Building bridges, breaking silos: Celebrating the legacy of Marsha Kline Pruett

Those of us who have worked closely with Marsha during that time want to express to her and to our readers how very much she has meant to us and to the ongoing success of the journal.As Marsha shared in her "Introduction" in the January 2019 issue, "[m]y own interests focus on the nexus between research and intervention, research and policy, and practice and policy.I believe innovation comes from linking disparate disciplines and ideas to move beyond silos.This, of course, is the basis on which the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts was founded more than 55 years ago.Such integration results in new strategies for improving the lives of children and families."Indeed, Marsha embodies this spirit, possessing advanced degrees in psychology and legal studies and serving as a social work faculty member and associate dean.Marsha was keenly aware of FCR's symbiotic relationship to AFCC, having been an AFCC member since the 1990s, a contributing author to FCR, an FCR Editorial Board member, a member of AFCC's Board of Directors, and AFCC President in 2016-2017.In these roles, she brought innovative ideas and contributions to AFCC and FCR.Thus, she brought to her role as Social Science Editor a remarkable insight into the interests and needs of both AFCC's members and FCR's readership at large.Since April 2019, Marsha helped compile 27 issues of FCR-transitioning in January 2024 from hard copies of the journal to a totally online publication.Many of those were special issues dedicated to an important matter affecting families and children.Again, as she wrote in her "Introduction," Marsha shared the following: Moving ahead on topics such as children resisting/refusing to spend time with a parent, shared parenting, innovative dispute resolution strategies, and global sharing of interventions and research will require tearing down our silos and building bridges that extend over churning waters and slippery paths.I invite you to submit papers that are not just about successful studies or programs but about how the work is conceptualized when it feels stuck and fraught.What helps?What does not help?What resources were drawn upon?How do communities work together?Many researchers, scholars, and practitioners heeded Marsha's call, and many of those articles became part of a special issue on several of the very topics Marsha identified.In her role as Social Science Editor, Marsha was responsible for assigning at least two peer reviewers for all social science-based articles and for rendering a publication decision for the articles based upon the reviewers' recommendations.For Marsha, this often also entailed her own careful review of the manuscripts and the addition of her highly valuable and informed insights as a source of strong feedback to the authors.On the personal side, Marsha's wittiness, sense of humor, and kindness, in addition to her esteemed professional background, made it a delight to collaborate with her.Each spring, Marsha welcomed the incoming Hofstra law student staff of FCR with compassion and encouragement.