Pundits may say that you can't go home again. But Diane Halpern would argue that they're flat-out wrong. The CMC professor of psychology and director of the Berger Institute for Work, Family and Children, headed back to Cincinnati on May 1 to be honored as one of five distinguished alumni of the McMicken College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Cincinnati. Halpern is also president-elect of the American Psychological Association.

"They warned me that I wouldn't recognize the campus," Halpern acknowledged, "because a lot of building has gone on since I was there. But I visited with old friends while in town, and a number of my former professors were there for the ceremonies. The award is an incredible honor."

Halpern, who earned both master's and doctoral degrees at the University of Cincinnati, found it "hard to believe that I'd be coming back as an award recipient. When I started there, I was a young mother. I had a 1-year-old and a 4-year-old at the time. This just shows that you can't really imagine the trajectory that your life will take." She moved to Cincinnati after earning a bachelor's degree in psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and her first master's degree, also in psychology, at Temple University.

Her studies at the University of Cincinnati gave Halpern a broad background in psychology, which helped as she later developed her specialization in children's issues. "I also acquired the kinds of skills that any good education should give you: how to think, how to write, how to ask good questions--- the skills that serve people well, whatever career they pursue after earning their degrees."

What does the distinguished alumni award say to Halpern's students at CMC? "I think the message they can take from this," she says, "is that it is difficult while you're in college to think about where the future will lead you. That's why it's so important to learn those basic skills that will serve you well, whatever you do. Then you can come back in 20 years and show us what you've done!"

Diane Halpern, CMC professor of psychology and director of the Berger Institute for Work, Family and Children, has received a Distinguished Alumni Award from McMicken College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Cincinnati. Halpern was honored during an awards ceremony May 1.