Ellen Galinsky's Bio

Ellen Galinsky, President and Co-Founder of Families and Work Institute, helped establish the field of work and family life at Bank Street College of Education, where she was on the faculty for twenty-five years. Her more than forty books and reports include Ask The Children, the now-classic The Six Stages of Parenthood, and Mind in the Making, to be published by Harper Studio in April 2010. She has published more than 100 articles in academic journals, books and magazines. 

At the Institute, Ms. Galinsky co-directs National Study of the Changing Workforce, the most comprehensive nationally-representative study of the U.S. workforce—updated every five years and originally conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor in the 1977. She also co-directs When Work Works, a project on workplace flexibility and effectiveness funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation that has produced a series of research papers, and has launched the Sloan Awards for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility as well as conducted the National Study of Employers, a nationally representative study that has tracked trends in employment benefits, policies and practices since 1998. Information from this research has been reported in the media approximately twice a day over the past five years. 

Ellen Galinsky is married to artist Norman Galinsky, and they are the parents of two grown children: Philip, an ethnomusicologist and founder-director of Samba New York—an inspiring new performance group—and Lara, Senior Vice President at Echoing Green—whose mission is to accelerate social change by investing in and supporting outstanding emerging social entrepreneurs to launch new organizations that deliver bold, high-impact solutions.

What is the Families Alive Conference?

In 1948, under Melba S. Lehner's leadership the Department indicated an intense interest and commitment to education for a healthy marriage, family living and parenting. In a co-partnership with the Utah State Department of Education and the Ogden City Schools, a Family Life Institute was started with a two-day conference being the main focus. This conference addressed current issues facing families of the time.

Dr. Ernest G. Osborne came to the Weber College Campus in 1948 to address the theme "Guiding Growing Children". Dr. Osborne was from Columbia University in New York and had recently returned from China where he had been a consultant of the China Aid Council.

"Today's Children - Tomorrow's Adults" was the theme of the 1950 Family Life Conference. Mrs. Sidonie Matsner Gruenberg, author and lecturer in Parent Education at New York University was the conference keynote.

"Growing Up In An Atomic Age" was the theme of the 1954 conference with Judson T. Landis, Associate Professor of Family Sociology, University of California, Berkeley as the lecturer and consultant.

The conference was not held again for a few years. In the late 1970's, national news magazines, professional journals and popular media were telling the world that the American Family was in a state of decline and deterioration. Social problems were evident in all levels of society and said to be due to the breakdown of the family.

The Child and Family Studies faculty met in the spring and the fall of 1980 to discuss and set goals for the department, and at the same time plans were made to revise and upgrade the past Family Life Conference.
The Families Alive Conference, in its current format, originated in 1980 with the Child & Family Studies faculty at Weber State University. The original and continuing goal of the conference is to dispel the pervasive myth that all families are dysfunctional and instead champion the successes of everyday families. The faculty wanted to share positive information and attitudes about the current American family with students, colleagues, and the community.

The department continues to offer this important conference on an annual or biannual basis. Through the contributions of various agencies, institutions, and foundations throughout the intermountain area, the Families Alive Conference has been a rewarding experience to thousands of individuals, and has benefited families in innumerable ways.

Taken from: ncfr.org

About Dr. Jim Bird

Dr. Jim Bird has spent over 4 decades interacting with children and adolescents. He is always inspired by their creativity, spontaneity, curiosity and desire to be individuals, even when their choices can cause major conflict. He brings his experiences with children to the classroom with the hopes they will ignite passion, understanding, and a desire in students to capitalize on children’s abilities to help guide them on a successful path of growth and development.
When helping parents and teachers who have children with severe problems, he often tells them to be prepared to change their own behavior. The reason for this is, "if you cannot change your own behavior, when you want to, why would you believe that you can change a child or adolescent’s behavior when they don’t want to?" With this belief, Jim continues to try to change. He has taken up the fiddle, and is trying to learn Spanish. He has even thought about learning how to Text and, because he is all thumbs, he should be good.

To view his complete bio please visit: Dr. Jim Bird

Jim Fay

Jim Fay is one of America's most sought-after presenters and authors in the area of parenting and school discipline. His background includes 31 years as a teacher and administrator, over three decades as a professional consultant, and many years as the parent of three children. Jim's sense of humor and infectious spirit have made his interviews, audios, videos, and books popular with educators and parents as well as the national news media. Jim has discovered that fun stories are the most powerful way of helping people learn. He often comments, "People seem to learn best when they giggle.".



Excerpt taken from: loveandlogic.com

Quote from Ellen Galinsky's Latest book "Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs"

"Instead of praising children’s personalities (“you are so smart” or “athletic”), praise their efforts or strategies (“you worked hard to find the right piece of the puzzle”).  Studies have found that this kind of praise encourages children to challenge themselves, while the more global forms of praise actually have the opposite effect, dampening a child’s initiative and interest in learning."

To learn more please visit Ellen's site at:
http://mindinthemaking.org/article/tips_for_parents/

Conference Keynote Speaker

This Conference will be October 13th through the 15th. The October 13th session is free and open to the public. The featured speaker will be Jim Fay, Co-Founder of the Love and Logic Institute. His topic will be "How to Discipline Kids Without Losing their Love and Respect". His presentation will run from 7:30pm to 9:30pm with a book signing afterwards. Jim will also speak Friday morning in a keynote address. You will need to register at the website for both Friday and Saturday activities.

Conference Keynote Speaker

We are also pleased to have as a keynote speaker Ellen Galinsky, President and Co-Founder of Families and Work Institute. Ellen Galinsky has recently completed a book titled: "Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs".

Conference Speaker

The Saturday keynote speaker will be Jim Bird, Weber State professor of Child and Family Studies. He will present from 8:15pm to 9:20pm.