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Richard M. Lerner
Bergstrom Chair
Director of Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development
Eliot Pearson Department of Child Development
105 College Avenue
Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155
Phone: (617) 627-5558
Fax: (617) 627-5596
Email: richard.lerner@tufts.edu

Richard M. Lerner is the Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science and the Director of the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development in the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development at Tufts University. A developmental psychologist, Lerner received a Ph.D. in 1971 from the City University of New York. He has been a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Psychological Association, and the American Psychological Society.

Prior to joining Tufts University, he was on the faculty and held administrative posts at The Pennsylvania State University, Michigan State University, and Boston College, where he was the Anita L. Brennan Professor of Education and the Director of the Center for Child, Family, and Community Partnerships. During the 1994-95 academic year, Lerner held the Tyner Eminent Scholar Chair in the Human Sciences at Florida State University.

Lerner is the author or editor of 63 books and more than 400 scholarly articles and chapters. He edited (with Francine Jacobs and Donald Wertlieb) the four-volume Handbook of Applied Developmental Science (2003), edited (with Laurence Steinberg) the second edition of the Handbook of Adolescent Psychology (2004), and edited (with William Damon) the sixth edition of the four-volume Handbook of Child Psychology (2006). He is the founding editor of the Journal of Research on Adolescence and of Applied Developmental Science, which he continues to edit. He is also the Associate Editor of Developmental Psychology.

Lerner is known for his theory of, and research about, relations between life-span human development and contextual or ecological change. He has done foundational studies of the mutually influential relations between adolescents and their peer, family, school, and community contexts. As illustrated by his 2004 book, Liberty: Thriving and Civic Engagement among Americas Youth, his scholarship integrates the study of public policies and community-based programs with the promotion of positive youth development and youth contributions to civil society.

Download Richard Lerner's complete Curriculum Vitae (PDF) to learn more.