• About the Society
• Officers

The international membership of the Society for Research in Adult Development includes people from all disciplines who are interested in positive adult development. Positive adult development refers to development starting in late adolescence and continuing through life. The focus is on expanded capabilities and changes that improve the quality of life.

Society members include those whose work is applied as well as academic writers and researchers. We extend an invitation to those interested in adult development at work, in school, in families, and in communities as well as those whose primary focus is the individual. The Society offers practitioners an opportunity to discover the latest ideas in the field and to explore the application of those ideas to everyday problems and challenges.

For theoreticians and researchers, the Society offers the following opportunities:

• to share your ideas with other theoreticians and researchers through the exchange of papers;
• to explore your ideas and others in a deeper way through relating them to daily life and its problems and opportunities;
• to explore the applications of your ideas by working on them with practitioners in many fields.

The Society's first symposium took place in 1981 with the support of the Department of Psychology and Social Relations, Harvard University and by the Dare Association, Inc.  The organizers were Michael L. Commons, Suzanne Benack, and Francis Richards. At that time, local arrangements were provided by Patrice M. Miller, Terrence A. Youk, David R. Marion, Martin N. Davidson, Eloise Coupey, and Joel R. Peck.

Officers

Symposium Committee:

• Michael L. Commons
• Joanna Gonsalves
• Alice LoCicero
  

Editor of The Journal of Adult Development:

• Jack Demick

• Gwendolyn T. Sorell
  

Call for Papers Committee:

• Michael L. Commons
• Joanna Gonsalves
• Alice LoCicero

Diversity Committee:

• Cheryl Armon
• Juan Lallave
• Mabel Lam

Website Manager:

• Joanna Gonsalves
• Special thanks are given to previous webmasters, Sharon Dickinson, Eric Andrew Goodheart, and Katherine Logan.

Founding Members of the Society:

• Cheryl Armon *
• Michael Basseches
• Suzanne Benack
• Maria A. Broderick
• Michael L. Commons*
• John Cerella
• David Marion
• Francis Asbury (Rick) Richards*
• Dawn Ellen Schrader*
• Johannes Gerhard Sonnert

Copyright © 2002 Society for Research in Adult Development