Youth violence, aggression is topic of UNL lecture series

Four internationally known researchers and authors will be featured in a lecture series on youth violence and aggression at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The dates of the lectures are March 7 and 21, and April 25, with the date for the fourth lecture still to be set after it was postponed from its original date Feb. 21.

"Youth Violence and Aggression in Families, Schools and Communities: Research and Policy Implications" will be headlined by international expert and best-selling author of "Real Boys," William Pollack on March 7. All lectures are 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Nebraska Union, 1400 R St. They are free and open to the public. Speakers are:

* Pollack, March 7, best-selling author of "Real Boys," "Real Boys' Voices" and "Real Boys Workbook," on "Real Boys and Young Men: Hearing their Voices, Understanding Their Pain, Healing their Disconnection;"

* Susan Limber, March 21, "Preventing Bullying Among Children and Youth: How Can Research Advise our Efforts in a Post-Columbine Era;" and

* Andy Horne, April 25, "Bullying and Aggression in Schools and Families: What Works, What Doesn't Work"; and

* Nicki Crick, "Childhood Aggression and Gender: Boys will be Boys, But What about Girls?" (date to be determined).

The presentations are of interest to elementary, middle- and high-school teachers, youth volunteers and advocates, social service workers, mental health professionals and counselors, as well as parents, grandparents or anyone interested in the topic, said Susan Sheridan, Willa Cather professor of educational psychology at UNL and director of the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools.

"We are extremely fortunate to host such a world-class group of researchers on the critical topic of youth violence and aggression," Sheridan said. "This issue is of extreme importance in our own community. When children engage in or are victims of violence and aggression, we all suffer, not only the children themselves, but schools, families and communities as well. The information shared by these international researchers will help us better understand and address youth violence in our schools, families and neighborhoods."

Crick is director and professor at the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota, is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and has received several professional honors, including the Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology from APA (2002), the Boyd McCandless Award from APA (1995), a Faculty Scholars Award from the William T. Grant Foundation (1995-2000), and a FIRST award from the National Institute of Mental Health. She served as an associate editor for Merrill-Palmer Quarterly from 1999 to 2000 and is an editorial board member for the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Development and Psychopathology, and Social Development. Her research focuses on the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of relational and physical aggression and victimization across the life-span. She is particularly interested in the role of gender in development and social-psychological adjustment.

Pollack has appeared as an expert and author on boys on many national news programs. He is on staff at Harvard Medical School/McLean Hospital, and serves as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Secret Service. Pollack's research focuses on how boys and adolescent males are failing in our society and how society is failing them. Whether it is on the school academic ladder, the educational social system or the massive disconnect of young males from nurturing and mentoring adults, boys are in crisis, according to Pollack. This crisis, however, is beginning to turn the corner toward opportunities for intervention and change. Pollack will talk about the Listening to Boys Voices Research Study conducted by Harvard affiliated scholars, his foray into the popular media and the federally supported Safe School Initiative and new pilot study of Bystander Behavior as central to changing school climates.

Limber is associate director of the Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life and professor of psychology at Clemson University in South Carolina. She is a developmental psychologist who earned her master's and doctoral degrees in psychology at UNL, as well as a master of legal studies from Nebraska. Limber's research and writing have focused on legal and psychological issues related to youth violence, particularly bullying among children, child protection, and children's rights. She directed the first wide-scale implementation and evaluation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention program in the United States and co-authored the Blueprint for the Bullying Prevention Program. She has consulted with numerous schools around the country on the reduction of bullying among school children. She now provides consultation to National Bullying Prevention Campaign, supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration. In 2004, Limber received the American Psychological Association's Early Career Award for Psychology in the Public Interest.

Horne is professor of counseling and human development, University of Georgia, and principal investigator in Project A.C.T. Early: Advancing the Competencies of Teachers for Early Behavioral Interventions of At-Risk Children, which has won national attention. He was the principal investigator for National Institute of Mental Health grants investigating developmental aspects of behavior problems in children, and for 10 years was director of the Family Research Program, which examined collaborative methods of assisting families, schools, and juvenile justice systems to address problems of conduct and oppositional defiant disordered children. He is the author or editor of eight books including his most recent, "Bully Busters."

The lecture series is co-sponsored by UNL's College of Education and Human Sciences, the Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Family Research and Policy Initiative and the Center on Children, Families and the Law.

CONTACTS: Susan Sheridan, Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families & Schools, (402) 472-6941;
Chris Wicklund, Family Research and Policy Initiative, (402) 472-9330