Deborah A Temkin is an American child development and prevention research scientist, specializing in bullying prevention, school climate, and connecting education policy to healthy youth development.
14 Facts About Deborah Temkin
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Deborah Temkin was the Research and Policy Coordinator for Bullying Prevention Initiatives at the US Department of Education from 2010 to 2012, where she was charged with coordinating the Obama administration's bullying prevention efforts, including launching StopBullying.
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Deborah Temkin was a finalist for the 2012 "Call to Service Medal" for the Samuel J Heyman Service to America Medals for her work at the Department.
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Deborah Temkin grew up in Tucson, Arizona, where she was reportedly a victim of bullying while she was in middle school.
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Deborah Temkin describes the bullying she faced as having started over a feud over her middle school newspaper, which quickly escalated into relational, verbal, and physical bullying including social exclusion by a majority of her school-mates.
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In newspaper and radio interviews, Deborah Temkin reported that her personal experiences with bullying, and particularly her school's lack of response inspired her to understand bullying and what could be done to prevent it.
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Deborah Temkin was a Prevention and Methodology Pre-Doctoral Fellow through the Pennsylvania State University's Prevention and Methodology Centers, and her research focused on bullying, adolescent friendship networks, and education policy.
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In November 2009, Deborah Temkin attended the International Bullying Prevention Association Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Kevin Jennings, then Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, was the keynote speaker.
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Deborah Temkin reportedly went up to Jennings following his speech and asked to work for him.
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Deborah Temkin began work on several other initiatives, including closely managing the Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention, a coalition of 9 Federal departments, and launching research projects with the CDC and internally at the Department of Education to understand the definition of bullying and to understand the scope and impact of anti-bullying laws.
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Deborah Temkin worked to support the release of a teacher training module on bullying.
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Deborah Temkin was a featured speaker at several events, including the White House Conference on LGBT Families and a Townhall for Senator Frank Lautenberg as well as a trusted media source, quoted in several articles in major publications and appearing on radio and television programming.
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In March, 2012 Temkin was named a finalist for the "Call to Service" medal of the Samuel J Heyman Service to America Medals, recognizing the outstanding federal service of those under 35 years old.
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Deborah Temkin is the vice president for youth development and education research at Child Trends.