Dr. Ron Slaby is a developmental psychologist who has served Harvard University for 25 years as Associate Professor, Lecturer on Education and Pediatrics, and National Merit Fellow. He has developed and taught innovative courses, including “Growing Up in a Media World” and “Preventing Violence in America.” He currently serves as Research Associate at Harvard Medical School and Senior Scientist at Education Development Center. Through his research, Dr. Slaby has made major contributions to our understanding of media influences on children, gender role development, and the prevention of youth violence. He has led media research in new directions through his pioneering investigations of television effects on infants, the influence of children's gender concept on their media behavior, sponsors of television violence, and media literacy interventions with juvenile offenders. Dr. Slaby has coauthored national reports on violence prevention for the Centers for Disease Control and the American Psychological Association. He has presented testimony to the U.S. Senate on the prevention of youth violence, to the Federal Trade Commission on television advertising effects on children, and to the U.S. House of Representatives on television violence effects and remedies. Having worked with several of the creators of Sesame Street, Dr. Slaby has expertise with strategies for enhancing the educational value of children's media. He has served on children's media panels for the National Endowments for the Humanities and the Arts, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the American Children's Television Council. As an educational media advisor, Dr. Slaby has contributed to the design, production, and content of many highly acclaimed television program series, family films, videos, and CD-Roms, including: Shining Time Station (with Ringo Starr & George Carlin); Thomas and the Magic Railroad (with Peter Fonda & Alec Baldwin); Noddy; The Longhouse Tales; Zoboomafoo; CNN Newsroom; Parenting Works; Think -- Violence is for People Who Don't; Bullying: Bystanders Can Make a Difference; and Long Ago & Far Away (with James Earl Jones). For his distinguished contributions to the field of educational psychology, Dr. Slaby was elected Fellow by the American Psychological Association.

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