Foundation Board of Advisors
Mary E. Walsh; Ph.D., B.A.
Dr. Walsh is currently a Daniel Kearns Professor of Education and Innovative Leadership at the Boston College School of Education in Chesnut Hill, MA. She also directs the Boston College Center for Child, Family, and Community Partnerships which joins the resources of the schools of education, law, social work, nursing and management in community collaborations that enhance the academic and healthy development of youth. Earlier, Dr. Walsh was director of behavioral sciences in the department of family and community medicine at University of Massachusetts Medical School. She has been a leading collaborator in "Boston Connects" a school-community-university partnership directed at addressing non-academic barriers to learning and promoting healthy development in school children. The YMCA of Greater Boston serves as the lead community agency in this effort. With support from the New Balance Foundation, the Boston Connects program has recently initiated the provision of regular health education to over 3300 children in school and after-school settings. Dr. Walsh has published and presented widely in the area of school-community supports for schoolchildren and their families. Her two most recent books are Children, Health and Learning and Meeting at the Hyphen: Schools-Universities-Communities-Professions in Collaboration for Student Achievement and Well-Being (co-authored with M. Brabeck). Dr. Walsh holds a Ph.D. degree in clinical-developmental psychology from Clark University in Worcester, MA.