Top scholar picked to lead UF's early-child education initiatives

August 29, 2007

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A leading scholar in early childhood education and care has been named to a new endowed chair at UF’s College of Education.

Patricia Snyder is the first occupant of the David Lawrence Jr. Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Studies, a prestigious research and teaching post named for a UF distinguished alumnus honoree.

UF created the $1.5 million endowed chair last year, hoping to attract a world-class scholar to lead collaborative, cross-disciplinary research and develop programs addressing the complex needs of children from before birth to entering kindergarten. Snyder’s work and leadership in linking public and private sectors on behalf of early education and care spans nearly 30 years, most recently at the Center for Child Development at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (2005-07) and the Louisiana State University Health Science Center’s School of Allied Health Professions (1984-2005).

Lawrence, the namesake of Snyder’s new professorship, retired in 1999 as publisher of The Miami Herald. The 1963 UF journalism graduate now is president of the Early Childhood Initiative Foundation in Miami and joined the UF faculty in 2001 as the University Scholar for Early Childhood Development and Readiness.

Snyder’s leadership experience in interdisciplinary research was a key factor in her selection, according to UF Education Dean Catherine Emihovich.

“About a third of all children begin kindergarten already behind,” Emihovich said. “There is a growing recognition of the need for collaborative, policy-oriented approaches to fully address the complex needs of children from before birth to age 5. As the first David Lawrence Chair holder, Dr. Snyder will help to bridge the existing research gap in early childhood development.”