The Robert E. Lang Memorial Fellowship is awarded annually to support an outstanding UNLV Ph.D. student completing a dissertation in metropolitan public policy broadly defined. At the end of their fellowship year, fellows present their doctoral research in a public forum. The 2023 -24 Robert E. Lang Memorial Fellow Mallory Constantine offered a lecture titled "How and Why Foster Care Impacts Maltreated Youths' School Performance."

Youth mistreated within the foster care system are more likely to miss school as compared to non-maltreated peers. A single report of child maltreatment has a rapid and negative effect on school attendance and causes serious, long-term effects on school performance. A report of maltreatment substantiated by the department of family and child services removes a youth from a foster home and places the child in an alternative setting. These disruptions in foster care often result in additional problems with school behavior, achievement, and attendance. This lecture explored how disruptions in foster care affect school behavior and performance and offered a series of actions and policy recommendations to increase educational support for our most at risk youth in Nevada.

Concluding the lecture, the 2024-25 Robert E. Lang Memorial Fellow was announced.