Project Director of Research and Evaluation
Phone: 857-218-4364
Fax: 617-730-0060
Email: mallary.swartz@childrens.harvard.edu
Mallary I. Swartz, Ph.D. is an expert in early childhood development and education. Her published work focuses on parent-provider relationships in infant and toddler classrooms and young children’s development and learning in early care and education settings. She has presented both nationally and internationally on these topics.
Dr. Swartz joined the Brazelton Touchpoints Center in 2011. In her role as Project Director of Research and Evaluation, she plans, organizes, and leads the management, oversight, and implementation of research and evaluation activities and special projects and initiatives. Dr. Swartz facilitates the production of research and evaluation materials, reports, and other products and materials. She also provides decision support to senior management for planning and program development, and provides subject matter expertise to special initiatives and other core activities.
Dr. Swartz has collaborated on many research and evaluation studies of early childhood development and education. She has worked as a researcher at Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Children’s Hospital Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh, Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, and Tufts University. She was also an adjunct faculty member in the Eliot-Pearson Department at Child Development at Tufts University, where she taught a course on Child Care Policy and Practice.
She also has extensive applied experience in the field of early care and education. She has worked as an infant and toddler teacher, as an editor of early childhood programming for a web-based company, and as director of a consulting program designed to enhance the quality of care in community child care centers. Dr. Swartz also collaborated with organizations in New Orleans to help rebuild and enhance the quality of child care and to develop a family child care curriculum for the state of Louisiana.
Education
- Ph.D. Tufts University, Child Development
- M.S. University of Pittsburgh, Applied Developmental Psychology
- B.A. Duke University, Psychology
Areas of Special Interest and Expertise
- Early care and education practice and policy
- Family-provider relationships in child care settings
- Child care quality
- Social and emotional development of infants and toddlers
- Program evaluation
Selected Publications
- Jacobs, F., Swartz, M. I., Dym Bartlett, J., & Easterbrooks, M. A. (2010). Placing relationships at the core of early care and education programs. In B.M. Lester & J.D. Sparrow (Eds.), Nurturing Children and Families: Building on the Legacy of T. Berry Brazelton (pp. 341-352). Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
- Swartz, M. I., & Easterbrooks, M. A. (2008). Enhancing parent-provider relationships and communication in infant and toddler classrooms. Journal of Early Childhood and Infant Psychology, 4, 53-73.
- Swartz, M. I., & Hornstein, J. (2007). Touchpoints. In R. S. New & M. Cochran (Eds.), Early Childhood Education: An International Encyclopedia. Westwood, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group.
- Swartz, M.I. (2005). Play Dough: What’s “Standard” About It? Young Children, 60(2), 100-109.
- Swartz, M. I. & Crowley, K. (2004). Parent beliefs about teaching and learning in a children’s museum. Visitor studies, 7(2), 1-15.
