Dana McDermott, PhD, CFLE, is on the faculty at the School for New Learning at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, one of the premier programs in the country for adult learners. She received her doctorate in Human Development from Loyola University-Chicago and is a nationally certified family life educator. She has worked for more than three decades in the Chicago area, nationally, and internationally (most recently Australia) in the area of the growth and development of parents. In Chicago she has been involved in minority parent leadership and in implementing and evaluating parent education programs for children in pre K-12 schools and for their parents. Having described a theoretical framework of optimal parent and child development, Dr. McDermott received a grant to develop a Center for Parent Growth and Development within a pre K-12 school. This theory to practice research model is described in her new book Developing Caring Relationships among parents, children, schools and communities (2008).

Dr. McDermott serves on two national boards: Prepare Tomorrow's Parents, an organization dedicated to promoting and supporting the teaching of caring/parenting in schools, and the National Parenting Education Network, dedicated to supporting parenting educators in their work. In 1995 she was involved in launching NPEN to elevate the field of parenting education. In response to the challenge from the Carnegie Foundation for Higher Education to develop graduate programs in this emerging field she developed and coordinates the Masters of Arts in Applied Professional Studies in Parenting Education and Support at DePaul. She recently edited a volume of Child Welfare describing the advances in the field of parenting education and support. In that volume she also reports on her most recent research which focuses on the impact of parenting young adults aged 18-34 on their parents.

Dr. McDermott also consults with schools and parent groups in the areas of parenting, gender relationships, teaching caring, social and emotional development of children, and violence prevention. She is a member of several professional organizations, including the National and Illinois Councils on Family Relations.