What is Groves?

Mission Statement

    The Groves Conference was begun in 1934 by the late Professor Ernest Groves, who was among the first academicians to give a course in marriage and the family in an established university, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The conference began with the bringing together of a few teachers and students interested in serious study of the family. It evolved over the years into an interdisciplinary, interprofessional organization of limited invited membership. Its objectives are to work on the leading edges of theory development and empirical research in the field. The Groves Conference is timely and provocative with diverse and flexible foci.     

    Unlike the traditional format of professional associations where many formal papers are presented, the Groves Conference seeks to limit the number of presentations and conducts its sessions primarily via seminars and workshops. Consequently, attendees have the opportunity to participate in eight to ten hours of continuous dialogue and exchange within a small group on one of the subtopics of the Groves Conference. This allows for the exploration of issues in depth, as well as free exchange of ideas, information, and experience between scholars and other professionals from the various disciplines concerned with the family. The Conference usually meets once each year in the spring in a location conducive to relaxed intellectual activity and meets outside the United States occasionally to provide the opportunity for the Groves Conference members to exchange ideas with experts from other countries who are concerned with the family.

What it means to be a 'Groves'?

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