Samuel J. Meisels, one of the nation’s leading authorities on the assessment of young children and early childhood development, has been named the founding executive director of the University of Nebraska’s Buffett Early Childhood Institute, NU President James B. Milliken announced Oct. 19.
Meisels (MY’-zuhls), currently president of Erikson Institute in Chicago, will begin at the University of Nebraska on June 1, 2013. Prior to that date, he will assist the university in beginning to develop staffing, strategy and other plans.
“Sam Meisels is a true visionary in the field of early childhood education,” said CYFS Director Susan Sheridan, who served on the Buffett Institute search committee. “He blends exceptionally strong leadership skills with passion, dedication and drive. He has both the experience to do what is necessary to establish the Buffett Early Childhood Institute, and the foresight to move this initiative in new and exciting directions. Together and with Sam at the helm, we will create exceptional opportunities for young children.”
Meisels has served as Erikson Institute president since January 2002. Erikson, an independent higher education institution, prepares child development and family service professionals for leadership. Through academic programs, applied research and community service and engagement, Erikson works to advance the ability of practitioners, researchers and decision-makers to improve life for children from birth to age 8 and their families.
Meisels joined the Erikson Institute after 21 years at the University of Michigan, where he is now professor and research scientist emeritus. Before arriving at Michigan, Meisels worked as a professor in Tufts University’s Department of Child Study and as director of the Eliot-Pearson Children’s School at Tufts. A former preschool, kindergarten and first-grade teacher, Meisels also served as senior advisor in early childhood development for the Developmental Evaluation Clinic of Boston Children’s Hospital. He holds a doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
“The Buffett Early Childhood Institute is being created at exactly the right time about precisely the right things in just the right way,” Meisels said. “The Institute has the philanthropic support, university backing, and applied research tradition that it needs to achieve its initial goals. It provides us with a rare opportunity to move the field of early childhood forward to change the lives of children and families in Nebraska and beyond. I am deeply honored to take on this new challenge.”
The Buffett Institute will conduct multidisciplinary research, education, outreach and policy operations that seek to transform the approach to early childhood development and education in Nebraska and across the nation. It will specifically aim to improve the lives of children from birth to age 8, especially those vulnerable to the influences of poverty, abuse or challenges in development, learning or behavior.
Omaha philanthropist Susie Buffett founded the Buffett Early Childhood Institute in 2011 with a gift that the University of Nebraska has pledged to more than match, creating an endowment in excess of $100 million. The institute’s multidisciplinary efforts will take place across the University of Nebraska’s four campuses: Lincoln, Omaha, Kearney and the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Meisels was named following a national search. The Buffett Institute search committee was chaired by Marjorie Kostelnik, a CYFS faculty affiliate and dean of the College of Education and Human Sciences at UNL. The committee also included Helen Raikes, a CYFS faculty affiliate who serves as professor of child, youth and family studies at UNL.
The Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools has been named an official partner of the Buffett Institute.
Information from the University of Nebraska was used in this report. For more details on Meisels’ appointment, see the University of Nebraska news release.