The University of Texas at Dallas’ Center for Children and Families will host its second annual public forum, examining a range of family issues related to resiliency, and how children and caregivers cope with adversity.

The Feb. 3 event is free and will begin at 9 a.m. Dr. Suniya Luthar from Columbia University’s Teachers College is the forum’s keynote speaker. Also featured are faculty members from UT Dallas’ School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, SMU and UT Austin, as well as clinical, developmental and education experts from the Dallas area. Luthar’s evening lecture will start at 7:30 p.m.

At the forum’s opening session, Luthar will speak on resilience among families at risk and facilitate a panel discussion. In the afternoon, she will lead a discussion of the unique pressures faced by children from affluent families. The forum concludes with the evening lecture by Luthar on how mothers meet the challenges of managing multiple roles: “Fostering Resilience: Who Tends the Caregivers? Who Mothers Mommy?”

The Center for Children and Families hosts its annual forum to promote greater understanding of how children develop and thrive, bringing together nationally and internationally renowned psychologists and developmental and educational experts from the community to share and compare their various perspectives.   

Luthar, who is professor of clinical and developmental psychology, is well known for her research on vulnerability and resilience among various populations, including youth living in poverty and children from families affected by mental illness. Her recent work has looked at children in affluent communities and, in particular, substance abuse and anxiety in these communities.

In addition to her numerous journal articles, Luthar’s books include Children in Poverty: Risk and Protective Forces in Adjustment; Developmental Psychopathology: Perspectives on Adjustment, Risk, and Disorder; and Resilience and Vulnerability in Childhood: Adaptation in the Context of Adversities.

Luthar is associate editor of the journals Developmental Psychology and Development and Psychopathology.