The National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) has conferred its prestigious Fellow status on Donna Sollie, assistant provost for women's initiatives in the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs at Auburn University.

Dr. Sollie earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in sociology from Mississippi State University and the University of Kentucky, respectively, and her Ph.D. in family studies from the University of Tennessee. She began her career in academia as an assistant professor at Texas Tech University in 1979.

Dr. Sollie has a sustained record of research contributions in women and gender issues, social networks, and marital intimacy. Her co-authored book, Gender, Families, and Close Relationships: Feminist Research Journeys, provided a solid research-based text for college courses on gender issues and families. Her research has been published in many top-tier family and developmental research journals.

Dr. Sollie has received teaching awards at Texas Tech University and Auburn University. Her innovative approach to teaching includes an experiential model in which college students mentor middle school adolescent females so they can learn the dynamics of human development. She also assumed leadership in developing the doctoral program in Human Development and Family Studies at Auburn.

Dr. Sollie's service to the family science community includes sustained involvement with NCFR, where she has held several committee and member-group leadership positions and introduced many new members to the organization. Her service to the profession extends to many other organizations.

NCFR Fellow status is awarded to relatively few NCFR members on the basis of their outstanding and enduring contributions to family science, in areas including scholarship, teaching, outreach, practice, and professional service.

The National Council on Family Relations is the premier professional association for the multidisciplinary understanding of families. NCFR has a membership of more than 3,000 family researchers, practitioners and educators. For more information on NCFR or its scholarly publications, contact NCFR at 1-888-781-9331 or visit its website at www.ncfr.org.