Alumni Spotlight—M.-A. Lucas, Director, Army Child and Youth Services
M.-A. Lucas, a 1964 graduate of the UNH Department of Family Studies, is the founding Director of the United States Army Child and Youth Programs.
Ms. Lucas manages a system of integrated child care and youth supervision options delivered to more than 350,000 children at 125 locations around the world. These services, cited by numerous professional, government, and media sources as a “model for the nation,” are provided through child development centers, family childcare networks, before- and after-school programs, youth centers, school transition services, and partnerships with community organizations, schools, and off-post programs.
Ms. Lucas is a nationally known expert in the child development field. She presents frequently at professional gatherings and serves on numerous advisory groups and task forces. During her thirty-seven years of child and family-oriented service, she has taught in public schools, served as a faculty member in early childhood education programs, and worked with the United Way, Migrant Day Care Programs, Head Start, and the USDA Cooperative Extension Service.
In addition to her B.S. in Family Studies from UNH, Ms. Lucas holds an M.Ed from Pennsylvania State University. She is married to John A. Lucas, Jr. CDR USN (Ret), and has two married daughters, Caroline Lucas, Ed.D., an educator in California; and Stephanie Caden, an attorney with the U.S. government in Washington, D.C. She has 4 grandchildren.