William Damon

William Damon, Ph.D., is Director of the Stanford Center on Adolescence and Professor of Education at Stanford University. Before coming to Stanford in 1997, Damon taught at Brown University, Clark University, and in 1988 he was a distinguished visiting professor at the University of Puerto Rico. 

Dr. Damon's current research explores how young people develop purpose in their work, family, and community relationships. He examines how people can learn to approach their careers with a focus on purpose, imagination, and high standards of excellence. Damon also has written widely about how to educate fir moral and ethical understanding. Damon's work is being used in professional training programs in the fields of journalism, law, and business, as well as in character education programs at the pre-collegiate level.

Damon has received awards and grants supporting his research from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the John Templeton Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, and the Thrive Foundation for Youth.

Published work

The Path To Purpose (The Free Press, April 2008); Taking Philanthropy Seriously: Beyond Noble Intentions to Responsible Giving (Indiana University Press, October 2006); The Moral Advantage (Berrett-Koehler, September 2004); Noble Purpose (Templeton Foundation Press, October 2003); Bringing In a New Era in Character Education (Hoover Institution Press, March 2002); Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet (Basic Books, 2001); The Youth Charter: How Communities Can Work Together to Raise Standards for All Our Children (The Free Press, November 1997); Greater Expectations: Overcoming the Culture of Indulgence in our Homes and Schools (The Free Press, 1995); Some Do Care: Contemporary Lives of Moral Commitment (The Free Press, 1992); The Moral Child: Nurturing Children's Natural Moral Growth (The Free Press, April 1990); Child Development Today and Tomorrow (Jossey-Bass, February 1989); Self-Understanding in Childhood and Adolescence (Cambridge University Press, 1988); Social and Personality Development: Infancy Through Adolescence (W.W. Norton, August 1983); Social Cognition (Jossey-Bass, 1978); Moral Development (Jossey-Bass, 1978); The Social World of the Child (Jossey-Bass, 1977)