Center for Families celebrates 30th anniversary one family dinner table at a time

Written By: Rebecca Hoffa, rhoffa@purdue.edu 

(Originally published April 2024, updated January 2025) 

(From left to right) Bob Miles, Joyce Beery Miles, First Lady Kei Hui and Melissa Franks kick off the 30th anniversary celebration at the Center for Families’ annual breakfast.(Photo provided)

Purdue University men’s basketball center Will Berg, a hospitality and tourism management major in the College of Health and Human Sciences (HHS), knows the importance of family meals. In a February 2024 feature in the Purdue Exponent, Berg opened up about his love of cooking that started with regular dinners with his father, Martin — a joy that he then shared with other Purdue men’s basketball players.   

Stories like Berg’s are those that Purdue’s Center for Families, which is housed in the Department of Human Development and Family Science, has worked to make more common during their 30^th anniversary celebration, beginning in April 2024. Melissa Franks, director of the Center for Families, led the celebration efforts alongside the Center for Families’ advisory board; task force members Joyce Beery Miles, Bob Miles and Cheryl Altinkemer; and project manager Kate Kester. The team has placed a particular focus on promoting the benefits of families sharing meals together at home. 

“We decided we would spend the year trying to raise awareness about the center and build collaborations in a way that might generate some friend-raising to get more people involved in the work of the center,” Franks said. 

Hitting the milestone 

The Center for Families advisory board gets a photo together during one of their meetings.(Photo provided)

The Center for Families is one of HHS’ oldest centers and brings together collaborators from across Purdue University to focus on four key audiences to improve outcomes for families: educators, human service professionals, employers and policymakers. From a small beginning in 1994, mostly collaborating with HHS Extension, the center has expanded to offer annual educational seminars for Indiana legislators, a student intern program and endowed scholarship, research funding and three endowed awards for students and faculty, and much more. 

Franks, who is entering her third year as center director, follows in the footsteps of former directors Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth and Susan Kontos. To develop plans for the 30^th anniversary, Franks collaborated heavily with Joyce Miles, who serves as chair of the Center for Families advisory committee. These discussions led to a partnership with the Family Dinner Project and HHS Extension to push out research and resources about the importance of family dinners with the goal of strengthening family relationships one meal at a time. 

“That’s something really exciting to me as the center director,” Franks said. “At the end of this anniversary year, if we have helped families learn more about the importance of family meals, the benefits of family meals, and how to do it within a busy schedule or on a tight budget, that’s a success for the Center for Families and the land-grant mission of Purdue to have some part in what a family is doing in their daily lives.” 

Joyce Miles elaborated that the center’s involvement with the Family Dinner Project aligns with the mission of HHS and raises the bar for families throughout the state of Indiana. 

“Almost 15 years later, (the Family Dinner Project) has either done the research or helped collect the research that supports what many of us in Health and Human Sciences have always known, which is that family dinners are important,” Joyce Miles said. 

Bob and Joyce Miles have been longtime donors and advocates of the Center for Families, recognizing the value of its mission and the effects of its long-term initiatives, including the CFF Annual Funding Program, the Indiana Family Impact Seminar, and the Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award for Excellence in Work-Family Research. 

“What I liked about the Center for Families is they really use the research to strengthen families,” Bob Miles said. 

From past to future 

(From left to right) Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth, Lorene Burkhart and Cheryl Altinkemer pose together for a photo.(Photo provided)

The center got its start at a philanthropy gathering that was part of Purdue’s College of Consumer and Family Sciences (CFS) Felker Leadership Series, which highlighted women, leadership and philanthropy. Altinkemer, the CFS director of development and alumni relations at the time, posed a question, asking the audience of mostly women what problem at Purdue they would solve if they had $1 million. Lorene Burkhart, the founding donor of the Center for Families, approached Altinkemer afterward, wanting to make her vision a reality and contribute $1 million to start the Center for Families. The rest was history. 

“Lorene’s comment was about family meals and about how families are disintegrating and not staying together,” Altinkemer said. “She wanted to change that. That’s what got us started.” 

For many alumni, researchers and individuals, the Center for Families has had a lasting impact on their lives, from shaping careers to funding research to providing resources. 

Franks explained the 30^th anniversary is about looking back and taking a moment to celebrate how far the center has come while also setting the Center for Families up for future success. 

“For me, it is really a milestone to build on,” Franks said. “It’s easy for me as a new director to look back and say this has existed for 30 years, but we want to continue to promote family research on campus and family engagement across the state and beyond toward a successful next 30 years.” 

Celebrating successes 

Extension educators accept the Ann Hancook Award for their work with the Center for Families on the Family Dinner Project.(Photo provided)

The Center for Families’ collaboration with Extension and other organizations throughout the state on the Family Dinner Project has led to widespread adoption of resources and activities promoting the importance of family dinners across the state. This includes Extension programs, social media campaigns, shared materials and recipes in communities, and even the development of community dinners. Through this collaboration, the Family Dinner Project is now in 82 of Indiana’s 92 counties, with 111 educators and professional partners given access to valuable resources for education and programming.  

“I think we were right on target to focus with Extension because it was part of their mission to begin with,” Joyce Miles said. “If the Center for Families wanted to make a difference in the state of Indiana, that was certainly the way to go after it. We’re in a good position to propel this idea of family dinner.” 

The Center for Families was also recognized with the Ann Hancook Award, which recognizes collaborations among Extension educators and specialists on family-focused programming, in December 2024 for their work related to the Family Dinner Project. The center also plans to create a continued funding program for Extension educators related to the Family Dinner Project to keep the initiative going beyond its 30^th year. 

“The Family Dinner Project won’t end at the end of this 30^th year,” Franks said. “That was part of all of these partnerships, so they can continue the work.” 

Joyce and Bob Miles also brought the Family Dinner Project to campus, visiting the cooperative houses and meeting with leadership in housing and dining areas to discuss the importance of gathering for meals and ideas for strengthening conversation under the theme of “building belonging one table at a time.” 

“Every single member of the advisory council has participated in multiple activities to promote this 30th anniversary initiative, and it’s really been an opportunity to operate as a team toward this common goal of collaboration and visibility for the Center for Families across campus and across the state,” Franks said. 

Ultimately, Franks noted the 30^th anniversary is building on opportunities and collaborations to help the center to continue to thrive, with donors and friends playing a significant role in that. 

“The center is driven by donors — that’s why we exist,” Franks said. “They’ve generously supported us over these 30 years to allow the center to continue to do its work with family impact seminars and the funding program to help faculty and students’ research related to families.”

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