Professor Emeritus David MacPhee spent his 30-year career in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies acting in multiple service roles, including directing the department’s doctoral program, serving as assistant department head, chairing the Tenure and Promotion Committee for more than a decade, and conducting his own rigorous research in prevention science.
In celebration of his retirement and his wonderful career, the MacPhee Forum on Issues in Prevention Science was launched to bring in national and international experts in the area of prevention science to the Colorado State University campus to support and grow the expertise in the department.
April 19 Speaker: Ann Masten
Ann S. Masten is Regents Professor and Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Development in the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota. Masten will give the inaugural MacPhee Forum lecture on “Resilience in Development: Translating Science into Action” at 4 p.m. on April 19, in room 131 of the Behavioral Sciences Building.
In her talk, she will present cutting-edge research on the science of resilience and describe how those findings are applied within communities to improve the lives of individuals and families. Researchers and students will learn about new empirical studies of resilience and practitioners will learn about innovative approaches to cultivating resilience.
Masten’s research focuses on understanding processes that promote competence and prevent problems in human development, with a focus on resilience in the context of high cumulative risk, adversity, and trauma. She directs the Project Competence Research on Risk and Resilience, including studies of normative populations and high-risk young people exposed to war, natural disasters, poverty, homelessness, migration, and related adversities. This work includes assessments of risk, stress, adversity, competence, life success, well-being, and potential promotive/protective influences involved in resilience.
In addition to her research, Masten is a past-president of the Society for Research in Child Development and the developmental division (7) of the American Psychological Association. In 2014, she received the Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contributions to Developmental Psychology from the American Psychological Association and published her book, Ordinary Magic: Resilience in Development. She teaches a mass online open course on Coursera about “Resilience in Children Exposed to Trauma, Disaster and War: Global Perspectives” that is taken by many professionals around the world.
More about David MacPhee
MacPhee’s passion is in developing and evaluating programs that support children and families, and he has been a strong proponent of the department’s investment in prevention science – in other words, work that leads to preventing problems before they occur and building strengths and resilience in individuals, families, and communities.
Along the way, he mentored dozens of graduate students and taught well over 10,000 undergraduates. The MacPhee Forum hopes to continue this work by sharing knowledge around the best ways to support individuals, families, and communities – an area that drove MacPhee’s career and, through his passion, inspired so many students and helped so many families.
To support the MacPhee Forum in Prevention Science and honor David MacPhee, make a gift online here.
The Department of Human Development and Family Studies is part of CSU’s College of Health and Human Sciences.