Professional News

UK's Mary Howard Selected as Children’s Mental Health Champion

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 18, 2020) — The Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has selected Mary Howard, a University of Kentucky Human Development Institute (HDI) research and development associate for early care and education, as a Children’s Mental Health Champion. 

Howard is one of six people selected for this opportunity to serve as a state liaison to the CDC’s Children’s Mental Health program. She will act as community champion change agent to increase awareness activities and improvement of positive parenting practices, develop and test strategies for building partnerships to promote identification, screening, referral, and intervention and implement effective strategies for mental health promotion, prevention supports, and creation of networks (e.g., school, health care and community) and promote better connections between these systems. 

Howard serves as the director of Child Care Aware of Kentucky and has a network of potential partners serving children and their families across the Commonwealth. 

Kathy Sheppard-Jones, HDI’s executive director, says “We’ve known Mary as a champion for early childhood for many years. This new role is so important in bridging mental health needs for our littlest Kentuckians. Having an opportunity for dialogue at a national level will help strengthen families in the Commonwealth.”

In addition to Kentucky, individuals were selected to represent California, Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia and Washington, D.C. You can learn more about the CDC’s Children’s Mental Health Program at www.cdc.gov/childrensmentalhealth/index.html and AUCD at www.aucd.org.

As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.   

In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.