Source: Sandra Stith, 785-532-4377, sstith@k-state.edu
Photo available: http://www.k-state.edu/media/images/nov12/stith.jpg
Prepared by: Jane P. Marshall, 785-532-1519, jpm2@k-state.edu
Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013
Mark of excellence: Stith new fellow of the National Council on Family Relations
MANHATTAN -- Sandra M. Stith, director of the marriage and family therapy program at Kansas State University, has been awarded fellow status by the National Council on Family Relations.
An internationally recognized expert on family violence and the treatment of intimate partner violence, she holds the Vera Mowrey McAninch endowed professorship in the School of Family Studies and Human Services. She received her doctorate in marriage and family therapy from Kansas State University and also served as a professor, family therapist and supervisor at Virginia Tech.
Her book "Couples Therapy for Domestic Violence: Finding Safe Solutions" was published by the American Psychological Association. She has edited three books on intimate partner violence, is author of more than 60 articles and book chapters, and has received funding from the National Institutes of Health to develop and test a couple's treatment program for intimate partner violence.
Stith helps couples improve the way they deal with conflict by teaching them how to take a time out and how to calm themselves. She also helps them improve their relationships. Much of her work involves violence in military families.
"We do a lot of talking about ways you can hear what somebody you care about says and try to understand what's going on for them instead of taking it personally," she said. "The more personally you take it, the more you're going to want to be violent or hurtful."
Stith has received the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy's Outstanding Contribution to Marriage and Family Therapy Award, the American Family Therapy Association's Distinguished Contribution to Family Systems Research Award, Kansas State University's Distinguished College of Human Ecology Alumni Award and the College of Human Ecology's Faculty Research Excellence Award.
A former Peace Corps volunteer in Venezuela, Stith has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, Family Relations and the American Journal of Family Therapy.
"I'm honored by the selection as fellow and touched that my colleagues nominated me. I feel so fortunate to work with such supportive colleagues," Stith said.
"Dr. Stith keeps accumulating accolades and she deserves each of them," said Virginia Moxley, dean of the College of Human Ecology. "Her superior accomplishments in scholarship and teaching epitomize what this college is about. Dr. Stith's research and her roles as therapist and teacher have touched, changed and healed countless lives."
The National Council on Family Relations is the nation's premier professional association for the multidisciplinary understanding of families. The council has a membership of more than 3,600 family researchers, practitioners and educators.
