International Roundtable 2011

Children of the World: The Dialectic of Promise and Vulnerability
October 13–15, 2011

Jacquelynne Eccles is the McKeachie-Pintrich Distinguished University Professor of Psychology and Education at the University of Michigan. She received her Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and has served on the faculty at Smith College and the University of Colorado. In 2006, she received the Outstanding Mentor Award from the Developmental Psychology Division of the American Psychological Association. She currently serves as the Network Director of the MacArthur Foundation on Successful Pathways through Middle Childhood. Eccles has garnered $20 million in grant awards and has published more than 200 articles, chapters and books. She is the co-author of The Changing Face(s) of Race and Gender in the United States (with Chatman-Nelson and Malanchuk, 2010); Gender and Occupational Outcomes: Longitudinal Assessments of Individual, Social, and Cultural Influences (with Watt, 2008); Handbook of Research on Schools, Schooling, and Human Development (with Meece, 2008); Navigating the Future: Social Identity, Coping, and Life Tasks (with Downey and Chatman, 2005); and Development of Achievement Motivation (with Wigfield, 2001). Journal articles include “Longitudinal Links between Older Sibling Features and Younger Siblings’ Academic Adjustment during Early Adolescence,” Journal of Educational Psychology (with Bouchey, Shoulberg and Jodl, 2010); “Developing and Fostering Passion in Academic and Nonacademic Domains,” Gifted Child Quarterly (with Fredricks and Alfeld, 2010); and “Long-Term Effects of Social Investment: The Case of Partnering in Young Adulthood,” Journal of Personality (with Lehnart and Neyer, 2010).

Tonderai Chikuhwa ’96 is presently Senior Adviser, Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict. He also has served as Special Assistant to the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict as well as Child Protection Adviser to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the United Nations Missions in Sierra Leone and Liberia. In these capacities, Chikuhwa engages in advocacy for children involved in armed conflict and negotiates with member states of the U.N. Security Council to develop measures to protect children in situations of war. He also designs and implements programmatic interventions for children in conflict and post-conflict situations. A national of Sweden and Zimbabwe, Chikuhwa holds a Bachelors degree in Political Science and International Studies from Macalester College, and a Masters degree in Political Studies from the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He lectured on political science at the University of Cape Town prior to his employment at the United Nations. From 2002 to 2004, he worked in Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, and Liberia, and personally negotiated the release of 118 child soldiers. In 2007, Chikuhwa published “Evolution of the United Nations Protection Agenda for Children Affected by Armed Conflict: Towards an ‘Era of Application’ of International Standards.” He was awarded the Charles J. Turck Global Citizen Award from Macalester College in 2009.

Asha Bajpai serves as a Professor and Chair of the Center for Socio-Legal Studies and Human Rights at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, India. Her academic credentials include a B.S., D.B.M., LL.M., M.Phil. (Law), and Ph.D. (Law). She earned her Doctorate in Juridical Sciences from the National Law School of India University in Bangalore, specializing in the Indian legal system and the principle of the best interests of the child. Bajpai has served as an associate law professor in Bangalore and has also taught at Warwick University and American University. She has done considerable work on policy and law reform pertaining to the rights of women and children, served as a legal advocate and expert with the Bombay High Court, and assisted The National Commission for Women and the Maharashtra State Commission for Women in drafting policies and laws relating to women and children in India. Bajpai is the Founder and an Executive Committee Member of the Gender and Law Association at the Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C. She is also a representative to the international Joint Regional Action Forum on Trafficking of Women and Children in South Asia, and is a member of multiple other organizations, including the Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority Executive Committee and the Child Labour and Education Working Group of the National Commission on Protection of Child Rights in New Delhi. Her publications include Child Rights in India: Law, Policy, and Practice (2nd ed. rev., 2006); Born Unfree: Child Labour and Education (2006); the legal portions of “Saarthi: Training Manual for Field Workers of Child Rights Organizations” (2010); and “Legal Status of the Children in India” (Save the Children, 2008).

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