Jacquelyn B. James received her Ph.D. in personality and developmental psychology at Boston University. Dr. James is currently the Director of Research for the Boston College Center on Work and Family.  Prior to coming to Boston College, she was the Associate Director of the Murray Research Center: A Center for the Study of Lives at Harvard University. Her research has focused on the meaning and experience of work in women's lives, gender roles, and adult development.

Dr. James and her colleagues have published numerous articles and three edited books. Currently, she and coauthor Paul Wink (Professor of psychology at Wellesley College) are developing a new volume, The Crown of Life: The Dynamics of the Early Post Retirement Period, about the opportunities and challenges inherent in the early retirement years for new generations of retirees. She is also working with Alicia Munnell at the Boston College Center for Research on Retirement to conduct a study, funded by the Sloan Foundation, examining psychological well-being and health in later life as a function of changes over time in work status.

Dr. James is the former President of the Society for the Study of Human Development and serves on the editorial board of two journals, the Journal of Social Issues, and Research in Human Development.

(Please click here for a list of presentations.)