Rachel Dunifon is the Rebecca Q. and James C. Morgan Dean of Cornell University’s College of Human Ecology, where she leads efforts to connect knowledge with action to address society’s most pressing human challenges.
Since becoming dean in 2018, Dunifon led a transformative strategic planning process that expanded the college’s presence in New York City, recruited faculty in critical areas of excellence, strengthened public engagement and elevated the student experience. A centerpiece of Dunifon’s leadership is a commitment to engaging with communities to enhance human thriving. She has advanced Cornell’s role as a force for good by building bridges among students, researchers, policymakers, practitioners and communities. She has strengthened partnerships at the local, state and national levels, ensuring that evidence-based solutions reach the people and institutions they are meant to serve.
To further this vision, Dunifon was awarded the first Institutional Challenge Grant from the William T. Grant Foundation and the College was named an Engaged College. Through these initiatives, Dunifon has infused community-engaged learning and research throughout the college mission.
Deeply committed to students, Dunifon has redefined how Human Ecology prepares the next generation of leaders. She launched an integrated academic course sequence that grounds incoming students in the college’s mission and equips them for emerging careers, launched a new summer internship program in New York City, and reimagined the undergraduate student experience, from admissions through career development.
Dunifon’s leadership extends beyond the college. She developed and co-taught Pathways to Purpose, a university-wide course exploring democracy, civic engagement, civil discourse and what it means to live a life of purpose. She also chaired Cornell’s Presidential Task Force on Sexual Assault, which developed a holistic framework for addressing and preventing sexual assaults and provided strategies to foster a sexually safe and healthy campus.
An accomplished scholar in child and family policy, Dunifon is the author of numerous influential publications, including her book, You’ve Always Been There for Me: Understanding the Lives of Grandchildren Raised by Grandparents.
With intellectual rigor, empathy and an unwavering commitment to public impact at the forefront, Dunifon is shaping a future where research, education and engagement work together to improve lives.
Dunifon studies child and family policy, with a focus on factors influencing the development of less-advantaged children. Specific research topics include the relationship between maternal employment conditions and children's health and development; the well-being of children in various family living arrangements, such as single-parenthood and cohabitation; and the role of grandparents in the lives of youth. Her book, You've Always Been there for Me (Rutgers University Press) examines the lives of grandchildren who are raised by their grandparents.
Her work has been supported by a wide range of sources. Rachel was awarded the William T. Grant Foundation's inaugural Institutional Challenge Grant Award. She was also awarded an R01 grant from the Eunice Kennedy Schriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to study the influence on children of maternal employment patterns.
Dunifon's research has been published in Demography, Child Development, Developmental Psychology, and Journal of Marriage and Family.
Healy, Olivia and Rachel Dunifon (2025) "Grandchildren's spatial proximity to grandparents and intergenerational support in the United States." Demographic Research, 52(34): 1097-1110.
Harvey, Hope and Rachel Dunifon (2023). "Why Mothers Double Up: The Role of Demographic, Economic and Family Characteristics." Journal of Marriage and Family. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12903 (A top 10 most-cited paper of 2023)
Harvey, Hope, Rachel Dunifon and Natasha Pilkauskas* (2021). "Under Whose Roof? Understanding the Living Arrangements of Children in Doubled-Up Households." Demography. https://doi.org/10.1215/00703370-9101102
Pilkauskas, Natasha, Rachel Dunifon and Mariana Amorim* (2020). "Historical Trends in Coresidence with Grandparents: 1870-2016." Demography 57(6): 2269-2296. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-020-00920-5. Selected as the 2020 winner of the IPUMS Research Award
Dunifon, Rachel, Kelly Musick and Chris Near* (2019). "Time with Grandchildren: Subjective Well-Being among Grandparents Living with their Grandchildren." Social Indicators Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-019-02206-9
Dunifon, Rachel (2018). “You’ve Always Been there for Me”: Understanding the Lives of Children Raised by Grandparents. Rutgers University Press.
Dunifon, Rachel, Chris Near and Kathleen Ziol-Guest (2018). Backup Parents, Playmates, Friends: Grandparents’ Time with Grandchildren. Journal of Marriage and Family. DOI:10.1111/jomf.12472
Dunifon, Rachel, Paula Fomby and Kelly Musick (2017). Siblings and Children’s Time Use in the United States. Demographic Research, 37: 1611-1624.
Amorim, Mariana, Rachel Dunifon and Natasha Pilkauskas (2017). The Magnitude and Timing of Grandparental Coresidence During Childhood in the United States. Demographic Research, 37(52): 1695-1706.
Crosnoe, Rob and Rachel Dunifon (2017). “A Developmental Perspective on the Link Between Parents’ Employment and Children’s Obesity.” American Psychologist, 72(5): 474-486.
Su, Jessica and Rachel Dunifon (2016). “Nonstandard Schedules and Private Safety Nets Among Working Mothers.” Journal of Marriage and Family. DOI:10.1111/jomf.12358
Meier, Anne, Kelly Musick, Sarah Flood and Rachel Dunifon (2016). “Mothering Experiences: How Single-Parenthood and Employment Shift the Emotional Valence of Parenting.” Demography, 53: 649-674.
Pilkauskas, Natasha, and Rachel Dunifon (2016). “Understanding Grandfamilies: Characteristics of Grandparents, Nonresident Parents, and Children.” Journal of Marriage and Family, 78: 623-633.
Su, Jessica, Rachel Dunifon, and Sharon Sassler (2015). “Better for Baby? The Retreat from Mid-Pregnancy Marriage and Implications for Parenting and Child Well-Being.” Demography, 52(4): 1167-1194.
Dunifon is an active member of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, the Population Association of America, the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research and the Cornell Population Center.
I am blown away by our community's passion for their work, the breadth and quality of what they do, and the impact they will have on our college.
