Academic appointments

• The Illinois State University School psychology program is pleased to welcome Dr. Leandra Parris, a graduate of Georgia State University, as a faculty member of our specialist and doctoral programs in school psychology. 
• Dr. Krystal D. Cook will be joining the school psychology program as clinical associate professor at Texas A&M University as of August 2013. 
• Lehigh University welcomes Bridget Dever, PhD, to the school psychology program. Dr. Dever is a statistician with a strong research record related to the assessment of students with emotional/behavioral disorders. She will continue teaching responsibilities at Lehigh in statistical and data analysis and will join the program's APA and NASP accredited program. 
• Michigan State University's (MSU) school psychology program is pleased to announce the addition of Dr. My Lien, a clinical assistant professor, to its faculty. Dr. Lien is a graduate of MSU's program and she completed her postdoctoral work at the University of Rochester Medical Center and the University of Michigan (Mott Children's Hospital). MSU's program has grown significantly over the past five years and they will add a new (fifth) tenure-stream faculty member to the EdS/PhD program to begin fall 2014. Formal advertising for the position will begin in August. 
• The school psychology program at the University of Houston (UH) is pleased to announce that our national search for two new faculty members was a success. Bradley H. Smith, PhD, from the University of South Carolina (USC) will join us as a full professor. He held a dual appointment for 13 years in the school psychology program and the clinical-community program at USC, both of which are APA-accredited, and he was also training director for the clinical-community program. He will co-direct the UH school psychology program with Thomas Kubiszyn, PhD, this year, and assume full training director responsibilities the following year. Sarah S. Mire, PhD, is a UH graduate, and joins us after completing an APA-accredited internship and postdoctoral fellowship at Western Youth Services in Anaheim, California, where she was their first non-clinical psychology intern and postdoc. She will join Milena Keller-Margulis, PhD, and Samuel McQuillin, PhD, as assistant professors in our program. 

News and events

• Counseling Students in Levels 2 and 3: A PBIS/RTI Guide  (Coauthored by Jon Shepard, Jeff Shahidullah, and John Carlson) was recently published by Corwin (A Sage Company). To learn more about this new book, see reviews and additional information.
• It's an exciting time for the school psychology program at the University of British Columbia.  The doctoral program has received accreditation from the Canadian Psychological Association. In addition, we welcome two new assistant professors, Allison Cloth, a graduate of the school psychology program at the University of Texas, and Rachel Weber, a graduate of the school psychology program at Texas A&M, who will be joining our current faculty, Laurie Ford, Shelley Hymel, Serge Lacroix, Bill McKee, Sterett Mercer, and Lynn Miller.
• In addition, The British Columbia (BC) School Psychology Internship Program, affiliated with the UBC School Psychology program, in its first five years of operation has had 42 UBC interns. We are pleased to announce that the 2013–2014 internship cohort includes our first doctoral and specialist interns from other Canadian and American programs.  The internship program has a strong focus on promotion of mental health in schools, systems, systems change and comprehensive, multi-tier service provision.
• The Massachusetts School Psychologists Association (MSPA) recently held their annual spring conference on May 10 and had a fantastic turnout of over 400 people who came out to hear presentations on the new DSM-IV as well as a split afternoon session on the new WPPSI-IV and Evidence Based Practice for Threat Assessment. The day was also spent honoring the fantastic work of many individuals who have dedicated their time to working with students and families as well as to the field of school psychology. The Ena Vasquez Nuttall Minority Scholarship Award was given to student Erica Liu of UMass Boston. The Friend of Children Award was posthumously award in the memory of Newton school psychologist Mary Sherlach. Educator of the Year was Professor Nathaniel Seal of Clark University. School Psychologist of the Year was presented to Jennifer Corish-White of the Boston Public Schools. Two Lifetime Achievement Awards were also presented Dr. Barbara Miller and Gayle Macklem for over 30 years of service to the field.