Julie Planke, MA
Julie Planke, M.A., is a Graduate Research Associate at the Ohio Statewide Family Engagement Center at the Center on Education and Training for Employment (CETE) at the Ohio State University. Julie supports the center’s work and various projects in diverse ways, including writing newsletters for educators and families, taking care of public inquiries, collaborating on project content development, writing research briefs, and more.
Julie is a fourth-year Ph.D. Candidate in the Educational Psychology program at the College of Education and Human Ecology at the Ohio State University. Before joining OSU, she received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychobiology and Master of Arts in Psychology from the State University of New York at New Paltz. Julie’s passion for psychological science and education was further nurtured by her undergraduate students, both during her time as a graduate teaching assistant and as an adjunct professor at New Paltz. Also an avid researcher, Julie served as lab manager for several research labs during her time at New Paltz. She later translated her acquired skills in the nonprofit sector, supporting a human service and educational organization as a Data Analytics Specialist and Manager of Information Systems. Julie’s general research focuses on family-school engagement in early childhood education and its impacts on young children’s socioemotional development. Her work emphasizes the need for culturally responsive engagement practices that value and leverage families’ strengths. For her dissertation and in collaboration with her advisor, Dr. Laura Justice, and additional co-investigators at the Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy at OSU, Julie is applying implementation science to better understand the effectiveness of a connection-focused intervention designed to support children’s transition from preschool into kindergarten.
Outside of her work, Julie is a dedicated vinyasa yoga practitioner and poet, often finding that these passions support her work in unexpected ways. She loves spending time sitting outside with her husband and their mini poodle, Brady, and taking care of her bearded dragon, leopard gecko, and parakeets.