MAURICE J. ELIAS, Ph.D., is
Professor, Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, and Co-Developer of the
Social Decision Making/Social Problem Solving Project. This project received the
1988 Lela Rowland Prevention Award from the National Mental Health Association,
is approved by the Program Effectiveness Panel of the National Diffusion Network
as a federally validated prevention program, and, most recently, has been named
as a Model Program by the National Educational Goals Panel.
In 1990, Dr. Elias was awarded the National Psychological
Consultants to Management Award by the American Psychological Association. In
1993, he received the Distinguished Contribution to the Practice of Community
Psychology Award from the Society for Community Research and Action (APA,
Division 27). Dr. Elias is also Co-Founder of the Consortium on the School-Based
Promotion of Social Competence, a research consortium comprised of nationally
prominent scientists. Most recently, Dr. Elias was named to the Leadership Team
of the Collaborative for the Advancement of Social and Emotional Learning, and
serves as advisor to the Rutgers-based Consortium on Emotional Intelligence in
the Workplace, funded by the Fetzer Institute and co-chaired by Dan Goleman.
With colleagues at CASEL, Dr. Elias was senior author of Promoting Social and
Emotional Learning: Guidelines for Educators, published by the Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development and already circulated to over 100,000
educational leaders in the U.S. and internationally. Dr. Elias’ work with
CASEL is currently one of his major professional activities.
Dr. Elias serves proudly as a Trustee on the Board of the
Association for Children of New Jersey and as an Officer of the Highland Park
Conservative Temple and Center, and Chairs the Board of Education of the Leon
Goodman Memorial Religious School.
At Rutgers, Dr. Elias is a Contributing Faculty to the Bildner
Center for the Study of Jewish Life. In that capacity, he lectures widely to
synagogues, Religious Schools, and Jewish education/research groups. He also
teaches a seminar, "Growing Up Jewish in American." He specializes in
clinical/community and school psychology and child, adolescent, and family
development. He is licensed for professional practice in New Jersey. Dr. Elias
authors a column, Accent on family, in the Accent section of Sunday Newark
Star-Ledger. His previous column, Parenting Matters, was honored by the American
Psychological Association for Excellence in the Media, in 1988. Dr. Elias' other
books include Social Decision Making Skills: A Curriculum Guide for the
Elementary Grades (Aspen), Problem Solving/Decision Making for Social and
Academic Success: A School-Based Approach (National Education Association
Professional Library), Building a Social Problem Solving Skills: Guidelines from
a School-Based Program (Jossey-Bass), Social Decision Making and Life Skills:
Guidelines for Middle School Educators (Aspen), Promoting Student Success
Through Group Intervention (Haworth), and Social Problem Solving Interventions
in the Schools (Guilford). (Note that the Aspen curricula can be obtained from
the Center for Applied Psychology at crino@rci.rutgers.edu,
and the Jossey-Bass book can be ordered through EQ@EQparenting,com.)
His newest book, Emotionally Intelligent Parenting: How to
Raise a Self-Disciplined, Responsible, and Socially Skilled Child, with a
foreword written by Daniel Goleman, was published by Harmony/Random House in
January 1999. and is now available in paperback. Written with Dr.’s Steven
Tobias and Brian Friedlander, the book also has 8 international editions,
including Spanish and Hebrew. He and the authors maintain a web site devoted to
parenting at www.EQParenting.com and
there is a related site for school matters at www.CASEL.org.
Dr. Elias also maintains a Listserv for parents and educators interested in
issues related to children’s social and academic development; to become
involved, email to EQ@EQParenting.com.
Other new work includes action research on Jewish Identity Development in
Children and Adolescents and the development and evaluation of video, animation,
and computer-based instructional strategies for delivering preventive programs
to youth, including those at high risk. Dr. Elias is married and the father of
two children.