Weissbourd Named Senior Lecturer

Harvard Graduate School of Education Dean James Ryan has announced that Richard Weissbourd has been promoted to the rank of senior lecturer.

“I am delighted to be able to recognize Rick’s many contributions to our community through this promotion,” said Ryan. “He is a highly praised teacher, an outstanding institutional citizen, and an influential and prolific author on a range of critical topics in education, including the moral, social, and emotional development of children.”

A leading expert in moral development, vulnerability and resilience in childhood, and effective schools and services for children, Weissbourd joined the HGSE faculty in 1994. Weissbourd, a psychologist who is faculty director of the Human Development and Psychology master's program, is currently conducting research on how older adults can better mentor young adults and teenagers in developing ethical, mature romantic relationships. Recently, Weissbourd, along with Assistant Professor Stephanie Jones, launched the Making Caring Common Project, a national effort to make moral and social development priorities in child-raising and to provide strategies to schools and parents for promoting in children caring, a commitment to justice and other key moral and social capacities.

“I’m thrilled and honored by this promotion,” Weissbourd said. “HGSE is moving in new and exciting directions. I feel very lucky to be a part of this new era and a part of this terrific community of students, staff, and faculty.”

A leading expert in his area of research, he has advised on the city, state, and federal levels on family policy and school reform. In addition, he has written for numerous scholarly and popular publications, including The New York Times, The Huffington Post, CNN, The New Republic, The American Prospect, NPR, and Psychology Today. He is the author of The Vulnerable Child: What Really Hurts America’s Children and What We Can Do About It (Addison-Wesley, 1996), named by the American School Board Journal as one of the top 10 education books of all time. His most recent book, The Parents We Mean to Be: How Well-Intentioned Adults Undermine Children's Moral and Emotional Development (Houghton Mifflin 2009), was named by The New Yorker as one of the top 24 books of 2009.