February 17-18, 2012

The 2012 Social Science Conference: Preparing for Life in Families, is an event that celebrates 100 years of family study at St. Olaf College and is a Transformations theme year event.

Thriving families are essential for strong and stable societies. Twenty-first century families have significant strengths and enormous challenges — cultural, economic, and social. This conference explores these themes from multidisciplinary perspectives, at both micro and macro levels. For a century, St. Olaf has offered courses that prepare students to understand the complexities of family life and prepare themselves for living in and working with families. What started as Domestic Science changed to Home Economics, then Family Resources. Today Family Studies is an interdisciplinary program in the Department of Social Work and Family Studies. Students study family theories, human development, changing patterns and structures of dating and marriage, nutrition and wellness, human sexuality, and diversity in family relationships across social and natural science disciplines. The keynote speakers and workshops will enable conference participants to learn about contemporary realities in family life and family policy, from both micro and macro perspectives. Presenters will provide a glimpse of the rich and varied options for research and practice in family studies from a range of academic disciplines. The annual social science conference is sponsored by the Departments of Economics, Education, Exercise Science, Nursing, Political Science, Social Work and Family Studies and Sociology/Anthropology; this year we are joined in sponsorship and planning by the Department of Psychology.



Funded by the Associate Dean of Social Sciences, the Provost’s Theme Year Committee, the Dr. David and Karen Olson Endowment for Marriage and Family and the Husby-Johnson Chair. Sponsors include the Departments of Economics, Education, Exercise Science, Nursing, Political Science, Social Work and Family Studies and Sociology/Anthropology; this year we are joined by the Department of Psychology.