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The Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology
 
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  Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology 2017-2019 Academic Programs Community Psychology Concentration Community Psychology Faculty  

Community Psychology Faculty


Nancy Boyd-Franklin
Brenna H. Bry
Cary Cherniss (concentration coordinator)
Maurice Elias
Daniel B. Fishman
Susan G. Foreman
Lew Gantwerk
Monica Indart
Shalonda Kelly
Charlie Maher


Biographical Sketches

Nancy Boyd-Franklin: Dr. Boyd-Franklin's special interests include multicultural issues; the treatment of African-American families; ethnicity and family therapy; home-based family therapy; marital and couples therapy; the multisystems approach to the treatment of poor inner-city families; issues for women of color; the development of a model of therapeutic support groups for African-American families living with AIDS; and working with African-American children and adolescents. Her publications include numerous articles and chapters on the aforementioned topics. She has written five books, including Black Families in Therapy: A Multisystems Approach; Children, Families, and HIV/AIDS: Psychosocial and Therapeutic Issues; Reaching Out in Family Therapy: Home-Based, School, and Community Interventions, with Dr. Brenna Bry; and Boys into Men: Raising Our African-American Teenage Sons with Dr. Anderson J. Franklin. In 2003, the second edition of her book Black Families in Therapy: Understanding the African-American Experience was published.

Dr. Boyd's honors include the 2001 award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Ethnic Minority Psychology and to the Mentoring of Students from Division 45 of the American Psychological Association (APA), the award for Outstanding Contributions to the Theory, Practice, and Research on Psychotherapy with Women from Division 35 of the APA (1996), the Distinguished Psychologist of the Year Award from the Association of Black Psychologists (1994), and the Pioneering Contribution to the Field of Family Therapy Award from the American Family Therapy Academy.

Brenna H. Bry: Dr. Bry is a professor, director of clinical training of the Psy.D. program, and chair of the Department of Clinical Psychology at the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology (GSAPP). She also serves as a member of the graduate faculty for the Ph.D. program in clinical psychology. To these responsibilities, she brings more than 30 years of experience working with colleagues and doctoral students to (a) study what protective and risk factors predispose certain adolescents to substance abuse problems; (b) develop data-based, manualized, selective/secondary, school-based prevention interventions to change those protective and risk factors in vulnerable adolescents; and (c) conduct efficacy and effectiveness trials in multiple mid-Atlantic urban and suburban school systems to explore the degree to which the interventions reliably change protective and risk factors and eventually substance use itself. Recently, she and her research group have begun investigating possible adolescent-centered mediators of change, such as ethnic identity, peer relations, school engagement, perception of teachers, tolerance of friends, deviant behavior, and resilience.

Dr. Bry's previous work has brought her ample experience in reviewing the substance abuse prevention literature, conducting controlled trials in school settings, writing manuals, training/supervising intervention and research staff, and assessing intervention adherence/fidelity; and risk, protective, process, and outcome variables for statistical analysis and interpretation. Her data sources have varied from archival school records to individual interviews, coded audio- and videotape interactions, classroom observations, and self-report questionnaires. Dr. Bry has served on National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) grant review committees and participated in NIDA research analysis and utilization panels. At the inception of NIDA's behavioral therapies development program, she served as chair of that program's workshop on the role of process variable research in the development of adolescent interventions. Currently, Dr. Bry is an investigator in the NIDA-funded Transdisciplinary Prevention Research Center at Rutgers Center of Alcohol Studies (primary investigator, Robert J. Pandina). With a research sociologist and two community prevention practitioners, Dr. Bry is examining the efficacy of combining universal and selective substance abuse prevention programs for youth entering high schools in two New Jersey urban communities, Union City and Trenton.

Cary Cherniss: Dr. Cherniss has published widely on topics such as consultation theory and practice; planned change in community settings; the creation of alternative settings; stress and coping in the workplace; professional burnout; school change and educational reform; and the link between emotional intelligence and organizational effectiveness. His most recent book, School Change and the MicroSociety Program, examines problems associated with the implementation of a whole-school reform program that empowers students while teaching them social and emotional competencies. From 2000 to 2001, Dr. Cherniss served as president of the Society for Community Research and Action, which is Division 27 of the American Psychological Association (APA), the primary professional organization for community psychology. 

Maurice Elias: Dr. Elias' primary appointment is in the clinical psychology Ph.D. program at Rutgers. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Contributions to Community Psychology Practice Award, one of the highest honors given by the Society for Community Research and Action (Division 27 of  the American Psychological Association), the primary professional organization for community psychology. His primary research interest involves school-based promotion of social competence; prevention of problem behavior; and the development, implementation, evaluation, and diffusion of innovations designed to build students' social and emotional skills and the overall "emotional intelligence" of schools. He is a founding member of the leadership team of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. Dr. Elias currently directs the Rutgers Social and Emotional Learning Lab, teaches a community psychology course focused on applications in educational contexts, and also supervises numerous practicum and dissertation students who are actively engaged in carrying out community psychology in educational settings.

Daniel B. Fishman: Dr. Fishman is editor-in-chief of the online journal, Pragmatic Case Studies in Psychotherapy. His prior appointments were as associate director of a large community mental health center in metropolitan Denver and director of a major National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) contract to develop a cost-effectiveness methodology for community mental health centers. He is past president of the Eastern Evaluation Research Society, past president of the Society for Studying Unity Issues in Psychology, and a former board member of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy. He's written more than 100 articles and book chapters, and given more than 100 lectures by invitation, which have all spanned his interests in the systematic case study method, pragmatic psychology, philosophy of science, cognitive behavior therapy, program evaluation, community psychology, organizational psychology, and professional psychology training. Dr. Fishman's books include A Cost-Effectiveness Methodology for Community Mental Health Centers (1981); Assessment for Decision (with D.R. Peterson; 1987); Paradigms in Behavior Therapy: Present and Promise (with F. Rotgers and C.M. Franks; 1988); The Human Side of Corporate Competitiveness (with C. Cherniss; 1990); The Case for Pragmatic Psychology (1999); and Caregiver Alliances for At-Risk and Dangerous Youth: Establishing School and Agency Coordination and Accountability (with C.A. Blechman, C.A. Fishman, & J.C. Lewis; 2004). Dr. Fishman is a licensed psychologist with a clinical and organizational psychology practice.

Susan G. Foreman:
Dr. Forman is interested in the organizational factors that influence use of evidence-based interventions in educational settings and the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral interventions with children and adolescents. Prior to coming to Rutgers in 1992, she was a professor of psychology and associate provost at the University of South Carolina. She served as vice president for undergraduate education for over a decade at Rutgers. Her work has been supported by grants from the U.S. Department of Education, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), and the National Science Foundation, as well as a number of corporate and family foundations. She has served on the editorial boards of numerous psychology and education journals. Her publications include approximately 70 articles and book chapters, as well as a number of monographs and books, including Coping Skills Interventions for Children and Adolescents (Jossey-Bass). Dr. Forman is a fellow of the APA. In addition, she has served on the executive boards of the National Association of Psychologists and the APA's Division of School Psychology.

Lewis Gantwerk: Dr. Gantwerk is the executive director of the Center for Applied Psychology, the training and research branch of GSAPP. His major areas of interest are: training and supervising psychologists; providing psychological services to underserved populations; development of the programmatic delivery of psychological services; and problems facing children and adolescents. Dr. Gantwerk has been involved in teacher training and clinical supervision and has conducted groups for doctoral students experiencing difficulty in completing their dissertations. He is currently the director of the New Jersey Psychological Association's college support program. He is a licensed practicing psychologist.

Monica Indart: Dr. Indart has over 20 years of experience working in the related fields of crisis intervention, trauma, and grief and loss. She earned her doctoral degree in clinical psychology from GSAPP, where she is currently a visiting faculty member. She worked as a field operations supervisor and clinical supervisor for Project Phoenix, New Jersey's federally funded 9/11 response program, overseeing community-based programs for three years. She remains active in the field of disaster mental health as an emergency response coordinator with the New Jersey Division of Mental Health Services, Disaster and Terrorism Branch, focusing on workforce development and community disaster preparedness projects. For the past few years, she has provided consultation and training to the United Nations (UN) on issues related to crisis intervention, trauma, grief and loss, and development of psychosocial support programs for staff. In March 2005, she traveled to Bangkok to provide training to UN and nongovernmental organization offices in the region that were providing relief services for the December 2004 tsunami that devastated southeast Asia. Dr. Indart also serves as a consultant to the International Institute of New Jersey, assisting in developing psychosocial programs for survivors of torture seeking political asylum. She maintains a private practice in Maplewood, New Jersey. Her current interests focus on understanding resiliency and the importance of cultural, religious, and spiritual beliefs in trauma recovery within individuals, families, and communities.

Shalonda Kelly: Dr. Kelly is a core faculty member in the clinical psychology program, and she has a dual degree in clinical psychology and urban studies from the University of Michigan. She teaches the diversity and racial identity course that addresses topics in community psychology, particularly those that affect ethnic minority groups and those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Dr. Kelly does community-based work with organizations that impact the African-American community, such as serving on the advisory board of the couples ministry of a large local African-American church, mentoring and community programming as a member of a prominent African-American public service organization, and facilitating GSAPP's hosting of an annual cultural conference that includes methods of working with schools, clinics, and other organizations to promote cultural competence. Dr. Kelly is interested in working with students on the design, implementation, and evaluation of community-based interventions that have a positive impact on ethnic minority communities and families.

Charles A. Maher: Dr. Maher is professor of psychology at GSAPP and a professor with the Center of Alcohol Studies. He is founder and director of the sport psychology concentration and he is in charge of the Sport Psychology Institute, which is associated with the Center of Applied Psychology. Dr. Maher is a licensed psychologist, a diplomate of the American Board of Sport Psychology, and a fellow of many divisions and societies including the APA, the American Psychological Society, and the American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology, as well as the Academy of Learning and Developmental Disorders. He also is credentialed as a chief school administrator, school psychologist, learning consultant, principal, and teacher of the handicapped.

At GSAPP, Dr. Maher teaches courses in the planning and evaluation of human services programs; program evaluation for clinical psychologists; sport psychology: theory, research, and practice; and assessment and intervention in sport psychology. He supervises projects and related experiences of students in all programs in these aforementioned areas as well as student dissertation research. His research and program development interests span a range of domains including: evaluation of special education programs and services; incorporating planning and evaluation services into decision-making routines of for-profit and not-for-profit organizations; work team development; enhancement of the performance of athletes and coaches in sport settings; performance enhancement of executives, managers, and supervisors in organizational settings; and professional self-management.

Dr. Maher has published in a range of professional and scientific journals and he is the author and editor of numerous books in the above areas. He is editor of the Journal of Applied School Psychology and the executive editor of the Sport and Sport Psychology book series (Haworth Press). He has been member of many journal editorial boards, currently including the Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology and the Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation. In addition, he sits on the boards of directors of numerous agencies and foundations.

For more than 25 years, Dr. Maher has served as a national and international consultant to many diverse for-profit and non-profit organizations, including those in professional sports, large urban public schools, manufacturing organizations, protective services, public utilities, and government agencies. He also works with professional teams and professional athletes in many sports including football, basketball, and baseball as a sport psychologist, and also serves as a sport psychology consultant to the Rutgers Division of Intercollegiate Athletics, particularly its football and men's and women's basketball programs. Before coming to GSAPP, Dr. Maher served as a teacher and administrator of programs for emotionally disturbed adolescents, a school psychologist, a director of special services, and an assistant school superintendent, as well as a high school and college coach in football, basketball, and baseball.



 
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