Karen Cadigan, Ed.S., Ph.D., is the Policy Director at the University of Minnesota’s Children, Youth and Family Consortium (CYFC) where she leads the Family Impact Seminars, a model used in 26 states to connect research to public policymaking. In addition, Dr. Cadigan is a Research Fellow at the University of Minnesota's Center for Early Education and Development. She is a Principal Investigator for Brighter Futures: Public Deliberation about the Science of Early Development, a National Science Foundation-funded collaboration with the Science Museum of Minnesota opening in January, 2011. 

Dr. Cadigan serves on the strategic planning committee for the national University-Based Child and Family Policy Consortium.  She is firmly committed to using evidence, bipartisan dialogue, and civic engagement to improve the process for and outcomes of public policymaking. 

Cadigan’s own research interests include early language and literacy development, assessment and intervention for children with autism, how measurement tools and systems contribute to improving individual and group outcomes, and how public policy can better support positive outcomes for children and their families. She teaches a graduate course on early childhood assessment and supervises early childhood policy students.

Before coming to the University of Minnesota, Dr. Cadigan worked as a school psychologist and autism consultant in Virginia and Minnesota, most recently as the coordinator of the Minneapolis Public Schools Early Childhood Autism programs. Karen is the 2008 recipient of the Division of Early Childhood’s J. David Sexton Doctoral Student Award, the University of Minnesota’s 2006 Mary A. McEvoy Award for Public Engagement and Leadership, a 2002 Bush Leadership Fellow, and a graduate of Arrowhead Head Start. Karen and her husband Jon are native Duluthians and are the delighted parents of Kathleen Elianna, born in 2008.

Selected Publications

1. Bogenscheider, K., Little, O., Ooms, T., Benning, S., Cadigan, K. & Corbett, T. (in press). The family impact lens: A family-focused, evidence-informed approach to policy and practice. Family Relations.

2. Bogenschneider, K., Little, O., Ooms, T., Benning, S., & Cadigan, K. (2010). Family impact analysis handbook: A strategy for professionals to strengthen families. Available from The Policy Institute for National Family Impact Seminars (http://familyimpactseminars.org/).

3. Bogenschneider, K., Little, O., Ooms, T., Benning, S., & Cadigan, K. (2010). Taking families seriously: A family impact guide for policymakers. Available from The Policy Institute for National Family Impact Seminars (http://familyimpactseminars.org/).

4. Rosanbalm, K. and Cadigan, K. (2010).  Evidence-Informed Policymaking to Improve Impact and Accountability. 2010 Minnesota Family Impact Seminar Briefing Report, 4-7. Children, Youth, and Family Consortium, University of Minnesota: Minneapolis, MN. Available at http://www.cyfc.umn.edu/policy/documents/FISreport10.pdf

5. Cadigan, K. & Alberts, M. (2008).  Early childhood policies from ecological and family impact perspectives. FIS Briefing Report:  Options for a Responsive and Accountable Early Childhood System in Minnesota, 2 - 4. Children, Youth, and Family Consortium, University of Minnesota: Minneapolis, MN.

6. Harrison, M. & Cadigan, K. (2008).  Minnesota early childhood populations.  FIS Briefing Report:  Options for a Responsive and Accountable Early Childhood System in Minnesota, 5 - 7. Children, Youth, and Family Consortium, University of Minnesota: Minneapolis, MN.

7. Cadigan, K. & Missall, K. (2007).  Measuring expressive language growth in young children with autism spectrum disorder.  Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 27(2), 110-118.

8. Missall, K., McConnell, S. & Cadigan, K. (2006).  Early literacy development: Skill growth and relations between classroom variables for preschool children. Journal of Early Intervention, 29, 1-21.

Selected Presentations

1. Cadigan, K. (2011, April). Contemporary early childhood policy, practice and research. Minnesota Speech Language Hearing Association annual conference, Bloomington, MN.

2. Cadigan, K. & Bradfield, T. (2011, April). RTI in Early Childhood. Minnesota Speech Language Hearing Association annual conference, Bloomington, MN.

3. Cadigan, K. & Garfinkle, R. (2011, January). Wonder Years: The Science of Early Development. Minnesota’s Strong Foundation Conference, Alexandria, MN.

4. Cadigan, K.  & Topp, N. (2011, January).  Early childhood governance: What Minnesota can learn from other states. Minnesota’s Strong Foundation Conference, Alexandria, MN.

5. Cadigan, K., Garfinkle, R., Hottinger, J., Odom, S., & Race, A. (2011, April). Connect, communicate, convene: Translating developmental science for public policymakers.  Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting, Montreal, Quebec. 

6. Cadigan, K. (2010, February 25-27). Improving How Science Informs Policy: Understanding the Learning Context and Existing Knowledge of Policy-Learners. Panel presentation from the 2011 Conference on Research Innovations in Early Intervention (CRIEI), San Diego, CA. On behalf of the Wonder Years project.

7. Craig-Unkefer, L. Cadigan, K., Hottinger, J., McConnell, S., & Slawick, N. (2010, February 25-27). Using Dialogue to Bridge the Research to Policy Gap: Mr. Smith Goes to Preschool. Panel presentation from the 2011 Conference on Research Innovations in Early Intervention (CRIEI), San Diego, CA.

8. Cadigan, K. (2010, October). Wonder Years: Understanding the science of early development.  Presentation to the Board on Children, Youth and Families at the National Academies of Science, Washington, DC.