Long-term Service Recognized at Yale Child Study Center with Event & Tree-planting

On Wednesday, April 30, 2025, approximately 70 members of the Yale Child Study Center (YCSC) community gathered in a hybrid format—both in-person and by Zoom—to celebrate 46 YCSC faculty and staff members being honored for their respective years of service at Yale University, from five up to 40 years.

YCSC Chair Linda Mayes, MD, opened the meeting with a warm welcome and noted, “This has become a wonderful spring tradition of the Child Study Center actually started many, many years ago from our colleague, Karen Muth. Karen started it in a much smaller way, and it's just lovely to see how it's grown over the years, so that we can come together and celebrate everyone's time at Yale and time in this community.”

YCSC long-term service recognition committee members Zsofia Leranth-Nagy, Michele Goyette-Ewing, PhD, and Ian Solomon served as emcees, announcing those being recognized in five-year increments and inviting them to come up to the podium to receive a gift marking their milestones. Those marking 15 years or more were invited to say a few words about their time at Yale. Many shared their experiences and expressed gratitude for the opportunity to work at the YCSC.

Shemrah Fallon, who is marking 25 years as a staff member at the YCSC shared, “When I first started, I worked with a wonderful woman named Mary Schwab-Stone, and she said something to me one day that I keep with me all the time that I want to share with you. She said, ‘You know you don't work for me. You work with me. We work for the children.’ And I've kept it in my head all this time and in my heart all this time, and it's gotten me through some really tough times...the work here is astronomically important, but it's not always easy.”

The last of those being recognized was YCSC Harris Professor Steven Marans, PhD, as he marked 40 years at Yale and shared that he will be retiring at the end of next. He noted that “...it's a perfect time to think back to decades ago, literally decades ago”... and recalled a time when he felt particularly helpless while working with a young child who had been severely abused. He shared that he turned to one of the first colleagues he had at the YCSC, Professor of Pediatrics Sally Provence, MD, who was a pediatrician and child psychoanalyst.

Marans shared, “I remember consulting with her about some of the challenges involved in the boy’s treatment...and she said something that has always stayed with me, and I hope you all can remember this over the course of your work and your careers...she said that in addition to our clinical efforts with the immediate patient, that if we learn just one thing from any of the children we work with that can benefit the next child—the next family we work with—then whatever tragedy that brought them to us is not only a tragedy. In many ways that reminder really propelled me...throughout the course of my career.”

Leranth-Nagy, who was marking 20 years at Yale and has also been instrumental in organizing these recognition events at the YCSC for many years, followed Marans by commenting, “I think this is an event where we all realize that we are part of something special here.” She also announced that a tree dedication ceremony would follow the morning community meeting, adding that a Japanese Snowbell tree was planted the week before in the courtyard in honor of many being recognized who chose this in lieu of an anniversary gift. She shared, “It's a deciduous, flowering, native flowering tree, native to China, Japan and Korea typically grows height of 20 to 30 feet. We needed something small to fit over there in the courtyard, and it's known for its elegant appearance, featuring gracefully spreading branches and rounded crown with bell-shaped, fragrant flowers that bloom in late spring to early summer.”

Mayes closed the meeting by adding, “There is something deeply symbolic about the tree. What we do here will reach children and families that we will never meet, as those children become adults and have their own children—and in essence, we've planted a tree in honor of all of you and your time, that we may not see that tree when it gets to be 20 to 30 feet, but other children will. Trees are deeply symbolic of generativity and caring for the next generation. I’m so just grateful for everything that you all do, and grateful for our time to be together.”

The following individuals were recognized for their respective years of service at Yale as of fiscal year 2025 (July 1, 2024-June 30, 2025).

Five years

Yamaira Ayala
Paola Ayora
Michele Badiali
Mark Beitel
Heather Bonitz Moore
Mackenzie Fay
Karen Franchi
Pam Hoffman
Mariam Korangy
Sophie Lembeck
David Lewkowicz
Chelsea Morgan
Zi Jia Ng
Whitney Sanders
Jennifer Seibyl
Maria Sperduto
Beth Yeh
Almut Zieher

Ten years

Rachel Ebling
Stephanie Guerrier
Ameya Krishnan
Kieran Maiorana
Nai Moore
Joanne Richardson

Fifteen years

Kimberly Gereda Marganski
Megan Goslin
Livia Tomasini

Twenty years

Mike Crowley
Tom Fernandez
Cecilia Frometa
Mark Gesner
Kristy Grondzik
Kristen Hammel
Zsofia Leranth-Nagy
Jamie McPartland
Yann Poncin
Jeanette Radawich

Twenty-five years

Shemrah Fallon
Mary Gunsalus
Heather Howell
Teresa Iannuzzi

Thirty years

Sandi Gossart-Walker
Karen Hanson
Sherin Stahl

Thirty-five years

Kasia Chawarska

Forty years

Steven Marans

In line with university guidelines for staff recognition, individuals are recognized in five-year increments. For faculty, time as a trainee is typically included as part of the years of service and eligibility criteria include having a primary appointment in the department. The celebration concluded with refreshments, followed by the tree dedication. Additional photos from both events are available on the department's internal announcements SharePoint site.

An interdisciplinary department at Yale University School of Medicine, the YCSC is comprised of faculty and staff with multiple areas of expertise working together to improve the mental health of children and families, advance understanding of their psychological and developmental needs, and treat and prevent childhood mental illness through the integration of research, clinical practice, and professional training.