Susquehanna University President L. Jay Lemons and Center for Adolescent Research and Education (CARE) Director Stephen Gray Wallace today released a statement on future plans for the Center.

Statement by Susquehanna University President L. Jay Lemons and

Center for Adolescent Research and Education (CARE) Director Stephen Gray Wallace

In November 2011, we announced an ambitious plan to launch a research center aimed at promoting positive youth outcomes and reducing risk among America’s teenagers. Today, the Center for Adolescent Research and Education (CARE) stands as a national thought leader and resource for all who have a stake in the health, safety and success of this sometimes vulnerable slice of our population. Over the last three years, CARE has built an impressive advisory board reflecting leaders in higher and secondary education, medicine, mental health, law, business and nonprofit administration. Research has been conducted on topics ranging from risk behaviors of high school and college students to character development in adolescence and its relationship to emerging social entrepreneurship. We have assembled an impressive array of collaborating national and regional organizations, including the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the American Camp Association (ACA), the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center/University of Connecticut, the Louis August Jonas Foundation, the National Federation of State High School Associations, SADD and the Wake Forest University School of Medicine.  CARE’s work has generated coverage by ABC News, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Boston Globe, Camping Magazine, Education Week, FOX News Channel, The Huffington Post, Independent School magazine, InsideHigherEd.com, Life With Teens magazine, NBC News, the North Jersey Record, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Psychology Today, USA Today, the Washington Post and various Susquehanna University publications. Columns appear monthly in The Huffington Post and on PsychologyToday.com and kidsinthehouse.com.

Stephen Gray Wallace has keynoted conferences and events sponsored by AAFP, ACA, Chicago City Day School, Colby College, the Parents League of New York, the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians, the Webb School of Knoxville and Youth Health Connection (MA). And Stephen has been a presence on Susquehanna’s campus for events such as accepted student open houses, the Brandon Bitner Memorial, Family Weekends, and classroom and co-curricular meetings with students.

After an almost three-year incubation period at Susquehanna, CARE is poised to spread its wings and as of July 1, 2014, will begin operating as an independent organization. CARE will convene a national collaborative of similarly caring organizations and institutions that will include Susquehanna University. This next chapter will capitalize on the spade work done since 2011, leveraging the financial and intellectual investment we have made to best educate and protect America’s youth. We look forward to continuing our relationship as CARE expands its horizons with new partners and important initiatives.