Cultural Diversity and Families: Expanding Perspectives
Bahira Sherif Trask, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Individual and Family Studies, University of Delaware, and is a Policy Scientist in the Center for Community Research and Service.  She has a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania and an undergraduate degree in Political Science from Yale University.  Her research focuses on issues of cultural diversity and the relationship between work, gender, and family life.  She recently co-editedThe Greenwood Encyclopedia of Women's Issues Worldwide(2003) and has published in numerous journals, includingJournal of Family Issues, Qualitative Inquiry, Anthropology Today, andJournal of Teaching About Families & Marriage.  In 1999, she was awarded the prestigious Sussman Groves Young Professional Research Award to support her continued research on issues of family and diversity.  A frequent presenter at national and international conferences, Dr. Sherif-Trask is an acknowledged expert witness and national commentator on challenges facing American families.  She serves as reviewer for several major journals, includingEarly Childhood Research Quarterly, Journal of Human Organization: Applied Anthropology, Fathering & Fatherhood, Journal of Family Issues, andFamily Science Review.  In addition to her academic activities, Dr. Sherif-Trask is a co-founder and board member of Cradle of Hope, a home for teenage pregnant girls in the Philadelphia area.Raeann R. Hamon is Professor of Family Science and Gerontology in the Department of Human Development and Family Science at Messiah College, Pennsylvania. She holds one of two Scholar Chair Awards at Messiah College. Dr. Hamon received her Ph.D. in Family and Child Development and Graduate Certificate in Gerontology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She has numerous publications and presentations on topics such as filial responsibility, family relationships in later life, parents’ experience of adult children’s divorce, intergenerational service-learning, Bahamian folklore, and Bahamian family life. She recently co-editedMate Selection Across Cultures(Sage, 2003) and served as an associate editor for the four-volumeInternational Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family(Macmillan Reference, 2003) and as a guest editor for a special double issue of theJournal of Teaching in Marriage and Family: Innovations in Family Science(Haworth, 2004), which was devoted to the topic of teaching about international families.  A Certified Family Life Educator, she is an enthusiastic teacher of courses like Marital Relationships, Dynamics of Family Interaction, Sociology of Aging, and Foundations of Marriage and Family. She is President of the Association of Councils and a member of the Executive Board for the National Council on Family Relations, where she is also an active member of the International Section.