John Santrock received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1973. He taught at the University of Charleston and the University of Georgia before joining the Pro?gram in Psychology at the University of Texas at Dallas, where he currently teaches a number of undergraduate courses and has received the University?s Effective Teach?ing Award. John has been a member of the editorial boards of Child Development and Developmental Psychology. His research on father custody is widely cited and used in expert witness testimony to promote flexibility and alternative considerations in custody disputes. John also has authored these exceptional McGraw-Hill texts: Life-Span Development (16th edition), Adolescence (16th edition), A Topical Approach to Life-Span Development (9th edition), and Educational Psychology (6th edition). For many years, John was involved in tennis as a player, teaching professional, and coach of professional tennis players. As an undergraduate, he was a member of the University of Miami (FL) tennis team that still holds the record for most consecutive wins (137) in any NCAA Division I sport. John has been married for four decades to his wife, Mary Jo, who is a Realtor. He has two daughters?Tracy and Jennifer?both of whom are Realtors after long careers in technology marketing and medical sales, respectively. He has one granddaughter, Jordan, age 25, who completed her master?s degree from the Cox School of Business at SMU and currently works for Ernst & Young, and two grandsons?the Belluci brothers: Alex, age 12, and Luke, age 11. In the last two decades, John also has spent time painting expressionist art.