Child development pioneer to give Psi Chi lecture at URI

Kingston, R.I. -- March 8, 1999 -- Dr. Lewis P. Lipsitt, a pioneer in the study of how children develop, will give this year,s Psi Chi invited address at the University of Rhode Island,s Kingston Campus March 29 at 3 p.m. The lecture will be given in the Galanti Lounge of the URI Library. The talk, free and open to the public, would be of particular interest to people interested in the child development process, early education, and child rearing practices.

Lipsitt will draw some general conclusions about his lifelong work and how those activities can be related to public policy. His lecture is entitled "Developmental Destinies of Children: Predictions Supported and Derailed.

Lipsitt, a developmental psychologist, is the founder of the Child Study Center at Brown University, which he directed from 1967 to 1991.

An emeritus professor at Brown, Lipsitt is also a research professor. His work at Brown is supported by a four-year National Institutes of Health grant to continue a longitudinal study of 4,000 individuals from birth to adulthood.

"Lipsitt was the heart of the study designed to assess as early as possible children who were at risk, says URI psychologist Albert Silverstein who was a colleague of Lipsitt,s during the ,70s. "There is a renewed controversy about earliest childhood experiences and just how deeply formative there are. It,s a more involved issue than we once thought.

Lipsitt was given the Nicholas Hobbs award for "science in the service of children in 1990 from the American Psychological Association Division of Child, Youth, and Family Services. He also won the 1994 American Association for the Advancement of Science Lifetime Achievement Mentor Award for helping minorities and women in the pursuit of scientific careers.

As professor emeritus of psychology, medical science, and human development, Lipsitt chairs the steering committee of the National Study of Early Child Care, which is sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. He also chairs the Human Development advisory group of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.

He has authored many books and articles on infant learning and perception; perinatal risk; crib death; and adolescent suicide, as well as other conditions threatening young people,s lives.

Lipsitt co-directs with Dr. Alvin Poussaint the Lee Salk Center of KIDSPEACE/Wiley House, Pennsylvania, a national center for young people in crisis.

His talk at URI is co-sponsored by The Visiting Scholars Committee and URI,s Chapter of Psi Chi, a national psychology honor society.

A reception will follow the talk.

For More Information: Dr. Al Silverstein, 874-2193

Jan Sawyer, 874-2116