Key Note Speakers

Dr. Jeffrey M. Jenson

Jeffrey M. Jenson is the Philip D. and Eleanor G. Winn Professor for Children and Youth at Risk and Associate Dean for Research in the Graduate School of Social Work, University of Denver. Professor Jenson's teaching and research interests focus on the etiology, prevention, and treatment of childhood and adolescent aggression, juvenile delinquency, and substance abuse. He has published three books and numerous articles on the topic of adolescent problem behavior. Jenson’s book, Social policy for children and youth: A risk and resilience perspective (with Mark Fraser), was the 2008 recipient of the Society for Research on Adolescence Social Policy Award for Best Edited Book. Jenson is currently principal investigator of the Empowering Disadvantaged and High-Risk Youth Project, an investigation aimed at improving academic and behavioral outcomes among youth residing in three Denver public housing communities. He was recently principal investigator of the Youth Matters Denver Public Schools Prevention Project, a group-randomized trial assessing the effects of a structured curriculum on aggression and bullying among elementary school students in 28 Denver public schools. Jenson received the University of Denver Distinguished Scholar Award in 2003 and the University Lecturer Award in 2007. He received the Aaron Rosen Lecture Award from the Society for Social Work and Research in 2009.

Harold D. Grotevant, Ph.D., holds the Rudd Family Foundation Chair in Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he recently moved after completing 18 years at the University of Minnesota. His research focuses on relationships in adoptive families, and on identity development in adolescents and young adults. His work has resulted in over 100 articles published in professional journals as well as several books, including Openness in Adoption: Exploring Family Connections (with Ruth McRoy, Sage Publications, 1998). He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the National Council on Family Relations; Senior Research Fellow of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute; former Board President of Adoptive Families of America; and recipient of research, teaching, and educational leadership awards from the University of Minnesota. He directs the Minnesota / Texas Adoption Research Project, which focuses on relationships in adoptive families and contact between adoptive and birth family members. This longitudinal study, begun with Dr. Ruth McRoy (University of Texas at Austin) in the mid- 1980s, has followed the children into young adulthood.

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