Lecture on Racial/ethnic Identity

An expert on racial/ethnic identity development will give a free public lecture at USM’s College of Education and Human Development. Teresa LaFromboise, associate professor of education at Stanford University, will give a presentation on coping skills and strategies for bicultural adolescents at 11 a.m. on Monday, March 12, in 301 Bailey Hall, on USM’s Gorham campus.

A nationally known expert on multicultural counseling, ethnic identity development, and bicultural competence, LaFromboise comes to USM as Libra Visiting Professor to discuss with USM faculty, students, and staff issues faced by ethnic minority students. She has been a consultant to more than 15 states and government agencies.

At Stanford since 1985, LaFromboise is a counseling psychologist with clinical and teaching experience in a wide variety of university and American Indian settings. She has developed a complete Life Skills curriculum with problem-based lessons aimed at reducing the risk of suicide among American Indian adolescents, which has been successful with high school students.

With multiple identities herself (Ojibwa, Chippewa, French), LaFromboise has devoted much of her career to helping bicultural adolescents adjust to major life transitions and other typical, but often neglected, stresses, particularly those that are culturally related. She has written, "Racial/ethnic identity development is a learned aspect of an individual's overall personality development. The sense of belonging associated with one's racial/ethnic group emerges from the process of broadening, narrowing and crystallizing boundaries in the quest to remain distinct yet fit in to an increasingly pluralistic society. Racial/ethnic identity, combined with an understanding of one's gender, spiritual affiliation, family, work and community roles, all lead to a person's sense of uniqueness and individuality."

For more information on her public talk, please contact Robert Atkinson at USM’s College of Education and Human Development, 780-5078.