Stephanie Block
Visiting Scholar
- Ph.D., University of California, Davis
Research interests include children in the legal system, the effect of trauma on children’s wellbeing and memory for emotional events, and the prevention of child maltreatment
Visiting Scholar Stephanie Block is a professor in Applied Developmental Psychology at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. Her research focuses on child maltreatment and encompasses her training in both developmental and applied science, as well as public health.
Her recent work, with Senior Research Scientist Linda M. Williams, Ph.D., was funded by the National Institute of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services. These projects investigate prosecutorial and multi-disciplinary teams’ decisions in cases of child sexual abuse and the role of non-offending caregivers in supporting their children. It is her firm belief that scientific research should influence the law and public policy to bring about optimal societal change.
Block earned her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology at the University of California, Davis and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill’s Center for Developmental Science.
Block is an American Psychological Association (APA) fellow, a past president of APA’s Division 37, the Society for Child and Family Policy and Practice, past president of Division 37’s Section on Child Maltreatment, and an editorial board member of the journal Child Maltreatment. She also serves on the board of directors for the Massachusetts Children’s Alliance and has trained judges, social workers, and other professionals on topics related to child welfare.
She has taught at UMass Lowell since fall 2011, contributing to the Department of Psychology’s undergraduate and graduate courses and the Honors College, and serving as the faculty advisor to the NAVIGATORS club—a student club she co-founded in 2011 to help former foster youth and other students who need additional support “navigate” college. Block is deeply committed to conducting impactful research and to shaping future researchers through dedicated mentorship and teaching.
