Thomas H. Wright Lecture

The Thomas H. Wright Lecture, inaugurated in 1995, honors Thomas H. Wright's dedication to Sarah Lawrence and his long service on the Board of Trustees. An endowment, established by the Leon Lowenstein Foundation, funds the lecture.

The Environment of Childhood Poverty

Gary W. Evans, PhD

Monday July 15, 2013
4:30 p.m.
Heimbold Donnelley Theater

Free and Open to the Public
Please RSVP to Child Development Institute
cdi@sarahlawrence.edu
(914) 395-2630

Gary W. Evans is the Elizabeth Lee Vincent Professor of Human Ecology at Cornell University. He is a developmental and environmental psychologist interested in how the physical environment affects children’s development.  Much of his work over the past two decades has focused on the environment of childhood poverty, examining how the accumulation of psychosocial and physical risk factor exposures among children influences their development.  

Evans graduated from Colgate University in 1971 and then received an MS and a PhD in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.  During two of those years, he also worked full time for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Institute for the Environment, one of the first interdisciplinary, university-government think tanks in the nation devoted to environmental issues.  From 1975 to 1992 he was on the faculty in the School of Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine before moving to his present position at Cornell University.  He has done post-doctoral work in psychoneuroendocrinology at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and on human development at Cornell University with support from a Senior National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Child Health and Development.

Evans has had continuous extramural funding for his research beginning with a National Science Foundation Dissertation Fellowship and has received numerous teaching awards throughout his career. He has written five books and authored over 300 scholarly papers and book chapters. He was a member of the John D. and Catherine T. Mac Arthur Foundation Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health and in 2006 received an Honorary Doctorate from Stockholm University.  He currently serves on the Board on Children, Youth, and Families of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine.

Previous Thomas H. Wright Lectures

• 2012
  Teaching and Learning in a Diverse and Inequitable World
  Patricia Ramsey, EdD
  Watch lecture video on YouTube»
• 2011
  Voices of Children Voices of Teachers: Reclaiming the Classroom
  Mary Hebron, MA
• 2010
  When Parents, Educators, and Clinicians Collaborate: Classrooms for All Learners
  A Panel Discussion with Stephanie Petrillo Gould, MEd, CSP; Maggie Hoffman; and Cassandra Hyacinthe, MEd
  Jan Drucker, PhD, moderator
• 2009
  Consuming Kids: Reclaiming Childhood from Media and Corporate Marketers
  Susan Linn, EdD, Co-Founder and Director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, and Associate Director of the Media Center of Judge Baker Children's Center
  Watch lecture video on YouTube»
• 2008
  Where da Heat Go: Social Justice, Agency & Science
  Angela Calabrese Barton, PhD, Associate Professor of Teacher Education, Michigan State University
• 2007
  Children and Nature Design Principles
  David L. Sobel, MEd, Director, Teacher Certification Programs; Co-director, Community Based School Environmental Education Program, Antioch New England Graduate School
• 2006
  Open Pandora’s Box: Curiosity in the Classroom
  Susan Engel, PhD, Director of the Program in Teaching at Williams College
• 2005
  Building a Community/Building a School
  Nancy Mann, MA, Principal, Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School
• 2004
  Reflections on Teaching: Relationships, Possibilities, and Power
  Jane Andrias, MA, Leader in New York City's progressive education movement
• 2003
  Nurturing the Remarkable Powers of Children
  William Crain, PhD, Professor of Psychology at The City College of New York
• 2002
  Processes of Change in Schools
  Tom Roderick, MEd, Executive Director of Educators for Social Responsibility, New York City Metropolitan Area
• 2001
  Pathways to Literacy: Non-Standardized Approaches to the Enhancement and Assessment of Literacy Across the Curriculum
  Frank Smith, PhD, Writer and Researcher, British Columbia, Canada
• 2000
  Rethinking Standards and Assessment
  Harriet K. Cuffaro, EdD, Professor Emerita of Education, Bank Street College of Education and Staff Developer at the City and Country School, New York City
• 1999
  Play and Learning
  Celia S. Genishi, PhD, Professor of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University
• 1998
  A New Look at Families, Schools and Child Development
  James P. Comer, MD, Maurice Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry, Yale University Child Study Center
• 1997
  Rethinking Teaching: What Schools Can and Should Be
  Linda Darling-Hammond, EdD, Stanford University
• 1996
  Conflict as a Fact of Life: Families, Schools, Communities
  Regina Arnold, PhD, Professor of Sociology and Associate Dean of Studies, Sarah Lawrence College
• 1995
  Family/School Partnerships: Working Together for Children
  Patricia Carini, Founder of Prospect School and the Prospect Archives and Center for Education and Research, North Bennington, Vermont