ondersma and Dr.
Ratner, have transitioned smoothly into their roles as Deputy Director and Training Director,
having been involved in MPSIs success over the last several years. Thus, the leadership team is
expected to continue to navigate MPSIs future with an engaged and thoughtful approach. Their
presentations about their planned directions were innovative and promise to move the Institute in
new and important directions.
Research. The primary goal of MPSI has been and continues to be research excellence. Over
the last five years, faculty members with great promise have been attracted to join MPSI, so that
currently there are 13 faculty members with formal appointments, often in conjunction with
another department at WSU. The success of their scholarship can be measured by their extensive

CVs as well as their steadily increasing grant funds, which exceeded $2 million dollars in the last
year. In addition to an increase in overall funding dollars, because of the type of grants that are
now often submitted and funded, the indirect funds received have increased dramatically from
$280,000 in FY2012 to $474,000 in FY2015. An example of this is the $2.3 million five-year
grant recently received by Dr. Ann Stacks from the Administration of Children and Families. It is
expected that MPSIs faculty will continue to develop this superior record. The leadership team
is encouraged to continue to work to identify opportunities for other joint appointments with
departments throughout WSU both to enhance MPSIs research portfolio but continue to make
connections to other departments.
Graduate Training. MPSI continues to strive to provide excellent research training to graduate
students across disciplines (e.g., psychology, neuroscience, social work, and medicine). MPSI
formally supports between five and eight predoctoral fellows with stipends of $1500 per
semester. In the last year, students reported that they benefited from the increased structure in
the training program. Students also reported feeling well supported by the nurturing
environment at MPSI. Creating a specific position of Training Director likely has allowed for
greater focus on supporting and developing the training program. For example, each fellow now
creates an Individual Development Plan, which identifies their goals for research, education, and
community engagement, setting clear expectation for both them and their mentors. MPSI is
encouraged to continue to work to communicate with the fellows academic department in order
to help increase recognition of this honor for students and make the opportunities at MPSI better
known throughout WSU. In addition to these plans, regular training roundtables are being held
where topics key to students training have been identified (e.g., diversity and inclusion,
interdisciplinary research, community based participatory research). This thoughtful
consideration of what the key competences are that are needed among trainees provides a better
structure and clearer direction that will benefit the program. After an unsuccessful submission of
a T32 Training Grant in 2011 because the theme was not strong enough, MPSI faculty have been
re-evaluating how to frame a new submission and have plans for resubmitting in the coming
year. The Steering Committee commends their efforts and urges them to move forward in this
effort, being thoughtful of what theme would play to their strengths and, thus, be viewed
positively. In addition to this formal program, many other graduate students and undergraduates
(n = 67 in the past year) volunteer or work in the MPSI faculty labs. Expanding the training
vision to include undergraduate and other graduate students may be something MPSI would
benefit from.
In addition to the research training provided, MPSI has worked to establish the first dual degree
program in Infant Mental Health in the country. Specifically, the opportunity to earn a dual
degree Infant Mental Health and Education, Social Work, and Nursing was established in 2012,
with the first dual-title PhD being conferred in 2014. In addition, the opportunity to earn this
degree with Psychology was established this fall. This program has shown great success with
many students being interested. Given the need for expertise in serving infants and their
families, this program is likely to continue to grow in the years ahead.
Community Outreach. One of MPSIs greatest successes is the way in which it engages the
community, providing stellar outreach and partnering with community agencies to help improve
the lives of children and families throughout the region. Historically, the Early Childhood Center
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was central to MPSIs mission, but had become less effective prior to 2008. However, since
2010, Anna Miller has taken over the running of the Early Childhood Center (ECC) integrating
the administration of both it and the College of Educations Childcare Center. Thus, the ECC is
now fiscally sound and is considered stellar in terms of child care. These two programs currently
serve 95 children and both have a 5-star rating and are accredited by the National Association for
the Early Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
Through the strength of these childcare programs and the initiative of faculty and staff of MPSI,
the Woodward Consortium was created in 2012 forming a partnership between MPSI, childcare
centers and community agencies in Detroit. With support from the Kresge Foundation and PNC
Bank, the consortium has striven to increase childcare quality and promote kindergarten
readiness among the children served. Currently, 9 community organization and 18 childcare
centers, serving over 1800 children, are involved. Monthly meetings are held with all stake
holders to identify needs and future directions and many professional development programs
have been held to support the staff of these centers. In addition, a coaching program for
childcare centers that are struggling has been piloted and is now expanding to other centers.
While helping children and families, this consortium also serves the WSU community through
opportunities for service learning to students and access to potential participants for research
opportunities. For 2016, Kresge had invited another submission, which hopefully will allow for
continuous funding for this innovative project.
Healthier Urban Families (HUF) has continue to grow in the last year with the number of
professionals, families and children trained increasing from 3478 in the combined FY 13 & 14 to
3705 people in FY 2015 alone. This increase is partly due in part to the collaboration occurring
between HUF and the Woodward Consortium. Two additional larger events continue to be
organized by MPSI: the Giant Steps Teen Conference and the two-day Exploration in
Development professional development conference. Collectively, these outreach programs
clearly are stellar examples of WSU serving the urban community of Detroit.
Freer House. MPSI has been housed in the Freer House, a historic landmark, since 1922. In the
last five years, the historical value of this building has been better utilized. The Freer House
membership has grown to 350 and a well-attended lecture series has been established in
partnership with the Detroit Institute of Art. This is a different type of community engagement
that has led to over 1,000 individuals coming into the Freer House in the last year and over $1
million raised in the last two years. In addition to utilizing the space at the Freer House,
renovations are underway. With support from the Americana Foundation and other donations,
the Garden Project has started. This project targets revitalizing the space behind the house to
reflect Freers original plan. In addition, plans to restore the Whistler Gallery have been designed
and will become more doable with the support for the HVAC project from WSU. This
renovation, when it has the funding to be completed, will allow for a unique meeting space for
WSU and the broader community.
Additional Opportunities and Recommendations
With the success of meeting the goals laid out in the Strategic Plan 2011-2015, MPSI is in need
of continued visioning to keep it moving forward. MPSI Faculty may want to dedicate a day to
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identify how they want the Institute to continue to develop. With so much growth and change,
consideration of how they would like to continue to develop in the coming years will allow them
to continue to be successful, while not overextending their existing programs. Continued growth
related to student engagement and training hold promising possibilities, especially with the
intention to reapply for the T32 training grant. To broker more support from WSU, we suggest
developing a systematic approach to document the many ways they are already training
undergraduates, masters level graduate students, doctoral students, medical students, and
postdoctoral fellows. This information will serve as useful information for University and
external groups interested in the contributions of the Institute and help guide the training
program to expand opportunities beyond just graduate students.
Despite the excellence exhibited in multiple domains, MPSIs strengths are not recognized both
at WSU as well as nationally. The creation of a co-registry, where families from the broader
community would volunteer to be research participants for funds was presented as a possible
new direction for the Institute, which the Steering Committe found to be particularly exciting.
The availability of such a database may bring researchers from across WSU as well as the
country to support research endeavors focused on children and families. In addition, MPSI
collaborators could have a multidisciplinary cohort study (e.g., the MPSI Study) that would
lead to recognition in the academic domain as articles are published. Both of these ideas would
allow for greater name recognition of MPSI and enhance its visibility. A co-registry also has the
potential to be a valuable resource for attracting external funding.
As mentioned in previous Steering Committee reports, increased attention to diversity issues and
the inclusion of scholars and students of color is needed to better serve the research and
community outreach. If at all possible, WSU should support a faculty hire that could be jointly
appointed to MPSI. In addition, MPSI could seek to better attract students from diverse
backgrounds who may broaden the perspective in ongoing research and outreach. WSUs
undergraduate population is likely a diverse group and may be a starting point to consider. In
addition to increasing the inclusion of individuals with an ethnic minority background,
considering diversity as a broader term (e.g., disability, LGBT) may be helpful. Finally, there
may be funding opportunities available to hire graduate students or postdoctoral fellows of color
as part of research grants (e.g., minority supplements to NIH grants) that may enhance the
likelihood of success in this regard.
Finally, as WSU seeks to develop the new Integrative Biosciences Center (IBio), where cuttingedge interdisciplinary team science that serves the community will be done, MPSI can serve as a
leader. Multiple MPSI faculty have already exhibited success at reaching across departments to
address overlapping interests (Childrens Bridge Interest Groups, Center for Urban Responses to
Environmental Stressors (CURES), Researchers of Biobehavioral Health in Urban Settings
Today (RoBUST)). Thus, MPSI should continue to look for opportunities to partner with WSU
to support their research missions. In addition, MPSI has unique and longstanding community
partnerships that can be a useful resource for the WSU community more generally. In addition,
WSU can easily point to MPSI to highlight their commitment to the larger Detroit community.
We encourage the Institute to continue to highlight their innovative community-academic
research partnerships and work with WSU administration to provide financial and organizational
supports to further these initiatives. These could include funding for graduate or undergraduate
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training opportunities in these partnerships or seed funding for WSU faculty outside the Institute
to foster intra-university collaboration.
Conclusion
MPSI continues to make significant contributions to the urban mission of Wayne State
University. Its successful implementation of its strategic plan has led to high quality research,
increased grant funding, innovative community outreach programs, and opportunities for
graduate student training in interdisciplinary research and Infant Mental Health. Much of this
success can be attributed to the superb leadership provided by the MPSI director, Dr. Peter
Lichtenberg. Many, if not most, of the notable accomplishments highlighted above would not
have come to fruition if it had not been for his hard work, dedication, and vision. With the ongoing support of the Vice President for Research and other key administrators at WSU, we are
confident that MPSI will continue to make important contributions on both the local and national
level to the field of developmental science.