Russell B. Toomey, Ph.D.
Professor, Human Development & Family Science, Interim Director, Institute for LGBT Studies
Degrees: B.S., Child & Family Studies, Ohio University, M. A. Family Studies, Ph.D. Family Studies and Human Development, The University of Arizona
Click here for more information on Dr. Toomey’s publications and presentations
Dr. Toomey is on twitter: @russtoomey
Graduate Research Assistants
Zhenqiang Zhao, MS, Human Development and Family Science, University of Arizona
Graduate Research Assistant
Academic Program: Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Science
UA E-mail: zzhao9@email.arizona.edu
Degrees: Bachelor of Science in Psychology, Wuhan University
Hometown: Yanji, China
I am a fourth-year doctoral student in the Department of Human Development and Family Science. I have been working with Dr. Russell Toomey in various projects. I am personally interested in studying disclosure and concealment of sexual orientation and gender identity among youth, contexts and factors that contribute to the disclosure/concealment decision and how SGM youth can survive and thrive through disclosure and concealment processes. I am particularly interested in studying youth with multiple marginalized and underrepresented identities.
Alexandria Pech
Academic Program: Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Science
UA Email: alexandriapech@email.arizona.edu
Degrees: M.S., Family Studies and Human Development; B.A. Psychology and Human Development
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Alexandria S. Pech is a doctoral student in Human Development and Family Science (HDFS) at the University of Arizona. She also holds a Master of Science degree in HDFS at the University of Arizona. As a directly impacted scholar, Alexandria uses her experiential knowledge, as a daughter who grew up with an incarcerated father, to inform her work. That is, her work explores how the punishment system impacts youth of incarcerated parents during, across, and beyond adolescence, and across various contexts such as school, family, and community. Her dissertation seeks to use counterstories to deconstruct the gendered, racialized, and heteronormative experiences of familial incarceration by centering the voices of adolescent Girls of Color experiencing their loved one’s incarceration. She is on the planning committee for the 2020 National Children of Incarcerated Parents conference and holds various leadership positions with We Got Us Now, a national movement built by, led by and about children & young adults impacted by parental incarceration and American Friends Service Committee-Arizona.
Sydney Hainsworth
Academic Program: M.S. in Human Development and Family Science
UA Email: hainsworth@arizona.edu
Degrees: B.S.ed Youth and Social Innovation and Psychology
Hometown:Charlottesville, VA
Sydney Hainsworth (she/they) is a master’s student in Human Development and Family Science at The University of Arizona. Their work focuses on sexual orientation and gender identity development and what role media and online communities play in the identity development process. She is specifically interested in the identity development of bisexual and non-binary adolescents and young adults. Their master’s thesis compares the sexual orientation identity development of monosexual and plurisexual Latinx youth.
Former Graduate Students of the Lab
Maura Shramko, Ph.D.: 2018-2020 Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Minnesota Department of Pediatrics
Sei Eun Kim, Ph.D.: Postdoctoral Fellow, Columbia University
Matthew Austin, Ph.D.: Lecturer, University of Arizona
Current Undergraduate Research Assistants
Former Research Assistants
Aylin Angulo (2015)
Astrid Hernandez (2015-2016)
Kelsey Brewster (2016)
Lauren Gouker (2016)
Nikki Gin (2016)
Emily Brangwin (2016-2017)
Clara Etscheid (2016-2017)
Alexis Curiel (2017)
Madison Taylor (2017-2018)
Miranda Weiss (2018)
Kayla Munger (2018)
Samantha Tankenoff (2018)
Tichina Mayberry (2018)
Akili Glass (2018)
Max Lim (2018)
Kylee York (2018)
Arielle Katz (2018-2019)
Former Undergraduate Honor Students:
Rachel Shulla (2016-2017)
Current and Recent Collaborators
Dr. Karla Anhalt, Kent State University
Dr. Sheri Bauman, The University of Arizona
Dr. Virginia Huynh, California State University, Northridge
Dr. Christi McGeorge, North Dakota State University
Dr. Stephen Russell, The University of Texas at Austin
Dr. Cassie Storlie, Kent State University
Dr. Amy Syvertsen, Search Institute
Dr. Adriana Umaña-Taylor, Arizona State University
Contact us:
Email: toomey@email.arizona.edu
Phone: 621-4009