معرفی
Gretchen Wrobel is a University Professor of Psychology at Bethel University, affiliated with both the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Adult and Professional Studies. She specializes in adoption-related research, focusing on curiosity’s impact on relationships among adoptees, adoptive parents, and birth parents. Her work bridges psychological, familial, and theological dimensions of adoption.
Education: B.A. in Psychology from Hamline University (1980), M.A. in Educational Psychology (1984) and Ph.D. in Educational Psychology (1990) from the University of Minnesota.
Research emphasizes adoption dynamics, including birth family contact trajectories, adoptee curiosity, and the intersection of theology with family structures. She co-authored the book International advances in adoption research for practice (2009) and has published in journals like Journal of Family Psychology and Dialog: A Journal of Theology.
Awards include the Faculty Excellence in Scholarship Award and Edgren Scholar distinction at Bethel University. Her presentations span international conferences on adoption research, addressing themes like religious meaning-making in adoption and adoptive family communication.
Wrobel’s contributions extend to interdisciplinary collaboration, integrating psychological insights with theological frameworks to support adoptive families. She is a key figure in the Minnesota-Texas Adoption Research Project and the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Certificate program at Bethel.
