Sixty years after its founding, the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) held a celebratory anniversary event, which opened with remarks from FPG's Director, Brian Boyd, PhD. "Today, we gather to celebrate a truly remarkable milestone: the 60th anniversary of the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute. Six decades ago, a small group of scientists shared a vision—a vision to conduct research that would make a difference in children's lives, support families, and inform public policy," said Boyd. "Standing here now, as I consider our 60-year journey, I know we celebrate not just an anniversary, but countless lives changed, new knowledge gained and disseminated, evidence-based practices implemented, and the resilience our Institute has shown through changing—and sometimes challenging—times."

"Standing here now, as I consider our 60-year journey, I know we celebrate not just an anniversary, but countless lives changed, new knowledge gained and disseminated, evidence-based practices implemented, and the resilience our Institute has shown through changing—and sometimes challenging—times." ~ Brian Boyd

Researchers, partners, and leaders were gathered to reflect on a legacy that has helped shape early childhood research, policy, and practice—and to ask what the field now owes the next generation. The answers that emerged throughout the anniversary celebration, which took place in April, were ambitious and deeply human: Research must be collaborative, policy must be grounded in lived experience, and lasting progress for children and families requires both urgency and imagination.

Across panel conversations and a distinguished lecture, speakers returned again and again to the same idea: Children’s lives are shaped not by any single program or discipline, but by the relationships, systems, and conditions surrounding them. From developmental science and qualitative research to artificial intelligence, equity and North Carolina’s early childhood systems, the day’s conversations framed FPG’s 60th anniversary as more than a commemoration. It became a call to keep building research that is useful, inclusive, and capable of leading to real change.

That theme came into focus early in a panel on early childhood development, where speakers urged the field to move beyond siloed approaches. FPG External Advisory Board (EAB) member, Natalie Slopen, ScD, emphasized the need for collaboration across disciplines and for systems that close gaps for children and families with the greatest needs. Michelle Sarche, PhD, who is also an FPG EAB member, turned attention to the interaction among family, school and policy environments, saying researchers must ensure that “this data maps on to the lives of the people we are trying to affect with our research.” She also underscored the value of qualitative data in capturing the complexity of children’s experiences and helping researchers tell a fuller, more accurate story.

That emphasis on context carried into a discussion of emerging technology. FPG Faculty Fellow Iheoma Iruka, PhD, cautioned against treating innovation as a substitute for deeper structural change. “You can’t change society if we don’t address the root of the issue,” she said, urging researchers to think carefully about who benefits from new tools and who may be left out. When data already reflects bias or imbalance, she noted, technology can intensify those problems rather than solve them. At the same time, she called for broader global perspectives and more reciprocal ways of learning across countries and cultures.

The celebration’s historical throughline came into even sharper focus during the distinguished lecture by Cynthia Garcia Coll, PhD, a developmental psychologist and adjunct professor in the Pediatrics Department at the University of Puerto Rico, and the Charles Pitts Robinson and John Palmer Barstow Professor Emerita at Brown University, who reflected on both her own career and the evolution of developmental science while highlighting key chapters in FPG’s history. Her remarks touched on landmark work involving the Abecedarian Project, home visiting programs, child care quality, and children with disabilities. She challenged the field’s longstanding reliance on deficit-based models and argued for a fuller understanding of culture and context, reminding the audience that “science is not an ivory tower.” Her lecture reinforced one of the day’s defining questions: Who is in the room, who holds the power, and whose experiences are recognized in the research itself?

From there, the conversation turned toward North Carolina’s early childhood landscape and the conditions needed to build a more stable and equitable system for children, families, and the workforce. FPG EAB member James Ford, PhD, described children’s well-being as something larger than any one program or sector, saying, “We need to view these things as something that is essential to society.” Amy Stephens Cubbage, JD, who is also an FPG EAB member, emphasized relationships and local context, while Robin Jenkins, PhD, a former senior implementation specialist at FPG, highlighted sustainable funding, workforce development, and the need to treat child care and early education as a public good. Together, their comments underscored FPG’s long-standing role in connecting research, practice, and policy in ways that can shape lives across the state.

As today’s program comes to a close, I want to take a moment to look toward the future. I hope you’ll join me in considering this, our 60th anniversary, as a sort of launchpad. Together, let us look toward a future of continued innovation and service to new generations of children and their families. No doubt, there will continue to be unexpected challenges. But I am certain there will also be novel opportunities that enable us to continue generating knowledge, informing policies, and supporting practices to promote positive developmental and educational outcomes for children of all backgrounds and all abilities for many, many more years to come. 

By the end of the celebration, the message was clear: FPG’s history matters not only because of what it has accomplished, but because of what it makes possible now. FPG Director Brian Boyd, PhD, invited attendees to think of the 60th anniversary as “a sort of launch pad,” a moment to ask how researchers, practitioners, and partners can work together to improve lives for the next generation. It was a fitting close to a day that honored the Institute’s legacy while insisting that its future—like the future of the children and families it serves—must be built through collaboration, courage, and a deep commitment to human dignity.