What is the role of university research in its community? How can applied research in human development inform programs and policies? What constitutes effective youth programming? Is adolescence necessarily a period of storm and stress? What are the constituents of positive youth development that lead young people to contribute to civil society? How are young people a force in third world development?
These varied questions might pique the interest of members of diverse disciplines and interests at Tufts. And there is one place that is addressing them all at once! This hidden treasure is disguised under fancy names such Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development and Applied Development Science. The "what" science, you ask? Yes, it's a mouthful.
Under the direction of Professor Richard M. Lerner, the Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science, this deceptively small lab of the Child Development Department (3rd floor in the Lincoln-Filene center) is empiricizing the theories behind healthy adolescent development. From undergraduates to doctoral students, the converts of applied developmental science are busily applying their knowledge about positive youth development to encourage a shift away from a deficiency-based model of adolescence. In layperson's terms, that just means focus on the good stuff and the ramifications can be incredible.
So why do I feel compelled to tell you this only days before I graduate? My missionary-like zeal for the above-stated institute and for applied developmental science stems from the fact that it changed my life and the way I think. It worked itself into my everyday vocabulary, and all that other clich?©d stuff that's supposed to happen to you in college.
My first encounter with the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development was when I stumbled upon Professor Lerner's undergraduate seminar, usually offered in the spring. Sadly, this spring the enrollment was too low and the class had to be cancelled. I am heartbroken that a whole generation will lose the opportunity that opened so many doors to me.
To compensate, the Institute just hosted a lecture series about positive youth development in an international context featuring experts that are applying developmental science to address the needs of youth internationally. Our first speaker, William Reese, President and CEO of the International Youth Foundation, addressed tsunami relief in relation to youth development. He talked about multi-sectoral partnering between governments, NGO's, the corporate sector, and the military to form an agenda for long-term rebuilding. He posed the questions of how to channel the immense outpouring prompted by December's tsunami to other, less visible, global disasters.
Our second speaker, Maria Adenil Vieira, a Visiting Scholar at Harvard, first introduced to us as a "Brazilian youth development guru" talked about partnering with youth for sustainable agricultural development in Northeastern Brazil. She posed the important question of once an effective youth program is established, how can it be made sustainable and how can it reach scale, or reach all young people in need?
Our final speaker arrived April 23rd and spoke about youth development in Africa. He juxtaposed the U.N. paradigm for youth development that focuses on external factors, such as hunger, poverty, and disease, with a positive youth development model that focuses on internal assets of youth such as confidence, compassion, and competence. Dr. Wawa Ngenge has over 20 years of expertise in youth development in his work with the Cameroonian government, the United Nations, and the National 4-H Council.
As you see, this approach has almost unviversal applicability. So this is my final plug before I am on my way out. I hope that all Tufts students will consider this course and how it embodies the philosophy of the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development. I hope you consider how child development is a microcosm of national development. I hope that youth development and investment in youth enters into the dialogues of international development and of civic engagement that are so embedded in this university.
And finally, I can tick "writing a viewpoint for the Daily" off my life's to-do list.
Avantika Taneja is a senior majoring in anthropology and child development.
