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Topic: Children/Youth Issues

Jennifer Bolton

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Jennifer Bolton, Ph.D., RDN, CLC, is a professor in the Department of Nutrition at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Her areas of expertise encompass school nutrition, infant and childhood feeding, prenatal nutrition, breastfeeding, initiating solids, promoting healthy foods for children, childhood obesity and trans-fat. She currently teaches Lifecycle Nutrition in the graduate program as well as Maternal and Child Nutrition, Introduction to Nutrition, and Medical Nutrition Therapy I and II in the undergraduate program. Her research is centered around infant feeding, childhood obesity, breastfeeding best practices, and medical nutrition therapy as well as the prevention of neural tube defects in developing countries.

In addition to teaching, Bolton currently works as a Clinical Dietitian at HealthONE as well as a Registered Dietitian for Project Wellness 365. She holds a Certified Lactation Counselor certification, further contributing to her multifaceted engagement in the field of nutrition and health.

Bolton earned a Doctorate in Food Science and Human Nutrition from Colorado State University, a Master’s in Nutrition from Illinois State University, and a Bachelors of Science from Arizona State University.

Jo Daugherty Bailey

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Jo Daugherty Bailey, Ph.D., is a is the associate dean at the College of Health and Human Sciences and and professor and program director of Master of Social Work program in the Department of Social Work at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

She joined MSU Denver in January 2013, after teaching as a faculty member at University of Houston-Downtown for over 10 years. Bailey has social work practice experience in adoption, clinical program research and grants management.

Her current research projects include analyses of policy and services for children without parental care in Eastern Europe, models of supervision, and undocumented migrants’ experiences. She has co-written journal articles, including most recently “The Threatening Troika of Populism, Nationalism, and Neoliberalism” in 2018 and “Sobresalir: The Undocumented Experience” in 2016.

Bailey received her doctorate and Master of Social Work from University of Houston and a master’s in sociology from University of Houston-Clear Lake.

Lisa Badanes

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Lisa Badanes, Ph.D., is a professor and the chair of the Department of Psychological Sciences at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

Badanes has been teaching since 2010. She previously worked as an instructor at Colorado State University and University of Denver. In addition, Badanes worked as a research associate at DU and a postdoctoral fellow at Developmental Psychobiology Research Group before joining MSU Denver. She is chair of the Institutional Review Board at MSU Denver.

Badanes has published many co-authored articles on her research including most recently for Early Childhood Research Quarterly titled “Evidence for a physiologic home-school gap in children of Latina immigrants.” Her research addresses the ways in which the experience of early life stress influences current life stress, depression/anxiety and academic success in college students. She has given many presentations on her research and areas of expertise both nationally and internationally.

Badanes received her doctorate and masters in developmental psychology from University of Denver in 2009 and 2006 respectively and a bachelor’s in psychology from University of Vermont, Burlington in 2001.

Kristen Atkinson

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Kristen Atkinson, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Social Work at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

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