The Center on the Developing Child’s Student Seminar Series is designed to foster interdisciplinary conversations among Harvard undergraduates and graduate students who are interested in promoting the healthy development of young children in the United States and abroad. Serving as a complement to the Center’s Doctoral Working Group, which combines practical guidance on how to navigate the doctoral experience with thematic presentations, and the Center’s Richmond Fellowship Program, which is for advanced doctoral students working on their dissertations, the Student Seminar Series offers interactive sessions that expose students from across the University to a broad introduction to the integrated science of health, learning, and behavior, as well as to its implications for policy and practice. Led by graduate students, the yearlong, non-credit Student Seminar Series focuses on a variety of topics and employs various formats, including presentation of student work; conversations with practitioners, policymakers, and researchers; and discussion of current events. The seminars, held at the Center on Wednesdays from 5:30-7:30 pm, are each two hours long, and dinner is served.
While attendance at all seminars is not necessary, interested participants must a) complete a one-time registration for the series, and b) RSVP for the specific sessions of their choice prior to the date of the seminar. Because of room capacity, students will be admitted on a first-come, first-served basis, so early responses are encouraged.
Click here to register for the Student Seminar Series >>
Session Schedule
Session 1: September 10, 2012, 4-5:30 pm
Orientation to the Center on the Developing Child
Session 2: September 18, 2012, 5:30-7:30 pm RSVP
Leveraging a Biodevelopmental Framework to Strengthen the Foundations of Lifelong Learning, Behavior, and Health
Speaker: Jack P. Shonkoff, M.D., Director, Center on the Developing Child
This is a joint session with the Center’s Doctoral Working Group. This session will be held at Tsai Auditorium at the Center for Government and International Studies, 1730 Cambridge Street in Cambridge, Mass.
Session 3: October 3, 2012, 5:30-7:30 pm RSVP
Major Models of Intervention: Domestic and International
Dr. Stephanie Jones, Marie and Max Kargman Associate Professor in Human Development and Urban Education Advancement, HGSE
Dr. Elizabeth Newnham, Research Associate, François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, HSPH
Session 4: October 24, 2012, 5:30-7:30 pm RSVP
Families and Communities: How Building Partnerships with Families and the Community Can Promote the Healthy Development and Well Being of Children
Dr. Heidi Rosenberg and Dr. Christine Patton, Senior Research Analysts, Harvard Family Research Project
Session 5: November 7, 2012, 5:30-7:30 pm RSVP
Policy Models: The Case of Washington State
Becky Jaques, Project Manager, Frontiers of Innovation Initiative, Center on the Developing Child
Amy Astle-Raaen, Early Childhood Development Cross Systems Coordinator for FOI in Washington State
Session 6: November 28, 2012, 5:30-7:30 pm RSVP
Early Childhood Development in Emergency Settings
Dr. MaryCatherine Arbour, Senior Research Associate, Center on the Developing Child; Associate Physician for Research at the Division of Global Health Equity of Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Session 7: December 5, 2012, 5:30-7:30 pm RSVP
Student Presentations
This session has been postponed and will be rescheduled in 2013.
Session 8: January 30, 2013, 5:30-7:30 pm RSVP
The History of Early Childhood Development
Wayne Ysaguirre, President and CEO, Associated Early Care and Education, Inc.
Session 9: February 13, 2013, 5:30-7:30 pm RSVP
Mental Health and Child Well-Being
John R. Weisz, Ph.D., ABPP
Professor, Department of Psychology, Harvard University
Professor, Harvard Medical School
Session 10: March 6, 2013, 5:30-7:30 pm RSVP
Student Presentations: This session has been cancelled
Session 11: March 27, 2013, 5:30-7:30 pm RSVP
Mental Health: What Do Genes Have to Do with It?
Jordan W. Smoller, M.D., Sc.D.
Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Director of Psychiatric Genetics and Associate Vice Chair, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital
Session 12: April 8, 2013, 5:30-7:30 pm RSVP
Joint Session with the Center’s Doctoral Working Group
Pat Levitt, Ph.D., Science Director, National Scientific Council on the Developing Child
Provost Professor of Neuroscience, Psychiatry & Pharmacy; Director of the Neuroscience Graduate Program at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California
