Center for Families

Gwen Parks received a 2007 Van Scoyoc Fellowship for her project, "When pink ribbons bind: The effect of breast cancer on mother-daughter relationships."

Parks is a graduate student in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Purdue. In 2006, she completed her bachelor's degree in sociology at the College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University in Minnesota. Her research interests focus on family and the life course, particularly the ways in which non-normative life course transitions affect kin relations.

In addition to her thesis work, Parks is a member of the aging and family research group in sociology, led by professor Jill Suitor, where she is currently working on a project on the role of gender in filial responsibility.