I am an Assistant Professor in the School Psychology program. I direct the Undergraduate Minor in Child and Adolescent Health and teach graduate courses related to therapeutic interventions.

I am a Nationally Certified School Psychologist and clinically licensed psychologist, endorsed as a Health Service Provider in Psychology in the state of Indiana. My prior experiences have included working as a building-level school psychologist in an urban district in Aurora, Colorado, serving as statewide trainer for PBIS Indiana, a project aimed at establishing a statewide network of culturally-responsive positive behavior interventions and supports (CR-PBIS), and working as a Behavior Specialist for a local school corporation coordinating the district’s self-contained program for students with emotional and behavioral challenges.

I am also currently the Director of the School-Based Mental Health Research and Training Initiative. One aspect of this research focuses on the implementation of trauma-informed multi-tiered systems of supports (TI-MTSS). I recently partnered with a local school corporation to obtain a five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education, called the TIMS Grant, examining the impact of trauma-informed multi-tiered systems of supports on student academic, behavioral, and socioemotional outcomes. The grant also works to address the shortage of school-based mental health professionals by providing high-quality training to graduate students in school psychology in the area of trauma-informed practice.

The other branch of my work is through a partnership with Riley Hospital for Children. This work examines the services of the Riley School Program and examining family and educator perspectives of students reentering the educational setting after inpatient hospitalization. The other aspect of the work seeks to understand the impact of pediatric medical traumatic stress on the academic performance of hospitalized youth.