About our authors Dr. Clara Gerhardt MBA Ph. D. is professor and past chair of the Department of Human Development and Family Science at Samford University. She is a clinical psychologist and a licensed marriage and family therapist as well as a certified family life educator. Among her many publications she contributed several entries to the Encyclopedia of Family Studies (Wiley 2016). She documented the history of family therapy in two book chapters. She writes a regular guest column for a publication of the National Council on Family Relations and serves as contributing editor for one of their publications. Dr. Gerhardt has twice served as chair of a State Board of Examiners in Psychology. She teaches university courses on parenting counseling foundations and multicultural perspectives. As an internship supervisor she mentors child life and preschool education specialists. Dr. Gerhardt has professionally presented on six continents traveled to over 60 countries and speaks five languages fluently. Her practical training is constantly updated by being a parent and a grandparent. Jerry J. Bigner Ph. D. was a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins CO and retired in 2004 after 36 years of service in higher education. He taught undergraduate and graduate courses in the areas of life-span human development parent-child relations theories of human development and family studies marriage and family relationships early childhood education and research methods in human development and family studies. He also completed all course work and practicum requirements in marriage and family therapy and worked towards licensure in this area. His text Parent-Child Relations is now in its 9th edition and he published two texts in life-span human development and family studies. He is the author or co-author of over 50 research articles focusing primarily on parent-child relations as well as relationship and family therapy issues. He was Editor of the Journal of GLBT Family Studies and served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy. He was a research member of the American Family Therapy Academy and was a member of the National Council on Family Relations. Dr. Bigner was a 2005 Centennial Laureate Award recipient of the College of Human Sciences Florida State University. He also was the 2007 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient of the College of Human Sciences Florida State University. . Language: English