Governors State University - An Illinois Public University
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Social Development Lab

Mission

The GovState Social Development Lab is dedicated to understanding development and social behaviors across the lifespan. We examine behavioral, environmental, and biological factors that influence development. While we explore several aspects of development, we are particularly interested in resilience in educational, social, and familial contexts. Our research investigates developmental issues from a variety of perspectives and relies on interdisciplinary and collaborative relationships to produce research relevant to academicians, clinicians, physicians, caregivers, and the greater community.

Vision

The Vision of the Social Development Lab is to become the standard in training researchers at a teaching-focused university by fostering an environment of creativity, collaboration, and responsible research that is challenging and nurturing.

Objectives & Goals

The Social Development Lab is committed to maintaining a welcoming environment to train new researchers to think critically about real-world issues and provide them with the skills necessary to investigate these concerns with a community focus. The Social Development Lab supports the mission of Governors State University by:

1.   Providing students opportunities to participate in all stages of research
2.   Encouraging collaboration across disciplines
3.   Examining issues of diversity, equity, and resilience
4.   Training students in the ethical standards of social and behavioral research
5.   Distributing research in an accessible manner
6.   Maintaining rigorous academic and research standards consistent with the University, to prepare students for        the future. 

Research

Our research is interdisciplinary and ever-changing. We believe in exploring real world problems, particularly those impacting our community. As such, our current projects frequently. Some of our focus areas:

  • Resilience in Children: This project examines resiliency, socialization, bullying behaviors, and school cohesiveness in school-aged children. Various projects are underway.
  • Faculty Self-Care: This project examines faculty beliefs and behaviors related to self-care practices and workplace stress. Demands on educational professionals increased dramatically with the recent COVID Pandemic, prompting a perspective change for many. However, expectations, support, and self-care practices have often been in contrast with faculty career satisfaction and overall well-being.
  • University Belongingness: This project investigates feelings of belongingness as well as academic success and retention. Sometimes referred to as university integration, this area of research is typically conducted in large university settings. Our research looks at various factors impacting student success in a small-medium sized, teaching-focused, minority-serving institution.
  • Mastering College: This is an ongoing program evaluation study of a required first year course intended to prepare students for the university experience. Findings from this research influence program changes and provide valuable information about college preparedness, particularly of first-generation college students.
  • Student Projects: These vary by term. Advanced research assistants (RAs) have the opportunity to propose new research. These projects are supervised by Dr. Cipra. RAs in this investigative role learn crucial skills in project design, coding, and presentation of work. A student project focused on adolescent career and life skills preparation is currently collecting data.
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