Carmen Pineda, of Boston,Mass., shares insights at Clark University symposium about guiding 'emerging adults'

WORCESTER, MA (04/04/2012)(readMedia)-- Carmen J. Pineda, of Boston, a college counselor at the Urban College of Boston, participated in the 2012 Professional Development Symposium, "Emerging Adulthood: Helping Your Students Navigate the Winding Road from the Late Teens through the Twenties," March 17 to 19 at Clark University.

Pineda was among 30 college advisers and guidance counselors who traveled to Clark to learn more about new research on key developmental issues confronting 18 to 29-year-olds today, and to share insights on how best to guide their students to successful post-high school choices. Counselors arrived on campus from Chicago and Los Angeles, St. Louis and Raleigh, Cincinnati and Minneapolis, New York and Boston. The schools they represented ran the gamut from elite private institutions to charter schools in struggling urban areas.

The counselors met with admissions staff, selected faculty members and Clark University President David Angel to learn about the University and to engage in dialogue about how the needs of young adults will be met by higher education.

Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, Clark professor of psychology and author of "Emerging Adulthood: The Winding Road from the Late Teens through the Twenties," shared his research on how teens are attempting to find the paths that are right for them.

"I became acquainted with recent research, and had an opportunity to discuss and learn how others are handling the topics and issues that emerging adults are facing -- social and emotional needs, homelessness, engagement with adults," Pineda said.

President Angel spoke with the symposium participants and noted that, while the national conversation about higher education often focuses on issues of access and affordability, higher education needs to address "with intentionality" student outcomes. Part of this, he said, means developing effective protocols to track and measure the skills that Clark is building in students. He presented background on Clark's innovative model of higher education, LEEP™ (Liberal Education and Effective Practice).

Pineda received a master's of education at Boston University and a B.A. at University of Massachusetts Boston.

Pineda is an educational consultant and a doctoral student at Lesley University, in Boston.

Since its founding in 1887, Clark University in Worcester, Mass., has a history of challenging convention. As an innovative liberal arts college and research university, Clark's world-class faculty leads a community of creative thinkers and passionate doers and offers a range of expertise. Clark is nationally recognized in the areas of psychology, geography, management, urban education, Holocaust and genocide studies, environmental studies, and international development and social change. Clark's students, faculty and alumni embody the Clark motto: Challenge convention. Change our world.