Dr. Loren Acker was educated at the University of California and is currently a professor at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. Before teaching in Canada, he was an Overseas Research Fellow for the United States Public Health Service, developing behavioral teaching strategies for children and youths. Dr. Acker is presently teaching, doing research, and professionally practicing in child psychology and behavior management. He is an active father of four, deeply involved with his kids' schooling and community activities.

Dr. Acker brings to this book two decades of professional experience working with families, school classrooms, and community agencies. He is no stranger to the considerations and problems of parenting, education, and behavior development. His publications in scientific journals and books, his national television and radio appearances, and his invited lectures in North America and England have addressed the many problems of children growing up. Yet with all the scientific credentials and experience that Dr. Acker has acquired, he presents his knowledge in a down-to-earth, practical manner that has made him ever-popular with his students, audiences, and colleagues.

Dr. Acker dedicates his contributions in this book to his family, to their health and happiness, and to the well-being of all kids who must bravely face the coming decades.

Dr. Bram Goldwater was educated at McGill, Cornell, and Bowling Green universities and is currently a professor at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. He has been teaching the basic principles of learning for more than twenty years, bringing to it an avid interest in both the understanding of behavior and in the best ways to communicate that understanding to others. His other research and teaching interests include the physiological study of arousal and emotion, modification of bodily reactions, and the relationship between psychology and disease.

Dr. Goldwater's publications in leading scientific journals and his training of numerous doctoral students have given him a well-deserved reputation as a careful scholar and teacher in the analysis of behavior. Furthermore, his co-development, with Dr. Acker, of innovative instructional methods for the teaching of basic psychological principles to university students as well as to parents, teachers, and community personnel has given him the sensitivity and expertise that helps make this book readable and practical.

Dr. Goldwater dedicates his contributions in this book to his students who, over the years, have convinced him of the importance of the instructional principles on which this book is based.

Dr. William Dyson was educated at Moravian College, the University of Kansas, and McMater University and is currently a professor and practicing physician at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. He has a strong background in basic science and was a well-published researcher in cell growth and differentiation prior to leaving the laboratory for clinical medicine. In the past decade he has fused his science background with clinical medicine while teaching for the School of Nursing at the university. The problem of AIDS has become a key topic in his courses over the years. Dr. Dyson has had to consider the basic science and develop the resulting clinical realities of this problem for purposes of effectively teaching his students. Dr. Dyson was appointed coordinator for policy on AIDS at the university, a policy that requires the institution of effective preventive programs for the university community.

Dr. Dyson practices medicine at the University Health Services and has more than a decade of experience in serving the medical needs of sexually active young people. Many of these young people are now parents themselves and it is out of his compassion for all his past and future young patients that he dedicates his contributions in this book. It is his sincere hope that all will find a way to successfully face the formidable challenge of AIDS.