Rudd Family Foundation Chair in Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
Hal Grotevant is the inaugural holder of the Rudd Family Foundation Chair in Psychology and the founding director of the Rudd Adoption Research Program at UMass Amherst. The work of this position connects adoption research with policy and practice through conferences, workshops, graduate and postdoctoral training, and stimulation of research activities. Dr. Grotevant received his Ph.D. from the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota (1977) and served on the faculties of the University of Texas at Austin (1977 – 1989) and the University of Minnesota (1990 – 2008) before coming to UMass Amherst in 2008. His research focuses on relationships in adoptive families, and on identity development in adolescents and young adults. His work has resulted in over 175 articles and chapters as well as several books, including Openness in Adoption: Exploring Family Connections (with Ruth McRoy, Sage Publications, 1998). He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and the National Council on Family Relations; member of the Board of the Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange (MARE); member of the Board of Creating a Family; former Board President of Adoptive Families of America; former Board member of the North American Council on Adoptable Children; and recipient of research, teaching, mentoring, outreach, and educational leadership awards. He received the 2009 Outstanding Faculty for Outreach and Engagement Award from the College of Natural Sciences, UMass Amherst. In 2012, he was honored as the Outstanding Scholar in Adoption by the Adoption Initiative of St. John’s University and Montclair State University. In 2016, he delivered the UMass Amherst 2015-16 Distinguished Faculty Lecture and received the Chancellor’s Medal. In 2022, he received the Children First and Always Award from the Center for Advanced Practice, Adoption Rhode Island (see link below to brief video). He directs the Minnesota / Texas Adoption Research Project, which examines outcomes for adopted children whose families vary in terms of contact with their birth relatives. This longitudinal study, begun with Dr. Ruth McRoy in the mid-1980s, has followed the children and their families into young adulthood.
"Children First and Always Award"