The Merrill-Palmer Institute at Wayne State University has named 13 prominent educators specializing in child and family development to serve as members of its newly formed National Advisory Board. The new members will be introduced at a reception on February 6, from 5 - 7:30 p.m. at Merrill-Palmer's historical offices in the Charles L. Freer House, 71 E. Ferry Street, in Detroit's cultural center adjacent to Wayne State's main campus.

"We're pleased and privileged to be able to enlist the experience and expertise that the members of our newly formed national advisory board have to offer," said Geraldine Kearse Brookins, consulting director of Merrill-Palmer Institute. "The addition of the board will be of great benefit to Merrill-Palmer, Wayne State and metro Detroit, as well as our Institute's continued pursuit of being a leader in research and scholarship in the area of child and family development."

Merrill-Palmer's new national advisors are:

· Dr. Robert Blum, division of general pediatrics/adolescent Health, University of Minnesota Gateway in Minneapolis

· Martha Farrell Erickson, director of Children, Youth and Family Consortium, University of Minnesota in Minneapolis

· Nathan Fox, EDUC-Human Development, University of Maryland in College Park, Md.

· Richard Lerner, Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science Elliot-Pearson Department of Child Development, Tufts University in Medford, Mass.

· Marvin McKinney, program director, W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek

· Evelyn Moore, National Black Child Development Institute in Washington D.C.

· Erin Phelps, Radcliffe Institute, Institute for Advanced Study, Cambridge, Mass.

· Arnold J. Sameroff, director, Center of Development and Mental Health, University of Michigan in Ann Arbor

· Margaret Beale Spencer, University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education, Philadelphia

· Ruby Takanishi, president of the Foundation for Child Development in New York City

· Carl Taylor, Institute for Children, Youth and Families, Michigan State University in East Lansing

· Pamela Trotman Reid, Institute for Women's Studies, University of Michigan in Ann Arbor

· Joseph Youngblood II, director of School Based Youth Services, Trenton Public Schools in Philadelphia

The group will serve as advisors to Merrill-Palmer to help shape its research and academic agenda on a national level. Merrill-Palmer is a center for research, education, and service on issues regarding children, families and communities. The Institute currently provides training to students and professionals who work with children and families in diverse settings. That training is provided through the Institute's Infant Mental Health Program and its Reggio Emllia Early Childhood Development Training Programs.

Wayne State University is a premier institution of higher education offering more than 350 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to more than 31,000 students in metropolitan Detroit.