Elizabeth Dowing is the Director of Research for The ImagineNations Group, where she is in charge of developing a global survey of young people focused on what they believe needs to happen in their respective countries and the world for the Millennium Development Goals to be met by the target year 2015. She works with local, national, regional, and international research partners to design and implement effective, sustainable research practices for ImagineNations. Elizabeth received her Ph.D. in Child Development from Tufts University, where she was a nominee for the Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Teaching and was awarded the Graduate Student Award for Academic Excellence. She has taught human development courses as an adjunct professor at Tufts University and Boston College. She was trained in the development and analysis of assessment tools and in research related to the intergration between positive youth development and the promotion of civil society. Elizabeth is author of numerous publications in leading journals and handbooks of human development.
SAGE Reference is proud to announce the Encyclopedia of Religious and Spiritual Development. This Encyclopedia covers the topic of spiritual development as it occurs and is experienced within the first two decades of life. Spiritual development is an important part of human development that has links to identity development, moral development and civic engagement. Entries refer to links between spiritual and religious development and the contributions that they make to positive personal and social development in youth. The Encyclopedia presents the connections that exist between domains of human development in general and spiritual development in particular. It includes religious traditions and spiritual exemplars, spiritual texts, places and concepts and organizations with missions having to do with spirituality. A logical starting point for the interested student, it serves as a gateway to lengthier articles and more in-depth research. Key features and benefits include: - short entries in accessible terminology are written by specialists that include leading international theorists and thinkers from a wide range of disciplines and professions, providing broad, multidisciplinary scope; - looks at spirituality in the broadest sense and encompasses religion as just one path toward spiritual development; - the Encyclopedia includes community-based programs that focus on enhancing spiritual development and on the links between spiritual development and positive personal and social development in youth; - reference lists for each entry enable readers to gain further information related to the topic; - the advisory board consists of academics from multiple disciplines whose work focuses on spiritual development, theologians, university librarians and leaders of organizations recognized for their work in promoting the healthy, positive development of youth.
