Tay Gavin Erickson Lecture Series—The Center for Research on Families warmly welcomes Dr. Maurice J. Elias, Professor and Director of Clinical Training for the Department of Psychology at Rutgers University, to the UMass campus as part of the Tay Gavin Erickson Lecture Series. In his lecture, Dr. Elias will discuss his research on the integration of social-emotional and character development into the mission of schools.

In addition to his roles as professor and director of the Psychology Clinical Training Program, Dr. Eliasis also the Academic Director of Rutgers’ Civic Engagement and Service Education Partnerships Program (CESEP; engage.rutgers.edu), Coordinator of Rutgers’ Internship Program in Applied, School, and Community Psychology, Past President of the international Society for Community Research and Action/Division of Community Psychology (27) of APA, Director of  Rutgers Social-Emotional Learning Lab, Coordinator of Improving School Climate for Academic and Life Success (ISCALS) at Rutgers’ Center for Applied Psychology, and Founding Member of the Leadership Team for the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (www.CASEL.org). 

His books include The Educator’s Guide to Emotional Intelligence and Academic Achievement:  Social-Emotional Learning in the Classroom (Corwin, 2006), Bullying, victimization, bullying, and peer harassment:  A handbook of prevention and Intervention (Taylor & Francis, 2007), Urban Dreams:  Stories of Hope, Character, and Resilience (2008, Hamilton Books), and School Climate: Building Safe, Supportive, and Engaging Classrooms and Schools (2011, National Professional Resources, www.nprinc.com) and the new e-book, Emotionally Intelligent Parenting (via Kindle and Nook).  He is a licensed psychologist in NJ and writes a blog on Social-Emotional and Character Development (SECD) for the George Lucas Educational Foundation at www.edutopia.org.

This lecture is sponsored by the Center for Research on Families’ Tay Gavin Erickson Lecture Series. The Center for Research on Families (CRF) is an endowed interdisciplinary research center in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and College of Natural Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The Tay Gavin Erickson Lecture Series brings internationally recognized speakers with expertise in family research to campus each year. The lecture series began in 1999 through an endowment established in memory of Tay Gavin Erickson.