Iowa State University Commencement

Sedahlia Crase, Spring 2008 Graduate Commencement Speaker

Sedahlia Jasper Crase – professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Iowa State University.  She joined the Iowa State faculty in 1973 as an assistant professor, was named associate professor in 1977, and professor in 1982.

Dr. Crase is a native of Kentucky who received a bachelor’s degree from Berea College, a Master’s degree from the University of Kentucky, and the doctorate from Iowa State University.  She was the first member of her family to attend high school.

Dr. Crase’s research focuses broadly on various aspects of parenting and parent education, including parenting attitudes and behaviors.  In addition to her many scholarly publications, she contributes regularly to more popular venues on parenting.  She was a founding member of the Iowa Chapter of the National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect.  Dr. Crase’s participation in the North Central Regional Research Project as a young assistant professor was particularly valuable to her research and teaching, as it gave her a perspective on Iowa families she would not otherwise have received.  The work involved traveling the state and collecting data on 120 families over a five-year period. 

Dr. Crase has taught thousands of students.  Her greatest professional pride and joy are the more than 75 graduate students she has mentored in her role as their major professor, and she continues to informally mentor many of them as they move through their own careers and family lives.

Dr. Crase has served in numerous leadership roles at Iowa State and in her profession.  This past academic year, she has served as president of the ISU Faculty Senate.  She also has served as president of the ISU Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi, president of the Iowa Council on Family Relations, and editor of Parenting Studies.

She and her husband, Ike, have two grown children.  Kirsten is a doctoral candidate in American Studies at the University of Maryland, and Brandon is a third-year law student at Georgetown University Law Center.  Dr. Crase points to parenting her children as her most fulfilling role and greatest accomplishment.