NCFR member, Katrina A.R. Akande, Ph.D., passed away on April 29 at the age of 55. Dr. Akande had been a member of NCFR since 2017.

Dr. Akande earned a master's in community counseling from Eastern Kentucky University, and a doctorate in Family Sciences from the University of Kentucky. She was assistant professor and extension specialist in the Department of Human Development and Family Science at Auburn University. She also owned Akande Consulting.

Dr. Akande's research interests included Black males' father involvement, healthy coparenting relationships, parent-child relationships, and youth vulnerabilities. She published extensively on parenthood, fatherhood, racial socialization, and Black fathers. She was a member of the presidential task force for opportunity and equity, as well as the equity & social justice center, and the institute for African American and Black Studies, both subcommittees of the task force. She was the principal investigator (PI) on two fatherhood grants funded by the Alabama Department of Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention as well as the Alabama Department of Human Resources.

Dr. Akande is remembered for being a devoted mother. She took pride in being of service to others as a caring and generous individual, highly influential, and a true force of nature. 

At NCFR, she was a frequent contributor to Family Focus, and presented at NCFR annual conferences, participating at TCRM sessions, poster topics, paper sessions, symposia, roundtables and resource exchanges.

You can read her full obituary here.

If you learn of an NCFR member who has passed away, please email [email protected]