April 16, 2026
FPG is celebrating its 60th anniversary and so to help recognize this milestone, we will be looking back at stories that highlight FPG’s history, its people, and some of the incredible work accomplished within the Institute. For World Autism Month, this installment looks back at three news pieces illustrating our impact within the field of autism research.
April 15, 2026
A team of implementation specialists at the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute is behind a new and growing collection of practical, research-informed resources, the Implementation Capacity for Triple P (ICTP) Implementation Support Practice Action Guide Series.
April 14, 2026
To help celebrate FPG's 60th anniversary, we’ve been looking back at our history, our people, and their incredible work over the past six decades. A series of interviews with four former directors and our current director focus on what leading the Institute has meant to each of them. In this installment, we hear from Don Bailey.
April 10, 2026
To help celebrate the 60th anniversary of FPG, we will be looking back at stories that highlight our history, its people, and some of the incredible work accomplished within the Institute over the past six decades. This piece, from FPG’s Early Developments discusses FPG's child care center and how it was a model for inclusion.
April 6, 2026
To help celebrate the 60th anniversary of FPG, we’ve been creating special content to highlight our work and our people. A series of interviews with four former directors and our current director focus on what leading the Institute has meant to each of them. In this installment, we spoke to Sharon Landesman.
March 30, 2026
Mary Carmen Edwards is a research assistant with the Equity Research Action Coalition within FPG working to empower students and those who support them through practices of equity and inclusion. As part of our FPG profile series, we recently spoke with her to learn more about her work.
March 25, 2026
In March, FPG's Award Selection Committee named Hsiu-Wen Yang this year’s recipient of the Richard M. Clifford Fund for International Collaboration on Early Learning Environments award. Yang, a technical assistance specialist/research investigator at FPG, is deeply committed to supporting inclusive and equitable education and services for all young children.
March 19, 2026
FPG is committed to sharing the information generated by our projects and people with the public and to supporting professionals' understanding and use of evidence-based practices. One way we do this is by amplifying awareness of the numerous new publications our scientists, specialists, scholars, staff, and faculty fellows produce each year.
March 13, 2026
The theme of Women's History month this year is “Leading the Change: Women Shaping a Sustainable Future," which honors women who are reimagining and rebuilding systems to ensure long-term sustainability for the environment, the economy, and within education and social justice. To celebrate, we recognize all of the inspiring, industrious, and innovative women of FPG.
March 11, 2026
In partnership with the LaRAC Institute at the University of Grenoble Alpes in France, FPG is pleased to welcome Arina-Alma Susa to FPG, a doctoral student, who will be working with FPG’s National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) under the supervision of Ximena Franco-Jenkins, PhD.
March 9, 2026
The 2026 Barbara Hanna Wasik Distinguished Lecture features Melissa McWilliams, PhD, a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. McWilliams' clinical work focuses on supporting children and adolescents with various emotional and behavioral challenges, as well as their families.
March 5, 2026
To help celebrate the 60th anniversary of FPG, we will be looking back at stories that highlight FPG’s history, its people, and some of the incredible work accomplished within the Institute over the past six decades. This piece recounts FPG's early growth from the seeds John F. Kennedy planted the month before he was assassinated.
March 3, 2026
Executive functions are well-established predictors of academic and social outcomes in neurotypical children. Because it was unclear whether these same associations are true for children with autism spectrum disorder, a research team, using a multimeasurement approach to executive function skills, set out to find the answer.
February 25, 2026
In her most recent project—IDEAL PARTNERs—FPG Faculty Fellow Brianne Tomaszewski is collaborating with FPG Senior Research Scientist Ann Sam and FPG Senior Implementation Specialist Wendy Morgan to address barriers to employment through the development of advanced technology.
February 23, 2026
Thelma Harms, former director of curriculum development at FPG and a pioneering early childhood educator and researcher who helped define quality in early childhood classrooms worldwide, died on Feb. 15, 2026, in Los Angeles. She was 100.
February 20, 2026
FPG's Hsiu-Wen Yang and Wendy Morgan are among a group of researchers at UNC to receive the most recent Translating Innovative Ideas for the Public Good (TIIP) Awards. Their work will focus on using artificial intelligence to help early childhood educators plan and adapt learning activities for children with disabilities.
February 19, 2026
Recognizing the long-standing gap between research and classroom practice in special education, researchers at the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute have launched “Integrating AI and Evidence-Based Practices to Enhance Postsecondary Special Educators’ Preparation for Supporting Autistic Students.”
February 16, 2026
How does the learning environment foster a sense of belonging for every child? How does a teacher’s silence empower a child’s voice? These questions guided a recent site study in Japan, where FPG's Jani Kozlowski, partnered with Ryutaro Shintani, an assistant professor at Women’s College of Liberal Arts in Kyoto.
February 9, 2026
UNC School of Education faculty members Dorothy Espelage and Marisa Marraccini, in collaboration with Nationwide Children’s Hospital and additional partners, will lead NC efforts in a groundbreaking study aimed at reducing adolescent suicide-related risk through school-based prevention programs. Espelage is a faculty fellow at FPG.
February 5, 2026
Ximena Franco-Jenkins is a Senior Research Scientist at FPG and Co-Director of FPG's National Implementation Research Network. With more than 20 years of experience in research evaluation and implementation science, her work focuses on high-quality dual language programs, enhancing socio-emotional and academic outcomes for multilingual learners, and improving early childhood education quality.
