Public Presentations

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The Center on Adolescence encourages participation at professional meetings, invited talks,
and other events related to the work of Center. Here is a summary of presentations by Center
members, former members, and visitors beginning with academic year 2007-2008.
To see an abstract, select the pencil. "

2011-2012 | 2010-2011 | 2009-2010 | 2008-2009 | 2007-2008



2011 - 2012


October 24-28, 2011: Association for Moral Education, Nanjing, China Changwoo Jeong, Seoul National University and Hyemin Han Paper: "Bridging the Gap between Science and the Humanities through Moral Education"



2010 - 2011


April, 2011: American Education Research Association, New Orleans, LA Kirsi Tirri Paper: "Finnish Teachers’ and Students’ Views on Holistic School Pedagogy" Matthew J. Bundick and Kirsi Tirri Paper: "Teacher Support and Competencies for Fostering Youth Purpose and Psychological Well-Being: Perspectives from Two Countries" Kirsi Tirri and Petri Nokelainen Paper: "Ethical Thinking Skills of Mathematically Gifted Finnish Young Adults" Jenni Menon Mariano Poster: "Finding and seeking purpose among ethnic minority girls: Sources of social support in middle school"

April 2, 2011: Center for Adolescent Research and Development Mount Saint Mary College, Newburgh, NY Adolescence in the 21st Century: Fostering Agency, Purpose and Engagement William Damon, Center Director Keynote Address: The Uncertain Development of Civic Purpose Among American Youth Today

April 2, 2011: Society for Research in Child Development, Montreal, Canada Symposium: "Adolescent Perspectives on Engagement in Social Change: Voices of Diverse Youth" Brandy Quinn "Public-Spirited Purpose in Adolescence: The Role of Implicit Theories"

March 30, 2011: Society for Research in Child Development, Montreal, Canada Preconference: "Youth Civic Development: Theory, Constructs, Innovative Methods" William Damon Opening Remarks Parissa Jahromi "What Motivates Youth Civic Participation"

February 2011: Evelyn Duvall Family Studies Conference, Sarasota, FL Jenni Menon Mariano Paper: "Promoting youth purpose: Toward a theory and practice of social supports"



2009 - 2010


November, 2010: Association for Moral Education, St. Louis, MO Symposium:"Youth Purpose and its Civic Expressions" Jenni Menon Mariano, University of South Florida (Chair) "Perceived social supports of civic and other expressions of purpose among minority adolescent girls" Carolyn Barber, University of Missouri, Kansas City "Volunteerism as purpose: Examining predictors of longterm service involvement" Lisa Dorner, University of Missouri, St. Louis "The adolescent children of immigrants, language brokering, and civic purpose" Jenni Menon Mariano Poster: “Three problems in the study of youth purpose for college student development”

June 17, 2010: New York Times blog, Room for Debate William Damon, Center Director Invited guest opinion addressing: "Should Parents Be Jailed When Kids Drink?"

June 5, 2010: American Identity Renewed: An Educational Agenda for the 21st Century meeting in New York City William Damon, Center Director Introductory Remarks

March 2010: Society for Research on Adolescence Biennial Meeting, Philadelphia, PA Preconference Roundtable: "Youth Purpose: How Adolescents Develop Meaningful Direction" Matthew J. Bundick, Postdoctoral Fellow, MacArthur Foundation Network on Transitions to Adulthood, The Pennsylvania State University Discussion: "The Interplay Between Purpose and Career Aspirations in Late Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood" Heather Malin, Research Associate Discussion: "Artistic Purpose in Adolescence" Seana Moran, Research Associate Discussion: "How Stable is Purpose in Adolescence?" Brandy Quinn Discussion: "Service <-> Justice Forms of Altruistic Purpose and the Potential Relationships to Problem-Based Learning in the Community" Poster: "Implicit Theories in Altruistic Forms of Purpose" Tim Reilly Discussion: "How can interventions to support purpose or purpose precursors be designed in ways that are age-appropriate?"

January 2010: 8th Annual Hawai’i International Conference on Education, Honolulu, HI Jenni Menon Mariano and Jessica Savage Paper: “In a positive voice: Language terms and phrases used by adolescents with different degrees and forms of purpose.”

September 2009: Journal of College and Character Matthew J. Bundick Interview: "Finding the Good Life: How Positive Psychology Can Help College Students to Discover and Utilize Their Personal Strengths and Virtues"



2008 - 2009


July, 2009: Association for Moral Education, Utrecht, The Netherlands Seana Moran Paper: "Adolescent Aspirations for Change: Tolerance and Creativity"

July, 2009: Annual meeting of the Rural Sociological Society, Madison, WI Devora Shamah and K.A. MacTavish Paper: "Developing a sense of purpose among youth: The role of agrarian values"

June, 2009: National Institutes of Health Minority Opportunities in Research Program Directors Meeting, Colorado Springs, CO Seana Moran Plenary Session: "Purpose, Commitment and Creativity"

June 18-21, 2009: International Positive Psychology Association First World Congress on Positive Psychology, Philadelphia, PA Ulisses Ferreira Araújo, Matthew J. Bundick, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, William Damon, Seana Moran, Kirsi Tirri Symposium: "Finding Purpose in Three Societies: Cultural and Developmental Analyses"

May, 2009: Midwest Psychological Association. Chicago, IL Kendall Cotton Bronk Poster: "Categories of Purpose in Life among Adolescents"

May, 2009: European Council for High Ability-Austria, University of Salzburg Kirsi Tirri, Visiting Scholar Keynote Address: "Holistic Education for Gifted Students"

April, 2009: American Education Research Association, San Diego, CA Kirsi Tirri, Visiting Scholar Paper: Journal Talk: "High Ability Studies"

April 1, 2009: 5th Annual Conference on Character and Civic Education, Fresno, CA William Damon, Center Director Keynote Address: "The Path to Purpose: How Young People Find Their Calling in Life"

March, 2009: Dublin City University, Ireland Kirsi Tirri, Visiting Scholar Keynote Address: "Holistic Education for Gifted Students"

January, 2009: Helsinki University Bulletin, Helsinki, Finland Kirsi Tirri, Visiting Scholar Article, Page 18: "To Be Able To Do What You Love" Shorter version of this article

January, 2009: Mawhiba Forum, Saudi Arabia Kirsi Tirri, Visiting Scholar Keynote Address: "Holistic Education for Gifted Students"

December 12, 2008: Palo Alto Weekly, Palo Alto, CA William Damon, Center Director Article: "Late to launch: the come-home kids. What it takes for young people to find their purpose in life."

December, 2008: Joy of Learning - A Cicero Learning Conference, Helsinki, Finland Kirsi Tirri, Visiting Scholar Keynote Address: "School as a Good Work Place for Both Teachers and Learners: The Professional Ethics of Teachers"

November, 2008: Association for Moral Education, Notre Dame, IN Matthew C. Andrews Paper: "Moral Values in the Context of Adolescent Ideology and Purpose in Life" Kendall Cotton Bronk Poster: "Purpose, Hope and Life Satisfaction among Adolescents" Matthew J. Bundick, Seana Moran, David S. Yeager, Matthew C. Andrews, and William Damon Paper: "Fostering Purpose in Adolescence: The Roles of Social Supports, Individual Characteristics, and Activity Involvements" Kirsi Tirri, Visiting Scholar Paper: "Teachers' Ethical Sensitivity in Critical Incidents at School" Kirsi Tirri, Visiting Scholar Paper: "Two Worlds in One Person: Giftedness and Spirituality" David S. Yeager, Matthew C. Andrews, Seana Moran, and William Damon Paper: "The Forms of Purpose in Adolescence"

September, 2008: Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), Helsinki. Finland Kirsi Tirri, Visiting Scholar Paper: "Talented Students"

September, 2008: European Council for High Ability (ECHA), Prague, Czech Republic Kirsi Tirri, Visiting Scholar Paper: "Educating Talents for the Future: Industrial and School Co-operation in Practice"

August 28-30, 2008: European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI), Canterbury, United Kingdom Kirsi Tirri, Visiting Scholar Paper: "The Beliefs and Values of Gifted Finnish Adolescents"

August 18, 2008: United States Department of Education, Washington, D.C. Symposium on Emerging Issues in Character Education William Damon, Director Talk: "Cultivating Character Education in High Schools"

August 2008: American Psychological Association, Boston, MA Matthew J. Bundick, David S. Yeager, and William Damon Division 7: Developmental Psychology Poster: "Correlates and Developmental Trends of Thriving in Adolescence" Seana Moran Division 32: Humanistic Psychology Poster: "Adolescents' Emic Understanding of Purpose" Division 10: Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts Paper: "Commitment and Creativity" David S. Yeager and William Damon Division 8: Personality and Social Poster: "A Bayesian Model Averaging Approach to Predicting Social Psychological Phenomena"



2007 - 2008


July, 2008: Annual meeting of the Rural Sociological Society, Manchester, NH Devora Shamah and K.A. MacTavish Paper: "A sense of purpose and a sense of place: Examining rural residence and adolescent development"

July, 2008: 10^th Asia-Pacific Conference on Giftedness, Singapore Kirsi Tirri, Visiting Scholar Keynote address: "Gifted Students as Citizens for the Future" Parent workshop: "The Role of the Home in Nurturing Talent"

July 2-4, 2008: IV International Congress of University Teaching and Innovation, Lleida, Spain Ulisses Ferreira Araújo, Visiting Scholar Paper: "Fostering Citizenship on Higher Education: The Experience of the University of Sao Paulo"

June 12, 2008: Conference on Postmodern Spirituality, Turku, Finland Kirsi Tirri, Visiting Scholar Keynote address: "Spirituality in Education"

May 15, 2008: Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal, Washington, D.C. William Damon, Director Talk: "Preventing 'Failure to Launch': Is Service a Path to Purpose?"

May 12, 2008: New Hampshire Department of Education, Bedford, NH Teacher Development "Purpose Day" Seana Moran Talk: "What is Youth Purpose?"

April, 2008: Annual meeting of the Pacific Sociological Association, Portland, OR Devora Shamah and K.A. MacTavish Paper: "Looking toward the future"

March, 2008: American Education Research Association, New York, NY Seana Moran Paper: "Commitment and Creativity" Kirsi Tirri, Visiting Scholar Paper: "Comparison of Academically Average and Gifted Students' Self-Rated Ethical Sensitivity" David S. Yeager, Matthew C. Andrews, Matthew J. Bundick and William Damon Paper: "Integration of Adolescent Career and Pro-social Aspirations"

March 8, 2008: Society for Research on Adolescence, Chicago, IL Matthew C. Andrews Paper: "Uncertainty, Identity and Emotional Complexity in Youth Purpose" Kendall Cotton Bronk Paper: "New Perspective on Youth Purpose" David S. Yeager and Matthew J. Bundick Paper: "Presence and Integration of Adolescent Self and Beyond-the-Self Oriented Life Goals"

February 4, 2008: Stanford Student Research Conference, Stanford, CA David S. Yeager, Matthew J. Bundick, Matthew C. Andrews, William Damon Paper: "Comparing Adolescent Purpose and Self-Oriented Life Goals in Career Aspirations"

November, 2007: Calvary Presbyterian Church, San Francisco, CA Matthew C. Andrews Talk: "Teaching Our Teenagers to be Good People"

November, 2007: Association for Moral Education, New York, NY Kendall Cotton Bronk Paper: "The Role of Purpose in Moral Functioning of Adolescents" Seana Moran Paper: "The Moral Purposes of Creators" Paper: "Commitment in Democracy" Kirsi Tirri, Visiting Scholar Paper: "Morality, Spirituality and Global Citizenship"

August, 2007: American Psychological Association, San Francisco, CA Matthew J. Bundick, Matthew C. Andrews, and William Damon Poster: "New Perspectives on Youth Purpose: 'Seeking Purpose' versus 'Having Purpose'"