Washington, D.C. - The Association of Children's Museums (ACM), the professional membership organization for the international children's museum field, will present its distinguished 2001 Great Friend to Kids Award to Professor of Child Development at Tufts University, David Elkind, Ph.D. The award will be presented on Friday, May 4, at the association's annual conference, InterActivity 2001, at the Hyatt Regency in St. Louis. Dr. Elkind will be introduced and honored by the First Lady of Missouri, Mrs. Lori Holden, Janet Rice Elman, Executive Director of ACM and Lou Casagrande, CEO of The Children's Museum, Boston and ACM's President.

The Great Friend to Kids Award was initiated by ACM in 1991 to honor those who have made outstanding contributions toward strengthening education and improving the lives of children. Last year's award was presented to Dr. Robert Coles and past recipients include Children's Television Workshop (1999), First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton (1998), Dr. James P. Comer (1997), Fred Rogers (1996), Dr. Ernest L. Boyer (1995), Peggy Charren (1994), Marian Wright Edelman (1993), Dr. Howard Gardner (1992), and Michael Spock (1991).

Janet Rice Elman, ACM's Executive Director praised Dr. Elkind for "encouraging society to meet the needs of children through understanding and participating in the reinvention of childhood."

Dr. Elkind's extensive bibliography includes research, theoretical articles, book chapters and eighteen books. He may be best known for his popular books, The Hurried Child: Growing Up Too Fast Too Soon (1989); All Grown Up and No Place to Go: Teenagers in Crisis (1997); Ties That Stress: The New Family Imbalance (1995) and the recently published, Reinventing Childhood: Raising and Educating Children in a Changing World (1998). Prior to Tufts University, Dr. Elkind was Professor of Psychology, Psychiatry and Education at the University of Rochester. He earned a doctorate from UCLA and then spent a year as a research fellow at the Austin Riggs Center in Stockbridge, MA. From 1964-65, he was a National Science Foundation Senior Postdoctoral Fellow at Piaget's d'Epistemologie Genetique in Geneva, where he conducted research in the areas of cognitive, perceptual and social development, building upon the research and theory of Jean Piaget. Dr. Elkind frequently serves as a consultant to state education departments, clinics and mental health centers, government agencies and private foundations. He is past president of the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

The Association of Children's Museums is the professional service organization that endeavors to expand the capacity and further the vision of children's museums. Founded as the American Association of Youth Museums in 1962 as a support group for directors, ACM has broadened its services and purpose as an international association. Membership is primarily children's museums, but includes traditional museums with an interest in child and family audiences, individuals and corporate members. For more information on the Great Friend to Kids Award contact the Association of Children's Museums at 202.898.1080.