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Ordinary Magicannmasten.org · giving portal

Speaking · Ann S. Masten, PhD

A leading authority on resilience in children.

For more than four decades, Ann Masten has studied how children and families adapt to poverty, homelessness, disaster and war. Now Regents Professor Emerita, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota (she retired from active faculty service in May 2025, per her CV (opens the University of Minnesota in a new tab)), she continues to speak to scientists, educators, clinicians and policymakers about what helps young people do well.

Speaker inquiry (opens her University of Minnesota profile in a new tab) Signature topics

annmasten.org is an independent site. It does not represent Professor Masten, take bookings or pass on messages, and she has not reviewed or endorsed this page. To ask about a talk, use the contact details on her official University of Minnesota profile.

Citations
62,753
h-index
106
Indexed works
400

Counts from OpenAlex (opens OpenAlex in a new tab), retrieved Oct 29, 2026. Counts change over time and differ between databases.

Signature topics

What she speaks about.

Four themes run through her recent talks. Each example is a talk listed in her University of Minnesota CV.

  • Ordinary magicWhy resilience usually grows from common things: close relationships, everyday problem-solving, self-control, hope and the support of family, school and culture.Example: “Ordinary magic: Advances in developmental resilience science,” Wolk Lecture, Colgate University, 2024
  • Children in disaster and warWhat helps children and families through disasters, armed conflict, displacement and pandemics, and how to prepare systems before a crisis.Example: “Resilience in Disaster: Multisystem Perspectives,” University College London EPICentre seminar, 2023
  • School success and homelessnessLessons from Minnesota studies of children in homeless and highly mobile families: school readiness, executive function, parenting and housing.Example: “School success in students experiencing homelessness: Risk & resilience,” Project Hope State Conference, 2023
  • Multisystem resilience scienceHow resilience in a child connects with resilience in families, schools, communities and ecosystems, and what that means for practice and policy.Example: “Resilience in developmental science: Pathways to multisystem integration,” ISSBD biennial meeting, Rhodes, 2022

Selected keynotes & invited addresses

On stage, worldwide.

  • 2026Reflections on resilience of young people in the context of catastrophic collective trauma experiences
    Opening presentation, Resilience 2026, 12th International Symposium on Resilience Research, Mainz, Germany
  • 2025Resilience in child and youth development: Pathways to multisystem science and practice
    Invited keynote, KU Leuven Child and Youth Institute Conference, for the university’s 600th anniversary, Leuven, Belgium
  • 2024Resilience in development: Pathways to multisystem integration
    Grawemeyer lecture, University of Louisville
  • 2024Ordinary magic: Advances in developmental resilience science
    Wolk Lecture, Colgate University
  • 2023Multisystem Perspectives on Nurturing Resilience in Human Development
    Plenary address, Summer Research Institute of the Mind and Life Institute, Garrison NY
  • 2022Building Resilience for Children and Youth in Turbulent Times
    National Academies workshop on building resilience (virtual)
  • 2022Resilience in developmental science: Pathways to multisystem integration
    Opening keynote, International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development, Rhodes, Greece
  • 2021Resilience in development: Vulnerability and opportunity in early childhood
    Science Plenary, Zero to Three Annual Conference (virtual)
  • 2021Resilience in science and practice: Pathways to the future
    Opening keynote, Anxiety and Depression Association of America annual meeting (virtual)
  • 2019Resilience in perilous times: Pathways to the future
    Invited address, 35th annual meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Boston
  • 2018Resilience in developmental psychology: Advances in theory, research, and practice
    Invited keynote, Japanese Society of Developmental Psychology, Sendai

Titles and venues as listed in her University of Minnesota CV (opens the University of Minnesota in a new tab) (September 2026), which records many more.

Leadership

Roles in her field

  • 2011–2013President, Society for Research in Child Development
  • 2005–2006President, Division 7 (Developmental Psychology), American Psychological Association
  • 2021Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • FellowAmerican Psychological Association (Division 7; Charter Fellow, Division 53) and Association for Psychological Science

Selected honors

  • 2026American Journal of Nursing 2025 Book of the Year Award: First Place in Child Health for Ordinary Magic: Resilience in Development (2nd edition), Guilford Press
  • 2025APF Gold Medal for Impact in Psychology from the American Psychological Foundation
  • 2025Honorary doctorate, Colgate University
  • 2025Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Child Development Award from the Society for Research in Child Development
  • 2024Distinguished Career Contributions to Science Award, Society for Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology (Division 53), American Psychological Association
  • 2024Grawemeyer Award in Psychology
  • 2022Doctorate Honoris Causa (honorary doctorate), Erasmus University of Rotterdam
  • 2014Urie Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contributions to Developmental Psychology in the Service of Science and Society from the American Psychological Association

From her CV. The full list is on the scholar page.

Watch & learn

Hear her explain it.

Public recordings and a free course, on the publishers’ own sites.

Inviting Professor Masten to speak

annmasten.org is an independent site. It does not represent Professor Masten, take bookings or pass on messages, and she has not reviewed or endorsed this page. To ask about a talk, use the contact details on her official University of Minnesota profile.

Speaker inquiry: official UMN profile (opens her University of Minnesota profile in a new tab)

Also listed on All American Speakers (AAE Speakers Bureau) (opens All American Speakers in a new tab), an independent booking bureau. Its own page says it does not represent the speakers it lists, so her University of Minnesota profile remains the place to ask.