Jenna E. Finch, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Department of Psychology

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Curriculum Vitae Google Scholar

Email: jenna.finch@unl.edu

Dr. Jenna E. Finch is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a faculty affiliate of the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools. She is also a member of the Nebraska Academy for Early Childhood Research. Jenna’s research is centered around the development of children’s self-regulation skills, which play a critical role in their learning, school success, and long-term well-being. Her work delves into how children’s home and school experiences impact their self-regulation development, with a particular focus on families facing socioeconomic adversity. Her research combines insights from the fields of developmental psychology and education, using a multi-method approach to gain a holistic view of children’s self-regulation skills. Jenna is committed to open science practices and aims to conduct translational work that can impact the lives of children and the adults who support them.

Jenna teaches classes in developmental psychology, statistics, and research methods. She also serves as the Graduate Training Coordinator for the Department of Psychology’s Inclusive Excellence Workgroup.

For fun, Jenna enjoys teaching ballet, training her dogs, crochet, gluten-free baking, and going on walks (when the weather cooperates, because she is from California originally).

Education (and some history)

Jenna discovered her love for developmental science when taking Lifespan Development at Georgetown University during her freshman year. She quickly got involved in research with a number of faculty in the Psychology department (Drs. Anna Johnson, Deborah Phillips, & Rebecca Ryan, Ph.D. from the Child Development & Social Policy Lab and Dr. Rachel Barr from the Early Learning Project) and developed a passion for quantitative methods. She graduated summa cum laude with majors in Psychology and Mathematics and received the Sebastian Brenninkmeijer Medal in Psychology.

She continued her education at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education in the Developmental and Psychological Sciences program. She was primarily advised by Dr. Jelena Obradović, and a proud member of the SPARK Lab. Jenna also received a William R. and Sara Hart Kimball Stanford Graduate Fellowship and completed the Interdisciplinary Doctoral Training Program in Quantitative Policy Analysis fellow through the CEPA. Her dissertation won the Paul R. Pintrich Outstanding Dissertation Award from the American Psychological Association, Division 15.