News Release

CHAPEL HILL -- Dr. Richard Catalano, who for more than 25 years has led research to promote positive youth development, will give a lecture at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Social Work Sept. 14.

The John A. Tate Distinguished Professorship Lecture, scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in the Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building auditorium, is titled "Developmental Prevention in Public Schools: Promising Results from Two Generations of Studies." A reception will follow the lecture.

The event is free to the public. Those planning to attend are asked to reserve seating by Sept. 8 to Lara Swanson at (919) 843-3597 or laras@email.unc.edu.

Catalano, a professor at the University of Washington at Seattle’s School of Social Work, is the associate director of the school’s Social Development Research Group and an adjunct professor of education and sociology. His work has focused on discovering risk and protective factors for positive and problem behavior and designing programs to address these factors.

He has helped develop initiatives such as the Social Development Strategy, which identifies risk factors for adolescent health and behavior problems; parenting programs "Preparing for the Drug-Free Years," "Preparing for School Success" and "Parents Who Care"; the school-based program "Skills, Opportunities and Recognition"; and the community prevention program "Communities That Care."

Catalano received the 1996 National Prevention Network’s Award of Excellence, the 2001 Society for Prevention Research’s Prevention Science Award and the 2003 Western Society of Criminology’s Paul Tappan Award.

The Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building is located at 301 Pittsboro St. Parking is available at the N7 lot on Pittsboro Street across from the Carolina Inn.

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School of Social Work contact: Krystie Grubb, (919) 962-6540