The National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) is proud to recognize Dr. Katherine R. Allen as the 2016 recipient of the Ernest W. Burgess Award, which recognizes an NCFR member's outstanding scholarly achievement in the study of families. The recipient is chosen in recognition of continuous and meritorious contributions to theory and research in the family field.

Dr. Allen, who has been an NCFR member since 1978, is a professor of human development and family studies at Virginia Tech. She is a faculty affiliate of the Center for Gerontology, Faculty of Health Sciences, and the Women's and Gender Studies Program. She is an inaugural NCFR Fellow, as well as the inaugural recipient of NCFR's Alexis J. Walker Award for Lifetime Achievement in Feminist Family Studies.

Within NCFR, Dr. Allen has served three terms on the NCFR Board of Directors, and chaired the Elections Council, Fellows Committee, Feminism and Family Studies Section, and Qualitative Family Research Network Focus Group.

Dr. Allen has contributed extensively to the scholarship of Family Science teaching, qualitative research methods, feminist family studies, Family Science theories, and the connection between private experience and social science. Her most recent book, Family Theories: Foundations and Applications, is a comprehensive analysis of using theories to understand the diversity and complexity of families today.

Dr. Allen will be recognized for her achievements at the 2016 NCFR Annual Conference, Nov. 2-5 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she will give the Burgess Award Address.

Ernest W. Burgess, the namesake of this award, cofounded NCFR and was the organization's fourth president. He was a pioneer in his contributions to marriage and family research.

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 the National Council on Family Relations or its scholarly publications, visit the NCFR website at ncfr.org.