UK Happenings

Mark Shriver to Deliver 10th Annual Rosenstein Lecture

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 5, 2012) — Mark Shriver, senior vice president of Save the Children's U.S. Programs, will appear at the University of Kentucky on Wednesday, Sept. 12, to deliver the 10th Annual Irma Sarett Rosenstein Lecture on Early Childhood Interventions.

The presentation will also include a panel discussion with Dreama Gentry, executive director of externally sponsored programs at Berea College; Terry S. Tolan, executive director of the Governor's Office of Early Childhood and the Early Childhood Advisory Council; and Vestena Robbins, who works with the Outcome Transformation and Education Branch within the Kentucky Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities. Ginny Sprang, executive director of UK’s Center on Trauma and Children, will be the moderator for the panel discussion. Lt. Gov. Jerry Abramson will also be in attendance.

The lecture will take place from 2-4 p.m. in the Recital Hall at the Singletary Center for the Arts. A reception will follow immediately afterward in the President's Room.

Endowed with a generous gift from Mrs. Rosenstein and her family several years ago, the Irma Sarett Rosenstein Lecture series has enabled the UK College of Social Work to provide research-based and practice-driven lectures by distinguished national speakers in child welfare.

About Mark Shriver

Mark K. Shriver leads Save the Children's U.S. Programs, which works to ensure a fair start for all children in the United States, including the nearly one in four living in poverty.  Shriver’s career in advocacy and service organizations, as well as elected office, has focused on advancing the right of every child in America to have "a safe and vibrant childhood."

Shriver developed Save the Children’s early childhood development, literacy and health programs in the United States. Through partnerships with nearly 200 schools in some of the most impoverished regions of the country, the programs benefit more than 70,000 children.

He created Save the Children’s domestic emergency response programs in 2005 to ensure that children are protected when disaster strikes and are provided safe haven and reunion with their families during a disaster’s aftermath.

He led a national coalition that convinced Congress to create the National Commission on Children and Disasters. Shriver was appointed to the commission by Senator Harry Reid and was elected chairperson by his fellow commissioners.  He served in that role for the life of the commission.

Shriver was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1994 to 2002. He was the first chair of the Joint Committee on Children, Youth and Families, and was appointed chair of the Children and Youth Subcommittee of Maryland's House Ways and Means Committee.

Shriver resides in Bethesda, Md., with his wife, Jeanne, and their three children, Molly, Tommy and Emma.  He has written a memoir called "A Good Man: Rediscovering My Father, Sargent Shriver" which was published in June by Henry Holt.

About Irma Sarrett Rosenstein

Irma Sarrett Rosenstein came to Kentucky in 1951 from New York as a recently married college graduate with an master's degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania. She worked with young children and families for many years as a social worker with the University of Kentucky Medical Center and also taught classes within the College of Social Work, working closely with its first dean, Ernest Witte.

Early childhood interventions are especially important, Rosenstein said, in dealing with some of Kentucky's intergenerational problems, such as historically low levels of education and health literacy, as well as breaking the cycle of child abuse and neglect.

"Early childhood experiences do indeed shape the developing child, and development is an ongoing process that continues well into adulthood," Rosenstein said. "Just like when you're building a house, you need to have a strong, solid foundation."

Rosenstein says she is immensely proud of the lecture series that bears her name. "This outstanding series zeroes in on the complexities of the developing child and our desire, as social work professionals, to cover this from different approaches," she said. "It has been a privilege to be able to host some of the country's leading experts from a variety of disciplines."

MEDIA CONTACT: Keith Hautala, (859) 323-2396; keith.hautala@uky.edu