A series of public events sponsored by CDI each year brings the College community together with colleagues, experts, community partners, students at other institutions of higher education, and the public at large for lively presentations and discussions on a range of topics germane to children and childhood.
Longfellow Lecture
The Longfellow Lecture is an annual event, initiated in the first year of CDI (1987) and funded by an endowment established by friends and family of Cynthia Longfellow '72.
Pictured: 2018 lecturer Dr. Fraser Brown
Thomas H. Wright Lecture
In 1996, the Leon Lowenstein Foundation gave a grant to launch a fund in child development honoring Thomas H. Wright, former member of the Sarah Lawrence College Board of Trustees. The Lowenstein Foundation provided additional funds in subsequent years. Following consultation, the decision was made to use the income from the fund to establish an annual lecture, the Thomas H. Wright Lecture. Since 1997, the lecture has been the keynote of the Empowering Teachers program.
The Good Childhood in a World of Change: A Nordic-American Dialogue on Best Educational Practices
On November 18 & 19, 2016, over 225 practitioners from around the world in the field of early childhood education gathered at the Scandinavia House in New York City to explore the deeper meaning of this “Nordic ideal” by attending The Good Childhood in a World of Change: A Nordic-American Dialogue on Best Educational Practices, a symposium conceived and organized by the Child Development Institute (CDI) at Sarah Lawrence College in collaboration with the American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF).