Dr. Marti Erickson

In a long career at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Marti Erickson served as the founding Director of the Children, Youth & Family Consortium and, more recently, as director of the Irving B. Harris Programs and co-chair of the U of M President’s Initiative on Children, Youth & Families. Marti specializes in linking research, practice and policy in the areas of parent-child attachment, child abuse prevention, and children’s mental health. Since retiring from the University in 2008, Marti continues to speak and consult extensively throughout the U.S. and abroad, with an emphasis on strategies for addressing the needs of young children and families in high-risk circumstances. Currently she is co-leading a child rights training initiative in Tanzania.

In 1986, with Byron Egeland, Marti developed (and conducted a randomized controlled evaluation of) STEEP™ (Steps Toward Effective, Enjoyable Parenting), a preventive intervention program for parents and infants in high-risk circumstances. That program now operates in various sites in the U.S., Europe and Australia. Marti also was co-investigator with Bill Doherty on the Parenting Together Project, a study of an intervention to promote father involvement. And she was principal investigator on the Motherhood Study, a national study of mothers’ needs, concerns, and experiences, sponsored by the Institute for American Values. 

Marti's publications include many scholarly articles, book chapters, and the book Infants, Toddlers & Families: A Framework for Support and Intervention (Erickson & Kurz-Riemer, 2002). Since 1995, Marti has appeared regularly on KARE-TV’s (NBC) “Today” and “Sunrise” shows. She and her daughter Erin also host a weekly talk show, “Good Enough Moms™,” which aired for 4 years on FM107.1 radio in the Twin Cities and now is podcast weekly at www.goodenoughmoms.com, distributed in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Education and the Working Family Resource Center. Marti also is a singer and songwriter, often using her original music to enrich her messages about children and families.

Marti has served on the boards of many organizations, including the National Council on Family Relations, Prevent Child Abuse America, the National Institute on Media and the Family, Father to Father, and the Working Family Resource Center. She is a founding board member of both the Children & Nature Network and the Minnesota Association for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health.

From 1994 to 2001 Marti worked closely with Vice President Al Gore and his wife Tipper to coordinate their innovative non-partisan family policy initiative, Family Re-Union. Over the years Marti has been honored by numerous state and national organizations, including the Early Childhood Funders Network (Nancy Latimer Award, 2008), Way to Grow (Don Fraser Award, 2008), the Minnesota Psychological Association (Outstanding Contribution to Psychology Award, 2003; Distinguished Scholar, 2007), the Minnesota Council on Family Relations (Ruth Jewson Award, 2007), and the Minnesota School Psychologists Association (Distinguished Best Practices Award, 2003). But Marti says her most important credential (and greatest joy) is being the mother of Ryan and Erin, now adults, and the grandmother of four young children.