Research Associates

Stephan M. Wilson

Professor and Dean, College of Human Sciences
Oklahoma State University
106 HES
Stillwater, OK 74078

Office Phone: 405-744-9805
Email: stephan.m.wilson@okstate.edu

Areas of Expertise

Adolescent social competence across cultures, family and other influences on youth connectedness/separateness, required adult social skills, self-esteem, and achievement, family social capital influences on developmental and status attainment outcomes

Population of Interest

Rural and Appalachian families, cross cultural families

Bio

Stephan M. Wilson is the dean of the College of Human Sciences at Oklahoma State University. Prior to this appointment in January of 2008, he served as senior associate dean and professor in the College of Health and Human Sciences at the University of Nevada Reno (UNR). He also served as chair of the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at UNR and interim director of the Nevada Center for Ethics and Health Policy and co-director of the SAGE Consortium (Scholars for Aging and Ethics).

At OSU, Wilson oversees the work of three departments and one school that provide bachelor of science degrees in 13 areas of study, master of science degrees in 11 fields of study and Ph.D. degrees with specialization in one of four functional areas. The college is also a member of the Great Plains Interactive Alliance (Great Plains IDEA), offering three online master of science degree programs.

Wilson graduated Cum Laude from Wabash College with a bachelor’s with double majors in biology and philosophy. He received a master of science degree in child and family studies and a Ph.D. in human ecology from the University of Tennessee.

Prior to UNR, Wilson was acting chair and later director of graduate studies in the Department of Family Studies and director of the Research Center for Families and Children at the University of Kentucky. In addition, he has held faculty positions at Virginia Tech, Illinois State University and Montana State University where he was the acting department chair of the Department of Health and Human Development and director of Human Development and Counseling.

He served the U.S. Peace Corps as a teacher in Kenya, and returned 22 years later with his family to teach at Kenyatta University in Nairobi as a Visiting Senior Fulbright Scholar. Recently, he has led the OSU campus committee and the seven university (5 East African 2 US) efforts to establish a Consortium of African and United States Educators (CAUSE) to increase the capacity of higher education in East Africa initially focusing on food and nutritional security.

Wilson has served on the editorial board and as a guest editor for “Marriage and Family Review” and the editorial board for “Family Relations” and has reviewed for many other scholarly journals. Most recently, his research program has focused on adolescent social competence across cultures, examining family and other influences on youth connectedness/separateness, required adult social skills, self-esteem, and achievement. Other areas of his research have included rural and Appalachian families, cross cultural families and family social capital influences on developmental and status attainment outcomes. He is the author of many papers and books and has presented his findings to myriad national and international conferences.

As a Fellow of the National Council on Family Relations, Wilson’s lifetime contributions to cross-cultural and cross-national family studies were honored by the NCFR with the presentation of the Jan Trost Award.

Wilson is a member of Phi Kappa Phi, the Society for Research on Adolescence, the International Society for the Study of Personal Relationships, the American Association for Family and Consumer Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Omicron Nu.

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