The Merrill-Palmer Skillman Institute is pleased to announce their Winter 2008 Colloquium Series centered around research to enhance the well-being of children and families, and invite all WSU faculty to attend.

The next colloquium will be held on February 13 from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Freer House - 71 E. Ferry St.  Dr. Joseph Jacobson, professor, Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, WSU School of Medicine, will present, “Environmental contaminants and infant development in an Inuit Arctic community.”

A free lunch will be provided.  Please RSVP to mpsi@wayne.edu.

Future colloquium will be held on the following dates from 12 to 1:30 at the Freer House:

• February 20:  Lorri Skibbe, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, “Early literacy development and intervention programs for children with language impairment”
• February 27: Linda Lewandowski, Ph.D., R.N., professor, Department of Family, Community and Mental Health, WSU College of Nursing, “Traumatic stress in Iraqi immigrant children”
• March 5: Juan Carlos Molina, Ph.D., research scientist, Department of Psychology, SUNY Binghamton, “Alcohol and early ontogeny: Affinity for drinking and sensitivity to alcohol’s reinforcing effects”
• March 19: Jacquelynne Eccles, Ph.D., professor, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, “Racial/Ethnic identity and development during adolescence”
• March 26: Laura McCloskey, Ph.D., director, Merrill-Palmer Skillman Institute, “The impact of violence against girls and women across the lifespan”
• April 2: Deborah Ellis, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences and Department of Pediatrics, WSU School of Medicine, “Moving empirically supported treatments to improve regimen adherence from “bedside” to “community:” Multisystemic therapy”
• April 16: Steve Ondersma Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, WSU School of Medicine, “Technology, brief intervention and fat green parrots: A public health approach to child maltreatment”
• April 23: Mona El-Sheikh, Ph.D., alumni professor of Human and Family Studies, Auburn University, “Marital conflict and children’s sleep distruptions”
• April 30: Katherine Alaimo, Ph.D., assistant professor of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, “Early child nutrition and the prevention of obesity”
• May 7:  Ronnie Wilbur, Ph.D., profesor of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences; director, Linguistics Program, Purdue University, “A linguist goes hi-tech: 21st century approaches to sign language research and deaf education”

To register, please email mpsi@wayne.edu with details of each conference you would like to attend.  For additional information, please call 872-1790.  We hope faculty will take advantage of this free and interesting colloquium Series!