JAMES P. COMER, YALE CHILD PSYCHIATRIST, TO GIVE
KEYNOTE ADDRESS AT MARCH 26 CONFERENCE

James P. Comer, the Maurice Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry at the Child Study Center and an associate dean at the School of Medicine at Yale University, will give a talk titled "Challenges Faced by Families Raising Children in Troubled Times," at 9 a.m. on Friday, March 26. Comer's talk will serve as the keynote address for the two-day conference on the "Effects of Violence on Children, Families and Communities" sponsored by the Center for Child and Family Well-Being and the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research.

Comer is the founder of the Yale University Child Study Center's School Development Program, which seeks to create schools that nurture emotional, social and academic development. The program, founded in 1968, now operates in more than 700 schools in the United States, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Trinidad and Tobago. For his work on the School Development Program, in 2000, Comer was named to Education Week's list of 100 people who helped shaped American education in the 20th century.

"Children see too much, hear too much, know too much too early today. Therefore, the school has to serve as a community to help them grow along with their parents," says Comer. His School Development Program promotes the collaboration of parents, educators and the community to improve social, emotional and academic outcomes for children.

A prolific writer, Comer has authored seven books and written more than 150 articles for Parents magazine and more than 300 syndicated articles on children's health and development and race relations.

The recipient of 40 honorary degrees, Comer has also received the Heinz Award in the Human Condition, the Charles A. Dana Award for Pioneering Achievement in Education and, most recently, the John P. McGovern Behavioral Science Award presented by the Smithsonian Institutes.

Support for the conference is provided by Philadelphia Connections, the Anita D. Lichtenstein Memorial Lecture, and the G. Mildred and A. Foster Scott Charitable Foundation. Comer's address and the conference are open to the public, but advance registration is required. For more information or to register to attend, please call (610) 520-2600 or visit the Web site at http://www.brynmawr.edu/socialwork/conference/.

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