National Research Conference on
Child and Family Programs and Policy
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS FOR 2009
Conference schedule posted here.
"Using Principles of Prevention Science to Promote Healthy Youth Development:
Implications for Child and Family Policy"
Dr. Jeffrey M. Jenson
Jeffrey
M. Jenson is the Philip
D. and Eleanor G. Winn Professor for Children
and Youth at Risk and
Associate Dean for Research in the Graduate
School of Social Work, University of Denver.
Professor Jenson's teaching and research
interests focus on the etiology, prevention, and
treatment of childhood and adolescent
aggression, juvenile delinquency, and substance
abuse. He has published three books and numerous
articles on the topic of adolescent problem
behavior. Jenson’s book, Social policy
for children and youth: A risk and resilience
perspective (with Mark Fraser), was the
2008 recipient of the Society for Research on
Adolescence Social Policy Award for Best Edited
Book. Jenson is currently principal investigator
of the
Empowering
Disadvantaged and High-Risk Youth Project,
an
investigation aimed at improving academic and
behavioral outcomes among youth residing in
three Denver public housing communities. He was
recently principal investigator of the Youth
Matters Denver Public Schools Prevention
Project, a group-randomized trial assessing the
effects of a structured curriculum on aggression
and bullying among elementary school students in
28 Denver public schools. Jenson received the
University of Denver Distinguished Scholar Award
in 2003 and the University Lecturer Award in
2007. He received the Aaron Rosen Lecture Award
from the Society for Social Work and Research in
2009.
"The Torturous Road from Adoption Research to Policy"
Dr. Harold D. Grotevant
Harold D. Grotevant, Ph.D., holds the Rudd Family Foundation Chair in Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he recently moved after completing 18 years at the University of Minnesota. His research focuses on relationships in adoptive families, and on identity development in adolescents and young adults. His work has resulted in over 100 articles published in professional journals as well as several books, including Openness in Adoption: Exploring Family Connections (with Ruth McRoy, Sage Publications, 1998). He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the National Council on Family Relations; Senior Research Fellow of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute; former Board President of Adoptive Families of America; and recipient of research, teaching, and educational leadership awards from the University of Minnesota. He directs the Minnesota / Texas Adoption Research Project, which focuses on relationships in adoptive families and contact between adoptive and birth family members. This longitudinal study, begun with Dr. Ruth McRoy (University of Texas at Austin) in the mid- 1980s, has followed the children into young adulthood.
