Sloan Center researchers to gather for conference at University

Researchers from around the country will gather at the University’s Gleacher Center to discuss the latest research on the impact of parental jobs on families at a three-day conference organized by the University’s Alfred P. Sloan Center on Parents, Children and Work and the National Opinion Research Center.

“Families today commonly have two parents who work, or a single parent who works,” said Linda Waite, Professor in Sociology and Co-director of the center. “The heyday of the stay-at-home mom is over. This change brings into question the way people are managing their families and topics related to that issue will be the focus of the conference.”

Barbara Schneider, Professor in Sociology, is also Co-director of the center and organized the event with Waite. Schneider is an expert on teen-agers and their career aspirations. She is the author of the recently published book, The Ambitious Generation; America’s Teen-agers, Motivated but Directionless.

The conference will bring together researchers from the four Sloan Working Families Centers as well as researchers from a Sloan-funded project at the University of Maryland.

It will begin with a keynote address at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 6, given by Sue Shellenbarger, a Wall Street Journal reporter who has written extensively on issues confronting dual-income families.

The conference will continue at 8:30 a.m. Friday, May 7, with a discussion of the work of the various Sloan centers.

Other conference sessions will include “Working Families Today” (9:15 to 11 a.m.), “Quality of Life in Working Families” (11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.) and “Children in Working Families” (2 to 3:30 p.m.). On Saturday, May 8, postdoctoral fellows will make presentations of their work, beginning at 10 a.m.

For more information, call (773) 256-6315.