Dr. Maurice Elias

Maurice's primary appointment is in the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program at Rutgers. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Contributions to Community Psychology Practice Award, one of the highest honors given by the Society for Community Research and Action (Division 27 of APA), the primary professional organization for community psychology. His primary research interest involves school-based promotion of social competence, prevention of problem behavior, and the development, implementation, evaluation, and diffusion of innovations designed to build students' social and emotional skills and the overall "emotional intelligence" of schools. He is a Founding Member of the Leadership Team of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (www.CASEL.org). Maurice currently directs the Rutgers Social-Emotional Learning Lab (www.rci.rutgers.edu/~melias/), teaches a community psychology course focused on applications in educational contexts, and he also supervises numerous practicum and dissertation students who are actively engaged in carrying out community psychology in educational settings. (These are described more fully below under Community-Oriented Practica and Research.)