Ana Villalobos selected for Early Careers Scholar Program

A social and virtual connector for interdisciplinary work-family researchers

Ana Villalobos, a lecturer in the department of sociology was selected for the Early Career Scholars Program of the Work and Family Researchers Network, which is sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and held at the University of Pennsylvania. She will receive a stipend and attend an international conference next June, the first of its kind.

“It is very prestigious and is truly geared toward professional development of junior faculty,” says Professor Karen Hansen, sociology department chair. “They provide feedback on each other's work, teleconference, and create a global community of scholars interested in the issues. Ana is excited about it and we are delighted that she has been so honored.”

According to Penn News, the University of Pennsylvania news site, The Work and Family Researchers Network is a social and virtual connector for interdisciplinary work-family researchers. The new network builds on the well established Alfred P. Sloan Work and Family Research Network that has operated at Boston College since 1997. Sloan Foundation support will enable the current network to transition from a foundation-funded project to a sustainable organization enhancing future work-family scholarship.


“This represents an exciting new stage for the Work and Family Research Network,” Kathleen E. Christensen, foundation program director, said. “This is a new and unique model for professional societies that includes an innovative open-access web platform that will provide a new level of community in which scholars can share their work and ideas at all stages of development.”

According to the Sloan and Family research Network, the selection process proved to be very challenging, as nearly all of the candidates were well-suited to the intent of the program; the centrality of work-family concerns on research and teaching, the interest in the various components of the program and the promise of scholarship relative to that of others in one’s graduating cohort.

“I’m very excited to be welcomed in to the community of scholars who are at the frontiers of work family research,” says Villalobos.