SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA — The National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) is delighted to announce that Katherine R. Allen, Ph.D., has been named the next editor of Journal of Family Theory & Review (JFTR), one of NCFR’s three family-research journals. She will begin a four-year term as editor of the peer-reviewed, quarterly journal — which publishes original contributions in all areas of family theory — with the publication of its March 2023 issue.

The editor search committee was impressed by Dr. Allen’s extensive list of creative ideas to innovate JFTR, possible future topics, potential authors, and “her unbridled enthusiasm for the editorship.” Dr. Allen will succeed current JFTR Editor Mark A. Fine, Ph.D., of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Dr. Allen is a professor emerita of Human Development and Family Science at Virginia Tech, where she served on faculty since 1989. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut and a master’s degree and doctorate from Syracuse University.

Dr. Allen has contributed extensively to the scholarship of Family Science teaching, qualitative research methods, feminist family studies, and Family Science theories. She has written eight books and more than 200 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and reviews. Most notably, her textbook, Family Theories: Foundations and Applications, is a comprehensive analysis of using theories to understand the diversity and complexity of families today.

She has unparalleled experience as an editor in the Family Science discipline, having reviewed for more than 50 journals, been on the editorial boards of all three NCFR journals, and served as deputy editor of NCFR’s Journal of Marriage and Family.

Dr. Allen has been active for over 40 years at NCFR, serving three terms on the NCFR Board of Directors. She has also chaired the Elections Council, Fellows Committee, Feminism and Family Studies Section, Qualitative Family Research Network Focus Group, and served as Annual Conference Program Chair. She is an inaugural NCFR Fellow, and the inaugural recipient of NCFR's Alexis J. Walker Award for Lifetime Achievement in Feminist Family Studies. She is also a recipient of the prestigious Ernest W. Burgess Award, which recognizes an NCFR member's outstanding scholarly achievement in the study of families.

In their letters of recommendation, Abbie Goldberg, Ph.D., praised Dr. Allen as visionary: “Her ideas for JFTR are exciting and well-conceived. She does not just “dream up” visions but takes seriously their implementation.” April Few-Demo, Ph.D., professor and head of Human Development and Family Science at Virginia Tech noted that Dr. Allen “genuinely cares about diversity, inclusion, and equity and she has a career of scholarship that demonstrates these values.” Dr. Goldberg concluded, “Under [Dr. Allen’s] innovative and powerful leadership, JFTR will continue to establish itself as a leading Family Science journal.”

The National Council on Family Relations is the premier professional association for understanding and strengthening families through interdisciplinary research, theory, and practice. For more information on the National Council on Family Relations or its scholarly publications, including the Journal of Family Theory & Review, visit the NCFR website at ncfr.org.