2 0 1 4 APF GOLD MEDAL AND TEACHING AWARDS
Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in the Application of Psychology The American Psychological Foundation (APF) Gold Medal Awards recognize distinguished and enduring re cords of accomplishment in four areas of psychology: the application of psychology, the practice of psychology, psy chology in the public interest, and the science of psychol ogy. The 2014 recipient of the Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in the Application of Psychology is Richard M. Lerner. Dorothy W. Cantor, president of the APF, will present the APF Gold Medal Awards at the 122nd Annual Con vention of the American Psychological Association on Au gust 8, 2014, at 4:00 p.m. Members of the 2014 APF Board of Trustees are Dorothy W. Cantor, president; Charles L. Brewer, vice president/secretary; Gerald Koocher, trea surer; Elisabeth R. Straus, executive vice president/executive director; Norman Anderson; David H. Barlow; Ca milla Benbow; Connie Chan; Anthony Jackson; Terence Keane; Ronald F. Levant; Richard McCarty; Aurelio Prifitera; Sandra Shullman; Archie L. Turner; Melba J. T. Vasquez; and Louise Douce, APA Board of Directors liaison.
R ic h a r d M . L e rn e r
Citation “The theoretical and empirical contributions of Richard M. Lerner have provided foundations for the fields of life span human development, applied developmental science, ado lescence, and positive youth development and have signif icantly advanced understanding of relational developmen tal systems theories and methodology. His work is predicated on a vision of a world wherein the strengths possessed by all young people and ecological assets in their contexts are integrated to promote positive development and to advance civil society. Lerner has mentored scores of scholars, sharing his vision of how applying developmental science can promote health and positive development among the diverse youth of America and the world.”
Biography Born in Brooklyn in 1946, Richard M. Lerner was the first of two children of Max and Sara Lerner. He and his brother Robert lived with their parents in the East New York section of the borough, close to the border of Brownsville and the apartments of their maternal grandparents, Sam and Lillian Goldfarb, and their parental grandparents, Harry and Anna Lerner. 468
Lerner’s initial worldview reflected the famous Saul Steinberg New Yorker cover. He never left the Greater New York metropolitan area (with the exception of summers in the Catskill Mountains) until he attended his first American Psychological Association (APA) meeting in San Francisco in 1968. In fact, although he has not lived in New York since the early summer of 1969 (when he drove from Brooklyn to his first job, in the Psychology Department at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan), he still considers himself a New Yorker as well as a fan of all New York sports teams—a difficult position to hold given his long-time residence in the Greater Boston area. Lerner went from kindergarten through graduate school within the New York City public school system. He attended P.S. 219 from kindergarten through Grade 6 and P.S. 252 for junior high school. He graduated from Samuel J. Tilden High School in 1962 and from Hunter College in the Bronx (now Herbert J. Lehman College) in 1966. He was a psychology major with a minor in physiology. He then entered the doctoral program at the City University of New York with the intent of becoming a physiological psychologist. However, through the influence of his men tor, Sam Korn, who was a collaborator in the New York Longitudinal Study led by psychiatrists Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess, he refocused his work on developmental psychology. He completed his doctorate at the City Uni versity of New York in 1971 in developmental psychology. Lerner’s first professorial position was at Eastern Michigan University (EMU), where Sam Karson, Dorothy Karson, Stuart Karabenick, John Knapp, and Murry Meisels provided scholarly and professional mentorship. While at EMU, Lerner met his future wife, Jacqueline Rose Verdirame. Lerner moved to Pennsylvania State University in 1976 to join the Department of Human Development and Family Studies in what is now the College of Health and Human Development. Colleagues such as Paul Baltes, Donald Ford, Lynn Liben, Jacqueline Verdirame Lerner, John Nesselroade, Anne Petersen, Warner Schaie, Graham Spanier, Fred Vondracek, Sherry Willis, and Joachim Wohlwill were vital resources for his continued intellectual and professional development. During his time at Penn State, Lerner began a stillongoing collaboration with Celia Fisher of Fordham Uni versity. Together, they helped organize and promote the field of applied developmental science. For instance, in 1997 they launched the journal Applied Developmental Science, which they continue to edit. A 1980-1981 fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences allowed him to learn from colleagues such as Ruth (Toby) Gross, Philip Kendall, July-August 2014 • American Psychologist © 2014 American Psychological Association 0003-066X/14/$ 12.00 Vol. 69, No. 5, 4 6 8 -4 7 0 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0036900
Richard M . Lerner
Gardner Lindsay, and Dale Miller. His experience at the Center launched his study of plasticity in human develop ment and its implications for actions aimed at promoting healthier and more positive human development, especially during adolescence. In 1991, Lerner moved to Michigan State University, where he directed the Institute for Children, Youth, and Families. Through the mentorship of and collaboration with Julia Miller, James Votruba, Lou Anna Simon, Law rence Schiamberg, Harriette McAdoo, and Carl Taylor, he developed several applied developmental science research programs. At the same time, he became founding editor of the Journal o f Research on Adolescence, the flagship jour nal of the Society for Research on Adolescence. In 1996, Lerner moved to Boston College, where he directed the Center for Child, Family, and Community Partnerships and worked with colleagues such as Mary Brabeck, Penny Hauser-Cram, Maureen Kenny, and Francine Sherman on university-community collaborations aimed at promoting positive youth development (PYD). In 1999, Lerner moved to the Eliot-Pearson Depart ment of Child Development as the Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science, a position endowed by Joan and Gary Bergstrom. He collaborated with colleagues such as Marina Bers, Kate Camara, Julie Dobrow, Ann Easterbrooks, David Henry Feldman, Chip Gidney, Fran Jacobs, Heidi Johnson, Tama Leventhal, Christy McWayne, Jayanthi Mistry, Ellen Pinderhughes, Fred Rothbaum, George Scarlett, Don Wertlieb, Maryanne Wolf, and Jon Zaff and, in turn, founded the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development, which he continues to direct. He launched a series of longitudinal studies perti nent to PYD. With the support of the National 4-H Council, particularly its past and current presidents and CEOs, Don
July-August 2014 • American Psychologist
Floyd, Jennifer Sirangelo, and Jo Turner, and of the Altria Corporation, Lerner and his wife Jacqueline conducted the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development. The Thrive Foundation for Youth has also supported his PYD work and, through the generous support of the John Templeton Foundation, Lerner undertook several longitudinal studies of character development promoted through school-related programs (e.g., involving the Williamson Free School for the Mechanical Trades and comparison trade or junior college programs; and the character and leadership devel opment programs at the United State Military Academy at West Point) and out-of-school programs (e.g., associated with the Boys Scouts of America). At this time, Lerner has authored or edited more than 650 scholarly publications, including more than 80 books. He is a fellow of APA, the Association for Psychological Science, and the American Association for the Advance ment of Science. He was the 2013 recipient of APA Divi sion 7’s Urie Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contri bution to Developmental Psychology in the Service of Science and Society. Across his career, he has been blessed by having the opportunity to work with scores of superb doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows. Lerrner and his wife Jacqueline V. Lerner, professor in the Department of Applied Developmental and Educa tional Psychology in the Lynch School of Education at Boston College, live in Wayland, Massachusetts. They have three children: Justin, 34, a director and screenwriter living in Los Angeles; Blair, 31, an advertising executive at Havas Media in Boston; and Jarrett, 27, a novelist and editor living in Boston. They have one grandchild, Harper Rose Ramsey, who is 18 months old. S e le c te d B i b l io g r a p h y Cozza, S. J., & Lerner, R. M. (Eds.). (2013). Military children and families. The Future o f Children, 23(2). Lerner, R. M. (1978). Nature, nurture, and dynamic interactionism. Hu man Development, 21, 1-20. doi:10.1159/000271572 Lerner, R. M. (1982). Children and adolescents as producers of their own development. Developmental Review, 2, 342-370. doi:10.1016/02732297(82)90018-1 Lerner, R. M. (1984). On the nature of human plasticity. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Lerner, R. M. (1991). Changing organism-context relations as the basic process of development: A developmental contextual perspective. De velopmental Psychology, 27, 27-32. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.27.1.27 Lerner, R. M. (1992). Final solutions: Biology, prejudice, and genocide. University Park, PA: Penn State University Press. Lerner, R. M. (1996). Relative plasticity, integration, temporality, and diversity in human development: A developmental contextual perspec tive about theory, process, and method. Developmental Psychology, 32, 781-786. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.32.4.781 Lerner, R. M. (2002). Concepts and theories o f human development (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Lerner, R. M. (2004). Liberty: Thriving and civic engagement among America’s youth. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Lerner, R. M. (2007). The good teen: Rescuing adolescence from the myths o f the storm and stress years. New York, NY: Crown. Lerner, R. M. (2012). Essay review: Developmental science: Past, present, and future. International Journal o f Developmental Science, 6(1-2), 29-36. Lerner, R. M., Fisher, C. B., & Weinberg, R. A. (2000). Toward a science for and of the people: Promoting civil society through the application of developmental science. Child Development, 7/(1), 11-20.
469
Lerner, R. M., Freund, A, M„ De Stefanis, I., & Habermas, T. (2001). Understanding developmental regulation in adolescence: The use of the selection, optimization, and compensation model. Human Develop ment, 44(1), 29-50. doi: 10.1159/000057039 Lerner, R. M., & Kauffman, M. B. (1985). The concept of development in contextualism. Developmental Review, 5(4), 309-333. doi: 10.1016/ 0273-2297(85)90016-4 Lerner, R. M., Lerner, J. V., Almerigi, J. B., Theokas, C., Phelps, E., Gestsddttir, S., . . . von Eye, A. (2005). Positive youth development, participation in community youth development programs, and commu nity contributions of fifth-grade adolescents: Findings from the first wave of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 25(1), 17-71. doi:10.1177/0272431604272461 Lerner, R. M., Lerner, J. V., Bowers, E. P., Lewin-Bizan, S., & von Eye, A. (Eds.), (2011). Individual and contextual bases of thriving in ado
470
lescence: Findings from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development [Special issue]. Journal o f Adolescence, 34(6). Lerner, R. M., Lerner, J. V., von Eye, A., & Lewin-Bizan, S. (Eds.). (2009). Foundations and functions of thriving in adolescence: Findings from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development [Special issue]. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 30(5). Lerner, R. M., & Overton, W. F. (2008). Exemplifying the integrations of the relational developmental system: Synthesizing theory, research, and application to promote positive development and social justice. Journal o f Adolescent Research, 23(3), 245-255. doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2009 .07.02 Lerner, R. M., von Eye, A., Lerner, J. V., Lewin-Bizan, S., & Bowers, E. P. (Eds.), (2010). The meaning and measurement of thriving in adolescence: Findings from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Develop ment [Special issue]. Journal o f Youth and Adolescence, 39(1).
July-August 2014 • American Psychologist
Copyright of American Psychologist is the property of American Psychological Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in the Application of Psychology The American Psychological Foundation (APF) Gold Medal Awards recognize distinguished and enduring re cords of accomplishment in four areas of psychology: the application of psychology, the practice of psychology, psy chology in the public interest, and the science of psychol ogy. The 2014 recipient of the Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in the Application of Psychology is Richard M. Lerner. Dorothy W. Cantor, president of the APF, will present the APF Gold Medal Awards at the 122nd Annual Con vention of the American Psychological Association on Au gust 8, 2014, at 4:00 p.m. Members of the 2014 APF Board of Trustees are Dorothy W. Cantor, president; Charles L. Brewer, vice president/secretary; Gerald Koocher, trea surer; Elisabeth R. Straus, executive vice president/executive director; Norman Anderson; David H. Barlow; Ca milla Benbow; Connie Chan; Anthony Jackson; Terence Keane; Ronald F. Levant; Richard McCarty; Aurelio Prifitera; Sandra Shullman; Archie L. Turner; Melba J. T. Vasquez; and Louise Douce, APA Board of Directors liaison.
R ic h a r d M . L e rn e r
Citation “The theoretical and empirical contributions of Richard M. Lerner have provided foundations for the fields of life span human development, applied developmental science, ado lescence, and positive youth development and have signif icantly advanced understanding of relational developmen tal systems theories and methodology. His work is predicated on a vision of a world wherein the strengths possessed by all young people and ecological assets in their contexts are integrated to promote positive development and to advance civil society. Lerner has mentored scores of scholars, sharing his vision of how applying developmental science can promote health and positive development among the diverse youth of America and the world.”
Biography Born in Brooklyn in 1946, Richard M. Lerner was the first of two children of Max and Sara Lerner. He and his brother Robert lived with their parents in the East New York section of the borough, close to the border of Brownsville and the apartments of their maternal grandparents, Sam and Lillian Goldfarb, and their parental grandparents, Harry and Anna Lerner. 468
Lerner’s initial worldview reflected the famous Saul Steinberg New Yorker cover. He never left the Greater New York metropolitan area (with the exception of summers in the Catskill Mountains) until he attended his first American Psychological Association (APA) meeting in San Francisco in 1968. In fact, although he has not lived in New York since the early summer of 1969 (when he drove from Brooklyn to his first job, in the Psychology Department at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan), he still considers himself a New Yorker as well as a fan of all New York sports teams—a difficult position to hold given his long-time residence in the Greater Boston area. Lerner went from kindergarten through graduate school within the New York City public school system. He attended P.S. 219 from kindergarten through Grade 6 and P.S. 252 for junior high school. He graduated from Samuel J. Tilden High School in 1962 and from Hunter College in the Bronx (now Herbert J. Lehman College) in 1966. He was a psychology major with a minor in physiology. He then entered the doctoral program at the City University of New York with the intent of becoming a physiological psychologist. However, through the influence of his men tor, Sam Korn, who was a collaborator in the New York Longitudinal Study led by psychiatrists Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess, he refocused his work on developmental psychology. He completed his doctorate at the City Uni versity of New York in 1971 in developmental psychology. Lerner’s first professorial position was at Eastern Michigan University (EMU), where Sam Karson, Dorothy Karson, Stuart Karabenick, John Knapp, and Murry Meisels provided scholarly and professional mentorship. While at EMU, Lerner met his future wife, Jacqueline Rose Verdirame. Lerner moved to Pennsylvania State University in 1976 to join the Department of Human Development and Family Studies in what is now the College of Health and Human Development. Colleagues such as Paul Baltes, Donald Ford, Lynn Liben, Jacqueline Verdirame Lerner, John Nesselroade, Anne Petersen, Warner Schaie, Graham Spanier, Fred Vondracek, Sherry Willis, and Joachim Wohlwill were vital resources for his continued intellectual and professional development. During his time at Penn State, Lerner began a stillongoing collaboration with Celia Fisher of Fordham Uni versity. Together, they helped organize and promote the field of applied developmental science. For instance, in 1997 they launched the journal Applied Developmental Science, which they continue to edit. A 1980-1981 fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences allowed him to learn from colleagues such as Ruth (Toby) Gross, Philip Kendall, July-August 2014 • American Psychologist © 2014 American Psychological Association 0003-066X/14/$ 12.00 Vol. 69, No. 5, 4 6 8 -4 7 0 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0036900
Richard M . Lerner
Gardner Lindsay, and Dale Miller. His experience at the Center launched his study of plasticity in human develop ment and its implications for actions aimed at promoting healthier and more positive human development, especially during adolescence. In 1991, Lerner moved to Michigan State University, where he directed the Institute for Children, Youth, and Families. Through the mentorship of and collaboration with Julia Miller, James Votruba, Lou Anna Simon, Law rence Schiamberg, Harriette McAdoo, and Carl Taylor, he developed several applied developmental science research programs. At the same time, he became founding editor of the Journal o f Research on Adolescence, the flagship jour nal of the Society for Research on Adolescence. In 1996, Lerner moved to Boston College, where he directed the Center for Child, Family, and Community Partnerships and worked with colleagues such as Mary Brabeck, Penny Hauser-Cram, Maureen Kenny, and Francine Sherman on university-community collaborations aimed at promoting positive youth development (PYD). In 1999, Lerner moved to the Eliot-Pearson Depart ment of Child Development as the Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science, a position endowed by Joan and Gary Bergstrom. He collaborated with colleagues such as Marina Bers, Kate Camara, Julie Dobrow, Ann Easterbrooks, David Henry Feldman, Chip Gidney, Fran Jacobs, Heidi Johnson, Tama Leventhal, Christy McWayne, Jayanthi Mistry, Ellen Pinderhughes, Fred Rothbaum, George Scarlett, Don Wertlieb, Maryanne Wolf, and Jon Zaff and, in turn, founded the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development, which he continues to direct. He launched a series of longitudinal studies perti nent to PYD. With the support of the National 4-H Council, particularly its past and current presidents and CEOs, Don
July-August 2014 • American Psychologist
Floyd, Jennifer Sirangelo, and Jo Turner, and of the Altria Corporation, Lerner and his wife Jacqueline conducted the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development. The Thrive Foundation for Youth has also supported his PYD work and, through the generous support of the John Templeton Foundation, Lerner undertook several longitudinal studies of character development promoted through school-related programs (e.g., involving the Williamson Free School for the Mechanical Trades and comparison trade or junior college programs; and the character and leadership devel opment programs at the United State Military Academy at West Point) and out-of-school programs (e.g., associated with the Boys Scouts of America). At this time, Lerner has authored or edited more than 650 scholarly publications, including more than 80 books. He is a fellow of APA, the Association for Psychological Science, and the American Association for the Advance ment of Science. He was the 2013 recipient of APA Divi sion 7’s Urie Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contri bution to Developmental Psychology in the Service of Science and Society. Across his career, he has been blessed by having the opportunity to work with scores of superb doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows. Lerrner and his wife Jacqueline V. Lerner, professor in the Department of Applied Developmental and Educa tional Psychology in the Lynch School of Education at Boston College, live in Wayland, Massachusetts. They have three children: Justin, 34, a director and screenwriter living in Los Angeles; Blair, 31, an advertising executive at Havas Media in Boston; and Jarrett, 27, a novelist and editor living in Boston. They have one grandchild, Harper Rose Ramsey, who is 18 months old. S e le c te d B i b l io g r a p h y Cozza, S. J., & Lerner, R. M. (Eds.). (2013). Military children and families. The Future o f Children, 23(2). Lerner, R. M. (1978). Nature, nurture, and dynamic interactionism. Hu man Development, 21, 1-20. doi:10.1159/000271572 Lerner, R. M. (1982). Children and adolescents as producers of their own development. Developmental Review, 2, 342-370. doi:10.1016/02732297(82)90018-1 Lerner, R. M. (1984). On the nature of human plasticity. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Lerner, R. M. (1991). Changing organism-context relations as the basic process of development: A developmental contextual perspective. De velopmental Psychology, 27, 27-32. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.27.1.27 Lerner, R. M. (1992). Final solutions: Biology, prejudice, and genocide. University Park, PA: Penn State University Press. Lerner, R. M. (1996). Relative plasticity, integration, temporality, and diversity in human development: A developmental contextual perspec tive about theory, process, and method. Developmental Psychology, 32, 781-786. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.32.4.781 Lerner, R. M. (2002). Concepts and theories o f human development (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Lerner, R. M. (2004). Liberty: Thriving and civic engagement among America’s youth. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Lerner, R. M. (2007). The good teen: Rescuing adolescence from the myths o f the storm and stress years. New York, NY: Crown. Lerner, R. M. (2012). Essay review: Developmental science: Past, present, and future. International Journal o f Developmental Science, 6(1-2), 29-36. Lerner, R. M., Fisher, C. B., & Weinberg, R. A. (2000). Toward a science for and of the people: Promoting civil society through the application of developmental science. Child Development, 7/(1), 11-20.
469
Lerner, R. M., Freund, A, M„ De Stefanis, I., & Habermas, T. (2001). Understanding developmental regulation in adolescence: The use of the selection, optimization, and compensation model. Human Develop ment, 44(1), 29-50. doi: 10.1159/000057039 Lerner, R. M., & Kauffman, M. B. (1985). The concept of development in contextualism. Developmental Review, 5(4), 309-333. doi: 10.1016/ 0273-2297(85)90016-4 Lerner, R. M., Lerner, J. V., Almerigi, J. B., Theokas, C., Phelps, E., Gestsddttir, S., . . . von Eye, A. (2005). Positive youth development, participation in community youth development programs, and commu nity contributions of fifth-grade adolescents: Findings from the first wave of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 25(1), 17-71. doi:10.1177/0272431604272461 Lerner, R. M., Lerner, J. V., Bowers, E. P., Lewin-Bizan, S., & von Eye, A. (Eds.), (2011). Individual and contextual bases of thriving in ado
470
lescence: Findings from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development [Special issue]. Journal o f Adolescence, 34(6). Lerner, R. M., Lerner, J. V., von Eye, A., & Lewin-Bizan, S. (Eds.). (2009). Foundations and functions of thriving in adolescence: Findings from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development [Special issue]. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 30(5). Lerner, R. M., & Overton, W. F. (2008). Exemplifying the integrations of the relational developmental system: Synthesizing theory, research, and application to promote positive development and social justice. Journal o f Adolescent Research, 23(3), 245-255. doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2009 .07.02 Lerner, R. M., von Eye, A., Lerner, J. V., Lewin-Bizan, S., & Bowers, E. P. (Eds.), (2010). The meaning and measurement of thriving in adolescence: Findings from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Develop ment [Special issue]. Journal o f Youth and Adolescence, 39(1).
July-August 2014 • American Psychologist
Copyright of American Psychologist is the property of American Psychological Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
