Wendy McLean Cooke, Ph.D., passed on February 11, 2023.

As an NCFR member, Dr. McLean Cooke served as chair of the Men in Families Focus Group. She presented at both the 2021 NCFR Conference and the 2022 NCFR Conference.

Dr. McLean Cooke earned her doctorate in child and family studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She was a member of the graduate senate at her alma mater and, in fact, was the only student that represented the Department of Child and Family Studies. Dr. McLean Cooke facilitated several presentations, to include the child and family studies LEAD seminar series, which focused on conducting research among populations and communities that have been marginalized by society. Dr. McLean Cooke was a McClure Scholarship recipient, which recognizes students’ work in promoting global education and international research. She received the Access and Diversity Graduate Fellowship, as well as the Hazel Taylor Spitze Graduate Fellowship from the Graduate School at UT. She presented her scholarship at the Association of Caribbean Social Work Educators.

Dr. McLean Cooke was a lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Psychology & Social Work at the University of West Indies. She taught undergraduate and graduate students for several years and held multiple administrative and service roles.

Dr. McLean Cooke made significant contributions to Family Life Education publishing in the Journal of Sexual Aggression, the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Social and Economic Studies, and the Caribbean Journal of Social Work. Dr. McLean Cooke’s scholarship included family research from a father’s point of view and really focused on centering fathers’ voices, specifically fathering in Caribbean families and stepfamilies, transnational migration, and child sexuality.

In addition to being a devoted Family Scientist and qualitative researcher, Dr. McLean Cooke was a proud Jamaican, loving mother, devoted wife, lifelong friend to all who knew her, lover of plants and nature, and a caring and compassionate mentor and colleague.

You can view a video of her memorial service here.

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