Introducing Maine SSN Policy Fellows

Patricia Goodhines joined the Clinical Psychology faculty at University of Maine Orono in Fall of 2022. Patricia's health psychology research program focuses on the dynamic interplay of substance use and sleep across human development. Her primary interest areas include youth risk mechanisms and sociodemographic disparities, especially as affecting rural communities. Goodhines' lab utilizes intensive longitudinal designs, advanced statistical techniques, and ambulatory technology for measurement and modeling of health risk behaviors in daily life. Ultimately, these findings may inform targeted prevention and intervention efforts to curtail systemic inequities and benefit community health. Outside of work, she enjoy hiking, live music, and community volunteering.

Kimberly Simmons, PhD is a sociologist with more than 25 years of teaching experience. Her interests include social movements, the diversity of tactics that activists use and strategies for sustaining activism over historical and biographical time. In recent years, Simmons has served on the board of Maine Boys to Men and focused on Title IX and sexual violence prevention. Simmons is currently a board member with I'm Your Neighbor Books and a volunteer with the Paid Leave for Maine campaign, and the online group "Feminist Portland" as well as a member of the Scholar Strategy Network's Maine chapter.

Lauren Stark is an Assistant Professor of Education at the University of Maine at Augusta. She completed her PhD in the social foundations of education at the University of Virginia after spending nine years teaching secondary English, ELL, French, and Humanities in public schools. She has taught educational foundations and methods courses at the University of Virginia, Bowdoin College, and the University of Maine at Augusta. Her research interests include teacher learning and knowledge production, critical pedagogy, social justice education, teachers’ work and teachers’ unions, and teacher and student engagement in social movements.

Rebecca Edelman, Ph.D., NCC, is an Assistant Professor in the Graduate Counseling and Human Relations Program at Husson University. She obtained her doctorate from the University of Wyoming in Counselor Education and Supervision and her MA in Counseling from Wake Forest University, focusing on school counseling. Previously, she has worked in school, college, and clinical settings in NC and WY. Her research areas relate to school counselor role and development, DEI, social justice, and Deaf culture in schools. She is a very proud dog mom and enjoys hiking and nature photography.

Kelsi G. Hobbs is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Maine. Her current research focuses on residential instability, but she is more broadly interested in issues that affect low- to moderate-income families. She graduated with her PhD in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) in May 2021. She received her MA in Applied Economics from UNCG in 2016. Prior to graduate school, Hobbs worked for Impact Alabama (now Impact America), an organization that aids communities in Alabama through health, economic, and education programs. She received her BA in Economics and her BA in Religion from Davidson College in 2009. She is a native of Portsmouth, NH.