Greenberg to receive award for research in child development

University Park, Pa. — Mark T. Greenberg, Edna Peterson Bennett chair in prevention research and director of the Penn State Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development, will be a co-recipient of the Distinguished Contributions to Public Policy for Children Award at the 2009 biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development.

Greenberg is recognized as one of the foremost authorities on the prevention of family violence and child delinquency and the promotion of social competence in children. He is the co-creator of Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies (PATHS), a program designed to improve the social, emotional and cognitive competence of elementary-aged children. The curriculum, which has been implemented in more than 1,500 schools worldwide, is one of 11 programs designated as a “Blueprints for Violence Prevention” program by the U.S. Department of Justice and one of 25 programs designated as a “model program” by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Within Pennsylvania, Greenberg played a key role in former Governor Mark Schweiker’s Early Childhood Care and Education Task Force and currently serves on a stakeholder commission that supports the work of Governor Ed Rendell’s Commission on Children and Families. He also serves as principal investigator on a number of projects designed to enhance the health and well-being of children, including PROmoting School-community-university Partnerships to Enhance Resilience (PROSPER), Communities That Care, Family Life and Reaching Early Achievement for Children in Harrisburg (REACH).

Throughout his distinguished career, Greenberg has written more than 200 journal articles and book chapters on child development, aggression, violence and externalizing disorders. He has received numerous awards, including the Distinguished Research Scientist Award from the Society for Prevention Research, the Faculty Outreach Award from Penn State and the Pauline Schmitt Russell Research Achievement Award from Penn State’s College of Health and Human Development.

The Society for Research in Child Development is a multidisciplinary, nonprofit, professional association with a membership of approximately 5,500 researchers, practitioners and human development professionals from over fifty countries. The purposes of the Society are to promote multidisciplinary research in the field of human development, to foster the exchange of information among scientists and other professionals of various disciplines and to encourage applications of research findings. These goals are pursued through a variety of programs with the cooperation and service of its governing council, standing committees, and members.