WEB NEWS RELEASE
Dr. Torney-Purta receives Marion Langer Award for Social Advocacy in Pursuit of Human Rights from Professor Oscar Barbarin, one of the co-editors of the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry
COLLEGE PARK, MD (May 2011) Judith Torney–Purta, a College of Education Professor in the Department of Human Development, was the 2011 winner of the Marion Langer Award for Social Advocacy in Pursuit of Human Rights given by the American Orthopsychiatric Association.
This award honors a former executive director of that organization, an interdisciplinary association concerned with mental health and social justice since 1923. The Langer Award was presented on April 12, 2011, at the annual Ortho Family Symposium in Greenville, South Carolina, by Professor Oscar Barbarin (pictured with Professor Torney-Purta) and Professor Gary Melton. They are the Co–Editors of the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry.
Professor Torney-Purtas award citation reads in part: "for her leadership in the generation and diffusion of knowledge about the prevalence and antecedents of democratic concepts, values, and attitudes among early adolescents in numerous societies around the world. In landmark cross-national studies at times of enormous global change, Dr. Torney-Purta has been preeminent in her contributions to cross-cultural understanding of the factors involved in young people's readiness to promote human rights and social justice."
Other awardees recognized this year were Felton Earls (Harvard School of Public Health), Jean Twenge (San Diego State University), and James Garbarino (Loyola University of Chicago).
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