2016 Conference Summary
The 2016 conference of the Work and Family Researchers Network was held on June 23-25, 2016 at the Capital Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. with a special Work Family Education and Policy Day and a Congressional Briefing preceding the conference on June 22. Some 650 work-family researchers and experts across many disciplines and perspectives and from 47 countries explored the theme, “Careers, Care, and Life-Course ‘Fit:’ Implications for Health, Equality, and Policy,” in symposia sessions, discussion forums, poster sessions, workshops, and author-meets critic and book dialogue sessions.
The conference met in plenary session to hear WFRN President Phyllis Moen’s address and the wrap-up to Practitioner Day, and to experience the unveiling of the special multimedia exhibit “Showing (work x family).” The plenary session on Friday, June 24, featured a distinguished panel of international researchers and the conferring of the Rosabeth Kanter Award for Excellence in Work-Family Research as well as a special award honoring Judi Casey for her contributions to WFRN. Other notable events included a gathering of the 2016 Early Career Fellows cohort on Thursday morning, the initial meeting of the new Special Interest Groups on Friday morning, and “networking” dinners organized by the WFRN Membership Committee on Friday evening.
A forthcoming special conference issue of the Community, Work & Family journal will capture the best papers of the 2016 conference related to the theme “Redesigning Careers and Care for the 21st Century.”
Work Family Congressional Education and Policy Day
Sponsors Included:
Benefactors:
Deloitte
Working Assumptions Foundation
Patrons
AARP
Annie E. Casey Foundation
University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts
University of Pennsylvania Population Studies Center
Partners
Bright Horizons Family Solutions
Ryan
University of Pennsylvania Department of Sociology
Friends
College and University Work-Life-Family Association (CUWFA)
WFD Consulting
Special Thanks
Special thanks to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for providing a generous seed grant to support the transition to and sustainability of the Work and Family Researchers Network.
Special thanks to Bright Horizons Family Solutions for providing free child care for conference participants.
Special thanks to the Center for Human Resources at the Wharton School for sharing their outstanding staff – Kay Dowgun and Nancy Permsap – with WFRN.
Special thanks to the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts for providing in-kind support for conference planning, particularly the exceptional work performed by Anne Kaduk in organizing the conference sessions and the excellent assistance of Jane Peterson.
2016 Exhibitor Information
Exhibits were open Friday, June 24, 2016, from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm and Saturday, June 25, 2016, from 9:00 am – 3:00 pm.
Exhibitors included:
- AARP
- Abbeville Press
- Bright Horizons Family Solutions
- College and University Work-Life-Family Association (CUWFA)
- Deloitte
- National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse
- Palgrave MacMillan
- Self-Sufficiency Research Clearinghouse
- University of Illinois Press
2016 Conference Program Committee
- Phyllis Moen, University of Minnesota, Co-chair
- Anne Kaduk, University of Minnesota, Co-chair
- Suzan Lewis, Middlesex University London, Co-chair
- Hanna van Solinge, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute, Co-chair
- Orfeu Buxton, Pennsylvania State University, Brigham & Womens Hospital, Harvard Medical School and School of Public Health
- Dan Clawson, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
- Sarah Damaske, The Pennsylvania State University
- Anna Haley-Lock, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Jerry A. Jacobs, University of Pennsylvania
- Kathy Kacher, Career/Life Alliance Services Inc.
- Lisa Leslie, New York University
- David Maume, University of Cincinnati
- Maureen Perry-Jenkins, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
- Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, Boston College
- Tanja van der Lippe, Utrecht University, The Netherlands