School Psych specialist certificate student receives Doris Duke Fellowship

Katherine Ridge
Katherine Ridge

Katherine Ridge, doctoral student in the Institute of Child Development (ICD) and specialist certificate student in the Department of Educational Psychology’s school psychology program , was recently awarded the Doris Duke Fellowship for the Promotion of Child Well-Being.

The fellowship, offered by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago and funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, aims to identify and develop a new generation of leaders who will create practices and policies that will enhance child development and prevent child maltreatment.

With the help of the fellowship, Ridge plans to investigate how characteristics of early relationships with caregivers influence children’s trusting decisions. Ridge hopes to promote the development of positive relationships between children and adults. “With the support of the Doris Duke Fellowship, I am especially excited to use the knowledge gained from our research to inform school-based support groups for children and their relationships with others during my internship year,” Ridge said.

Fellows receive an annual stipend of $30,000 for up to two years to support their dissertation and related research. Ridge is one of 15 doctoral students to receive the fellowship this year. Another school psychology student, Sophia Frank, was also awarded a Doris Duke Fellowship this year.