CASEL Weissberg Scholars

Program Overview

CASEL is committed to supporting those that are seeking a career in the field of SEL and are working at the intersection of research and practice. The CASEL Weissberg Scholars program is a two-year program that will enable early career scholars to gain valuable exposure to the SEL field and allow them to interact with thought leaders in SEL research, practice, and policy. Download an overview here. 

Early career scholars are defined as individuals who are in their first five years, meaning they received their Ph.D., Ed.D., or equivalent research degree (between January 2018 and October 2023 for the upcoming cohort), and have demonstrated experience and a commitment to collaborative research approaches.

Selected scholars will be provided mentorship from senior scholars in the field of SEL and receive guidance and support in the scholar’s pursuit of educational and professional goals to innovate and advance SEL.

Led by the Scholars Program Advisory Committee: Drs. Kimberly A. Schonert-Reichl (University of Illinois at Chicago) and Paul Goren (Northwestern University) with Marc Brackett (Yale University), Mark Greenberg (Penn State), Robert J. Jagers (CASEL), and Timothy Shriver (Special Olympics)

Apply for the 2023-2025 Cohort

The 2023-2025 Cohort will welcome 10 early career scholars to the CASEL Weissberg Scholars program. Applications for the 2023-2025 cohort are now open and will close July 31, 2023. Apply today.

If selected for the two-year program, CASEL Weissberg Scholars commit to:

• Two year engagement, beginning in November 2023.
• Mentorship with a leader in SEL research, practice, or policy. Mentors will be matched with each CASEL Weissberg Scholar based on shared interests. Previous mentors have included advisory committee members, CASEL leaders, and research experts such as Anne Gregory (Rutgers University), Elise Cappella (New York University) Camille Farrington (University of Chicago), and Kate Zinsser (University of Illinois at Chicago). 
• Participation in bi-monthly virtual seminars with other Scholars and SEL leaders 
• Development of an Individual Professional Development Plan.
• Annual end-of-year report to support CASEL’s continuous improvement.
  

CASEL Weissberg Scholars will also have access to:

• One in-person retreat and the SEL Exchange, the annual SEL conference hosted by CASEL. Note, all expenses will be covered. 
• Opportunity to apply for funding for a Seed Grant for prosociality-related SEL research.
• Contribute to CASEL’s learning products, such as: blogs, webinars, briefs/syntheses, conference presentation or posters, Congressional briefings, etc.

• Applicant Eligibility Requirements:
  • • Applicants must have received a Ph.D., Ed.D., or equivalent research degree between January 2018 and October 2023.
    • Applicants’ previous experience or current work is in settings that include, but are not limited to, domestic or international, university/college, school districts, research organizations, policy institutes, non-profits, or state or federal governments or ministries.
    • Applicants must demonstrate experience/commitment to collaborative research approaches on SEL that include at least one of the following: educators, families, community, policymakers, children and youth.
    • Applicants’ should conduct research that takes place in real-world settings.
    • Applicants demonstrate potential to become innovators in SEL research, practice, and policy.
    • Applicants should identify area(s) in which participation in the CASEL Weissberg Scholars program will expand their expertise, and specific details should be provided in their application.

• Application Materials
  • • Selection is based on the applicant’s potential to become an innovator in SEL research, practice, and policy. The application should make a cohesive argument for how the applicant will expand their expertise by participating in the CASEL Weissberg Scholars programs.
    • For more detailed information on the application process and material, view the application overview. Download the PDF
      • Curriculum vita or resume (please do not include acronyms).
      • Career Statement Narrative (four-page limit).
      • Sample publications/reports or equivalent (submit up to three). 
      • Professional references, listing names, titles, emails, phone numbers, and organizations (three required).
      • Provide a personal identity statement that describes how your personal identity influences your work in the SEL field (maximum 200 words).

    Optional: Provide the names of up to three senior scholars in the field of SEL who you would like to serve as your mentor. Note: we may not be able to accommodate all request

Honoring Dr. Roger P. Weissberg

Dr. Roger P. Weissberg (1951-2021) and his research work played a unique role in the evolution and maturation of the field of SEL. To honor his efforts as a collaborator, mentor, and founding thought leader in the field, CASEL created the CASEL Weissberg Scholars Program to bring together scholars and educators who embodied Dr. Weissberg’s commitment.

Dr. Weissberg was CASEL’s chief knowledge officer and board vice chair, and Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. For four decades, he trained scholars and practitioners about innovative ways to design, implement, and evaluate family, school, and community interventions. His more than 260 publications focused on positive youth development programming to enhance the social, emotional, and academic learning of children and adolescents.

2021-2023 CASEL Weissberg Scholars

• About the 2021-2023 CASEL Weissberg Scholars

  • Pilar Alamos is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Virginia’s School of Education and Human Development, and an incoming Assistant Professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile’s School of Education. Pilar’s research focuses on the kinds of teacher-child interactions and relationships that matter for young children’s social and emotional development in early childhood education settings. Pilar conducts applied research and is interested in testing out and strengthening interventions, practices, and policies that will create more opportunities for equitable and high-quality teacher-child interactions and relationships. https://www.linkedin.com/in/pilar-alamos/

    Dr. Ross C. Anderson is co-founder and principal investigator at Creative Engagement Lab, associate scientist at Oregon Research Institute, and lecturer at the University of Oregon. He is one of the inaugural CASEL Weissberg Scholars and has led and contributed to numerous grant-funded projects, including the ArtCore project, the makeSPACE project, the Journalistic Learning Initiative and the My STEM Story project. He specializes in the design and research of dynamic, interactive online professional development in creative and interdisciplinary teaching and learning. His research focuses on agentic, artistic, and creative development for educators and their adolescent students in K-12 as the primary drivers of holistic flourishing in education across different stages of human development. He has published more than 40 journal articles and book chapters with numerous collaborators from around the world, which can be found at www.creativeengagementlab.com.

    Josefina Bañales, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Community and Prevention Research Area at the University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC). Dr. Bañales infuses her personal experiences as a Mexican American woman who is a first-generation high school, college, and doctoral student from the Southwest side of Chicago with her community-engaged research with youth of color in schools and community organizations. Her research examines how youth develop beliefs, feelings, and actions that challenge racism (i.e., youth critical racial consciousness development). In collaboration with youth, schools, parents, and community organizations, she co-creates opportunities that facilitate youths’ critical racial consciousness development. Dr. Bañales loves hot black coffee, singing, and walking at a very leisurely pace.

    Summer S. Braun, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology and affiliated with the Center for Youth Development and Intervention at the University of Alabama. She leads the Well-Being Interventions for Teachers and Youth (WITY) Lab at the University of Alabama. She earned her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies at The Pennsylvania State University, where her training motivated her to consider development in context. Her research centers on schools as a particularly important context for children’s development. Her program of research focuses on understanding the associations between teachers’ occupational health and well-being and their students’ social, emotional, and behavioral development using a variety of methodological approaches. Her work bridges research and practice by studying interventions designed to support the health and well-being of teachers and students, such as mindfulness-based wellness programs.

    Marisa Crowder is a senior researcher at McREL International, working in partnership with educators in K-12 and higher education systems in Hawai‘i and U.S.- affiliated countries and territories in the Pacific region. Marisa has led projects in Hawai‘i and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands that aim to deepen educators’ understanding of ways they can implement SEL in a manner that fits their local context. Her career began at the Washoe County School District (WCSD) where Marisa supported the development of the WCSD Social-Emotional Competency Assessment (WCSD-SECA) and investigated how its dimensional structure varies across student subpopulations. Marisa’s experiences have highlighted a need to develop resources that empower educators to create or adapt effective SEL programs, practices, and assessments that are culturally relevant for their students. To address this, Marisa’s research interests center on identifying promising practices that support culturally relevant SEL across multiple cultural contexts, and for all learners. https://www.linkedin.com/in/marisa-crowder/

    Jerome Graham is an Assistant Professor of K-12 Educational Administration at Michigan State University. His research interests focus broadly on the interaction of race and class in educational policy and practice. Specifically, Jerome uses mixed-methods research designs to evaluate the effects of education reforms that target minoritized students and the mechanisms that drive such reforms. His current research background emphasizes how schools can provide constructive school climates for students, which facilitate the process by which they develop cognitive and socio-emotional skills to improve their short- and long-term outcomes. His theoretical orientation is psychosociological, in that Jerome’s research agenda focuses not only on persons’ individual development (academic, emotional, and otherwise) but also on the social structures that influence their development.

    Casta Guillaume, Ph.D., serves as Director of Research, Learning, and Evaluation at the National Equity Project. Her action-oriented approach to research privileges intergenerational connections. She applies an intersectional feminist lens and community based research methodologies to develop strategy and research-practice partnership models that support both young peoples’ and adults’ social emotional and socio-political development.

    Julia Mahfouz, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Leadership for Educational Organizations program, School of Education and Human Development at the University of Colorado-Denver. Her research explores the social, emotional, and cultural dynamics of educational settings placing specific emphasis on Adult SEL, specifically school administrators, and the integration of systemic SEL into principal preparation programs. Thus, she has implemented mindfulness and SEL-based professional development programs to understand how such programs can improve principal wellbeing and leadership. She has also investigated how preparation programs and certification standards can be strengthened to enhance effective leadership by supporting principals to deepen their social and emotional competencies.

    Christina Mondi-Rago holds a Ph.D. in Developmental and Clinical Psychology from the University of Minnesota. She is an Attending Psychologist and Lead Researcher at the Brazelton Touchpoints Center (Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital) Her research focuses on the assessment and promotion of socio-emotional learning and mental health starting in early childhood, with an emphasis on populations affected by poverty and trauma. She is particularly interested in the role that early care and education programs can play in promoting lifelong wellbeing. She also provides mental health consultation and outpatient psychological services to children and families in the community. https://www.brazeltontouchpoints.org/about/who-we-are/entry/mondi-rago/

    Danielle Hatchimonji is an Assistant Research Scientist at Nemours Children’s Health, a health system spanning the Delaware Valley and Florida. She received her PhD in Psychology from Rutgers University and remains affiliated with the Social-Emotional and Character Development Lab (www.secdlab.org). She researches how schools and healthcare systems can advance equity and promote social-emotional and character development for all children toward the ultimate goal of creating a more just and equitable world.