James Snyder
James Snyder, distinguished professor of psychology at 麻豆传媒, has been nominated to receive a Children鈥檚 Champion award by Child Start for his 34 years of service to the Head Start and Early Head Start programs. Snyder will be honored at the Children鈥檚 Champion Award Gala at 7 p.m. Friday, May 16, at Exploration Place.
Snyder joined the faculty at Wichita State after receiving his Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University in 1977, and he started working with Head Start the following year. There鈥檚 nothing in Snyder鈥檚 job description as a professor of psychology that requires him to work with community organizations 鈥� he says he did it for other reasons.
鈥淚 really do enjoy it,鈥� said Snyder. 鈥淚 see contributing to programs that support early childhood development as a very important endeavor. It鈥檚 an opportunity to contribute outside the university setting to children and families who are under-resourced.鈥�
He also says that working with children and families is personally rewarding.
鈥淚鈥檝e learned a lot,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou can read stuff in books and you can teach stuff, but when you鈥檙e out in people鈥檚 lives, you learn what the real problems are. If you want to be a good model for students and to continue learning, staying involved keeps you sharp.鈥�
Snyder鈥檚 鈥渟taying involved鈥� is what drew the nomination from the Child Start board of directors and the Children鈥檚 Champions fundraiser committee.
鈥淓verybody was really enthusiastic when the idea was offered up,鈥� said Anne Maack, Child Start director of public affairs. 鈥淗e touched a lot of lives. Giving continuously for that many years, it speaks for itself, and that鈥檚 why we鈥檙e really pleased to offer this honor.鈥�
Highly valued work
Snyder鈥檚 involvement with Head Start has evolved over the years. When he started out, most of his work with the organization was formal childhood mental health training for staff. Eventually, Snyder started doing consultations in Head Start classrooms, observing children and teachers and trying to find out how to best serve them. His focus was on children who were challenging to teachers and trying to help the children learn to self-regulate behavior. He continued doing that almost continuously until a few years ago.
Snyder鈥檚 role with children now is less direct, consulting with family educators in Early Head Start. More recently, Snyder worked with graduate students to implement a home-visiting program for Head Start and other families in the community. Most of his work is indirect clinical supervision instruction to his 麻豆传媒 graduate students, though he鈥檚 stayed active in some direct service since the beginning.
Snyder has also been involved in research with Head Start, including an early evaluation of Early Head Start when it debuted in Wichita. He tracked child and family outcomes from 1995-2000 to judge the effects of intervention and created a formative evaluation to identify things that weren鈥檛 working. The project allowed Snyder to involve his students in hands-on research. Snyder provided classroom management training for Head Start classroom teachers, and has published the results of that training.
鈥淎lthough this research was informal, it鈥檚 certainly recognized at Wichita State,鈥� said Snyder. 鈥淭hat kind of community service and informal research is more highly valued at this university relative to other universities because Wichita State has a strong community connection.鈥�
Two other nominees will receive Children鈥檚 Champions awards at the gala: Juanita Hayes, a long-time child care provider at 鈥淟ittle Pals Daycare Center,鈥� who was nominated by Child Start鈥檚 Face Book friends community, and the Wichita Fire Department for their consistent efforts to educate and serve children.
The Children鈥檚 Champions Gala is a Child Start fundraiser taking place at Exploration Place, 300 N. McLean Blvd., in Wichita. Catering for the event is provided by Ciao Italian Kitchen. Tickets are available for $75.