Changing the World One Child at a Time
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Mary Dozier, Ph.D., and Phillip Peterson will present the first ever Dr. Ramona Ware Emmons Paul Lecture in the College of Human Sciences Tuesday, March 24, from 4:00-5:30 p.m. in the Ramona and Homer Paul Model Teaching Classroom, 116 Human Sciences West.
“Changing the World One Child at a Time” is the topic for the lecture. Dozier will share the basis and success of Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up, an intervention program for children who have been neglected, and Peterson will discuss Pay for Success, a performance-based contract that invests in successful social intervention programs.
Dozier is the Amy E. DuPont Chair of Child Development at the University of Delaware. As faculty in the psychological and brain sciences department, she has studied the development of neglected young children.
She is widely respected for her research on children who are at risk for later problems because of a lack of safe and nurturing early relationships. It is well established that children who have experienced maltreatment or foster care are less likely to form secure attachments with their caregivers. This may cause life-long impairments in their ability to think and reason, and self-regulate their emotions and impulses.
During the past decade, Dr. Dozier and her colleagues developed and evaluated the Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC) intervention, a 10-week home-based parent training program that significantly increases the security of their children’s attachments by coaching caregivers to interact with their young children in ways that create the safe and nurturing relationships needed for children’s social, cognitive and emotional development.
Joining Dozier will be Phil Peterson, deputy director for ReadyNation, a business leader organization working to improve policies for children and youth. Peterson assists states and local jurisdictions in developing Pay for Success projects in the areas of early childhood education and home visiting.
ReadyNation supports proven and promising programs that pay big dividends to businesses both today and tomorrow, strengthen communities, and prepare children to be school- and work- ready enhancing the future workforce with the knowledge, skills and abilities needed for success.
Dr. Jennifer Hays-Grudo, human development and family science department head, is pleased the inaugural lecture’s speakers bring compelling solutions to several social issues in the state.
“Mary Dozier’s program has been given the highest rating possible for evidence-based interventions for children,” Hays-Grudo said. “And Phil Peterson has an innovative solution for implementing programs like ABC to make measureable improvements in our society. Their messages speak to the heart of Ramona’s passion for Oklahoma’s children and their future.”
Dr. Ramona Ware Emmons Paul graduated from the College of Human Sciences with a bachelor’s degree in family relations and child development and a master’s degree in child and family development. She received her doctorate from Purdue University in child development and family science.
As assistant state superintendent of public instruction for the Oklahoma State Department of Education, Paul wrote the model for pre-kindergarten and four-year-old student programs for the state’s public schools, requiring both a bachelor’s degree and an early childhood teaching certification for pre-kindergarten teachers. Today, that model is recognized by the National Institute for Early Education Research as the top model in the nation. Because of her efforts, Oklahoma is known as the leader in early childhood education in the nation.
The Dr. Ramona Ware Emmons Paul Lecture is funded by the Dr. Ramona Ware Emmons Paul Endowed Professorship in Early Education which was established in her memory by her husband, Homer Paul, to encourage excellence in teaching, research and scholarship in the area of early childhood.
The Potts Family Foundation is a co-sponsor of this year’s lecture.