The National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) is proud to recognize Shawn Mendez as the 2016 recipient of the Jessie Bernard Outstanding Research Proposal from a Feminist Perspective Award, which is given to a graduate student or new professional who has demonstrated excellence in research and potential contribution to feminist scholarship. Her paper is titled "Parenting Processes in Mixed Race LGB Parent Families of Color: Racial Socialization and Queer Socialization."

Ms. Mendez is a doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, working under the supervision of Dr. Ramona Faith Oswald. She is a member of the planning committee for the annual LGBTQ Research Symposium, and an instructor in the Department of Human Development & Family Studies. Her research program focuses on the ways that race, sexuality, gender, and class are interrelated, negotiated, and context dependent. Her dissertation project addresses the relative dearth of research about racial and sexual minorities by focusing on the processes of racial and queer socialization in mixed race LGB-parent families and LGB-parent families of color. Her teaching is guided by a commitment to social justice, and accessible, student-centered learning environments.

Ms. Mendez will be recognized for her achievements at the 2016 NCFR Annual Conference, Nov. 2 - 5 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Jessie Bernard, the namesake of the award, is a former NCFR Board of Directors member and a pioneer in the field of feminist family studies. She declared herself a feminist in 1970 and is known for her celebrated description of "his" and "her" marriages.

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.