November 14, 2002
A New Home for The Pampered Chef Family Resiliency Program.
The Pampered Chef Family Resiliency Program, based in the UIUC Department of Human and Community Development, will have a new home thanks to Doris and Jay Christopher and The Pampered Chef, Ltd. The three-story building will be the site of innovative research, education and public engagement initiatives aimed at enriching child, individual, and family well-being in the context of communities. Situated on the northwest corner of Lincoln Avenue and Nevada Street in Urbana, the new building will be an inviting gateway to the U of I for Urbana-Champaign families, educators, professionals, and community members who are interested in strengthening families.
The Pampered Chef Family Resiliency Program was established at the University of Illinois in February 2000 through a $500,000 gift from Mr. and Mrs. Christopher and The Pampered Chef, Ltd. Doris Christopher, a 1967 alumna, is the Founder and Chairman of The Pampered Chef, Ltd. The program funds graduate student fellowships in Human and Community Development, pilot research grants for faculty, and a lecture series on family resiliency that is open to the public.
The Christophers’ most recent gift of more than $11.5 million will provide The Family Resiliency Program with a new home and an endowed chair position. A unique aspect of the gift is that it also establishes an endowment to maintain special equipment in the building.
With a new building in sight, the Family Resiliency Program aims to increase its capacity to help parents, community professionals, family service organizations, employers, and policymakers to strengthen families and communities to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world.
Plans for expansion of the program include:
- broadening the scope of research on child and adolescent development and family relationships
- disseminating new research findings
- developing, implementing, and evaluating new prevention and intervention programs
- training future generations of researchers, educators and family life professionals through traditional, distance, and community-based educational strategies.
The impact of these efforts are expected to be broad and will help to bridge the gap that currently exists between research knowledge and practice that support family well-being.
Pending Board of Trustees approval, the architectural firm of Booth Hansen Associates, Chicago, will design the new building. Clark Dietz, Inc., Champaign, will provide structural, mechanical, electrical, and civil engineering. Jacobs/Ryan Associates will serve as landscape architects. The building will include some noteworthy features.
A unique laboratory– the Family Observation Suite– that simulates a home environment (complete with kitchen, dining room and family room) will be constructed to enable researchers to study real family interaction. A typical study might include inviting families to come to the suite and engage in typical family events such as preparing meals, exchanging the news of the day, and helping children with homework. As they fix dinner, and have a meal together, family interaction is recorded for later analysis using small digital video cameras. (Family members will have consented to being videotaped). Doris Christopher is particularly interested in research on family interaction that addresses difficulties many parents face navigating the competing demands of their work lives and their families. She feels that research is needed to that will lead to ways to help parents get out of the kitchen more quickly and “come to the table” to spend meaningful time with their family. The Family Observation Suite will be available to UIUC researchers from a wide array of disciplines to study topics such as children’s and adolescents’ social, emotional and cognitive development and their relationships with their families.
Pending additional funding, a Family Resource Facility is planned for the first floor of the building. This facility would be open to family members, educators, and community-based professionals seeking information, consultations, referrals, and resources to support parenting and family relationships. The Family Resource Facility would also be a base from which students, faculty and staff will partner with families and organizations from the local and surrounding rural communities to develop new solutions to challenges they face. Additional outreach activities may include workshops for parents and professionals; prevention programs for children, youth, and families; and the production of new educational materials.
The Pampered Chef Family Resiliency Program Lecture Series, open to the public, is another way that the program reaches out to the community. The next lecture, “Strengthening Family Resilience,” will be presented by Froma Walsh, MSW, PhD., Co-Director of the Chicago Center for Family Health, on Wednesday, April 9, 2003 at 7:00 pm in the Knight Auditorium of The Spurlock Museum.
The new building will also include classrooms and meeting spaces for UIUC courses and community-based organizations as well as faculty and graduate student offices.
The spectacular gift from Doris and Jay Christopher and The Pampered Chef, Ltd., will enable The Pampered Chef Family Resiliency Program to more effectively achieve its mission of strengthening families through scholarly research, education and public engagement.
The Pampered Chef Family Resiliency Program
Director: Laurie Kramer, PhD
Phone: (217) 333-0628
Coordinator: Diane W. Marlin, RD, LD
Phone: (217) 265-0334
