CONTACT: Wendy Leopold at (847) 491-4890 or w-leopold@northwestern.edu

April 20, 2004

Concept of Second Chances in Life is Subject of Symposium

EVANSTON, Ill. --- F. Scott Fitzgerald once said "There are no second acts in American lives," but a symposium at Northwestern University titled "Second Chances in Life: Transformative Stories of Self and Society" will present evidence to the contrary.

The symposium from 9 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Friday, May 7, taking place in Hardin Hall in the Rebecca Crown Center, 633 Clark St., on the Evanston campus will feature presentations by six internationally recognized scholars who will stimulate discussion on the possibilities of and barriers to second chances in life. It is free and open to the public.

Dan P. McAdams, Northwestern professor of education and social policy and psychology, has interviewed and studied hundreds of individuals who have described positive transformation in their own lives, the lives of their families and their social worlds.

"They tell stories of dramatic change in their lives -- from addiction to recovery, stagnation to growth, rags to riches, and suffering to redemption," said McAdams, who also is director of the University's Foley Center for the Study of Lives.

"Second Chances in Life" will explore how individuals and families account for the second and even third acts in their lives. It will attempt to answer how we as a society understand and imagine positive change for the future, what kinds of stories about our lives we need to construct to sustain our hopes and enhance our lives, and how the stories about ourselves that we imagine, tell and live by affect social policy and our involvement in societal change.

The conference schedule follows:

9 to 9:15 a.m. Welcome and Introduction

9:15 to 10 a.m. "The Redemptive Self: Stories Americans Live By," Dan McAdams, professor of education and social policy; professor of psychology; and director of the Foley Center for the Study of Lives, Northwestern University

10-10:45 a.m. "Who I Am and Who I Was: Stories of Discovery and the Construction of Meaning in Life's Transitions," Laura King, professor of psychology, University of Missouri.

11:11:45 a.m. "Making Good: How Ex-Convicts Reform and Rebuild their Lives," Shadd Maruna, professor of criminology, University of Cambridge

1:30-2:15 p.m. "Common Shock: Compassionate Witnessing and the Transformation of Violence," Kaethe Weingarten, family therapist and author, Harvard Medical School and the Family Institute of Cambridge

2:15 to 3 p.m. "Community Narratives: The Stories behind Personal and Social Change," Julian Rappaport, professor of psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

3:15 to 4 p.m. "The Decline of Second Chances and the Emergence of Conservative Social Policy: An Analysis," Dan A. Lewis, professor of education and social policy and faculty fellow of the Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University

4 to 4:15 p.m. Wrap-up Dan McAdams, Northwestern University

The symposium is sponsored by the University's Foley Center for the Study of Lives in conjunction with the Family Institute at Northwestern and Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy. Seating is limited. For further information, contact Gina Logan at (847) 491-5314 or e-mail rlogan@northwestern.edu.