Staff Profile: Dawn KurtzJuly 28, 2010 |
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 Dawn Kurtz is a senior program officer in First 5 LA’s new Program DevelopmentDepartment. Over the past five years, Dawn has served in both our Planning and Development Department and Grants Management and Legal Compliance Department, where she oversaw First 5 LA’s early childhood education (ECE) investments. These include Los Angeles Universal Preschool, High School Recruitment, Family Literacy and Family, Friends & Neighbors. In her new position, Dawn will oversee the ECE Workforce Development Policy Project and a recently approved countywide Workforce Development Initiative as well as many of her previous duties. Dawn was born and raised in Baldwin Park, along with her younger sister. She attended California State University, Los Angeles, and received her bachelor’s degree in psychology and was a fellow at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City. She then studied developmental psychology and earned her Ph.D. at the University of Southern California (USC). Many of Dawn’s previous positions have been at or affiliated with a university. Early in her career she served as a research assistant both at Cal State LA and in the School of Social Work at USC, and was a graduate teaching assistant at USC in the psychology department. Dawn was also an adjunct professor at Whittier College, where she taught courses in early childhood education, and she was a lecturer at Cal State LA, where she taught courses in psychology and child development. During graduate school Dawn also served as a project coordinator at the University Affiliated Program at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles for four years. Her duties included planning and supervising data collection and analysis on multiple projects pertaining to developmental disabilities. Prior to coming to First 5 LA, Dawn served as the project director for the Young Adolescent Project at USC where she played an active role in the design and development of a federally- funded research study which focused on the impact of abuse and neglect on adolescent development. A published author, Dawn has presented several times at the Society for Research on Child Development. She and her husband Rowan live in Chino Hills with their two children, Sean, 6, and Savannah, 3. She also has a stepdaughter, Carissa, who is currently attending San Francisco State University. Click below to hear our interview with Dawn. |
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