About
Richard Anthony
Niolon Ph.D.
rniolon@thechicagoschool.edu
The Chicago School
325 N Wells, Chicago, IL 60654-1822
Chicago, IL 60654
(312) 329-6642
rniolon@gmail.com
Academic
Experience
The Chicago School of
Professional Psychology
Associate Professor
Associate Department Chair
Interim Department Chair
Associate Department Chair
Associate Professor
Affiliate Faculty
Adjunct Faculty
Roosevelt University
August 2002 to Present
January 2010 to present
June 2008 to December 2009
February to May 2008
May 2007 to Jan 2008
August 2003 to May 2007
June 2002 to July 2003
August 1999 to May 2002
August 1996 to May 1998
Adjunct to Undergraduate and
Master's Program
Teaching
Experience
Classes taught
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Intellectual, personality, and advanced assessment, as well as
diagnostic/assessment practicum seminars
Basic systems theory, couples therapy, family therapy, systems therapy for
individuals, and divorce and child custody, as well as therapy practicum
seminars which include evaluations of students' clinical competency exams
Proposal development seminar and subsequent dissertation maintenance courses
Professional development group, ethics and professional issues, ethics and
psychotherapy
Diversity in clinical psychology I and II
Special Topics
Special course topics have included assessing potential for violence and intimate partner
violence; evaluating client strengths and readiness for life change; impact of HIPAA and
Affordable Care Act; empirical controversy associated with the Rorschach Projective
Technique; psychometric issues and risk of test bias with minority clients; use of
computers for test interpretation and prediction; ethical issues and practice in custody
disputes; comparison of our ethical code with those of other mental health professions;
and research basis for the effectiveness of couples therapy.
Teaching Techniques
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Course websites and discussion boards; links to relevant news events and web
resources; timelines, word clouds, and other visual tools presenting course
concepts and data; pre- and post-course knowledge surveys
Specially created tools to teach interpretive approaches and test use, selfquizzes, additional clinical material for independent learning
Demonstrations as well as supervision of student role plays; discussion of videos
to teach therapy techniques
Semester-long "progressive writing assignment" as well as journal assignments to
refine student writing, prompt reflection and critical thinking, and improve
conceptual skills
"Ethical genogram" (Peluso, 2003) to identify personal values that impact
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professional ethical reasoning and behavior
"Courtroom trial" to judge the merit of continue use of personality tests
Other Teaching Related Activities
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Service
to School
Podcasting pilot project member (2010)
Member of selection committee for Teacher of the Year awards (2007)
Designation as a "Master Teacher" to participate in a Stanford University project
on pedagogy (2005)
Student Recruitment
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Chaired Admissions Committee (two years), and represented program at
applicant open house, interview, and new student orientation days
Conducted group interviews with 80% of interviewed program applicants; served
as primary contact for incoming students with advising questions
Student Advising and Remediation
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Wrote program manual for student remediation plans, which served as the first
draft of institutional manual; tracked student progress on remediation plans
Directed yearly review of over 400 students (three years) and documented
progress and feedback for students; chaired program committee (two years) to
monitor those with problems in professional comportment; referred to school
disciplinary committee as needed
Created and implemented technological innovations, such as the department
website, a comprehensive and searchable set of program milestones for advisors
and students, and our first department photo directory and comprehensive
contact list
Implemented program to identify at-risk students, provide specialized advising,
and improve training placement rates
Scheduling and Planning
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Revised and improved program dissertation manual; developed and implemented
annual process to match 76% of students to their first choice of dissertation
chair, which is still used today
Created a new process for course planning accounting for space constraints,
student and faculty schedules, and budgeting; improved student satisfaction and
reduced frequency of cancelled classes; this process is still in use today
Assessment
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Created first ethical competency/capstone assignment for first year students;
directed program's first formal review of learning, achievement, and retention
data
Creation of program competency exam for psychotherapy course and analysis
and reporting of results
Hired faculty, coached adjuncts, reviewed student course evaluations, and
conducted annual performance reviews
Institutional and Department Service
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Wrote institutional policy for private practice on campus, as well as
administrative documents including program's first operations manual and first
advising manual
Responsible for oversight of one required basic and three elective advanced
therapy courses teaching individual, couples, and family therapy; advising
adjuncts teaching them and monitoring syllabi for compliance with program
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Student
Scholarship
Dissertation Supervision
Chair of over 50 dissertations and reader of over 20 dissertations on topics such as:
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Selected
Scholarship
standards (six years)
Vice-Chair and then Chair of campus Faculty Council (two years)
Program student admissions committee (chair two years, member three years)
Collaborative committee of faculty and IT Department (chair two years, member
five years)
Student discipline committee (chair one year, member three years)
Faculty search committee (chair one year, member two years)
Member of various standing and ad hoc committees (one year appointments),
including committees to revise program curriculum, train new dissertation
chairs, gather and report faculty aspirations for the school, determine standards
for terminating academic programs, set processes for evaluating institutional
effectiveness, and advise a new program chair
Active participant during three APA Site Visits for accreditation
Couple satisfaction and stability with interethnic couples, plans for marriage
among African American men, and management of boundaries and connections
in lesbian parent families
Gay couples preparing for and raising children, gay couple views toward
commitment ceremonies, gay men and civil rights surrounding marriage and hate
crimes, satisfaction in gay couples with open relationships, television portrayals
of gay men, and gay men and body image
Relationship behaviors associated with satisfaction in adjusted religious couples,
in couples in which a partner has experienced a neurological trauma, and in
cohabitating couples who are and are not engaged
Effectiveness of a grief-focused summer camp for children, emergency
psychiatric services pre- and post-911, predicting dating violence in adolescent
relationships, and use of board games to teach wellness skills in adolescents
Impact on psychologists of work with sex offenders, and formative personal-life
experiences of master couples and family therapists
Views of modern men on traditional gender role questionnaires, similarity of
personality characteristics of graduate students and their chairs, impact of
parental divorce on Gen Y adults, mindfulness in effective diversity training
programs, clinician skill detecting deception
Views and practices associated with online versus real-world infidelity, and
reflections on "going dark" after disconnecting from social technologies
Use of PAI in detecting faking, predicting child abuse, and predicting risk for
domestic violence with police officers; use of NEO PI to predict graduate student
satisfaction with advising; objective test scores of second-marriage versus firstmarriage partners; use of the Rorschach to identify imagination and absorption;
and use of TAT cards showing heterosexual couples with gay clients
Reviews and Other Works
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Niolon, R. (2013). Taking a second look. [Review of the book LGBT-Parent
Families: Innovations in Research and Implications for Practice by A. E. Goldberg
and K. R. Allen (Eds.)]. PsycCRITIQUES, Vol 58(26), 2013, doi: 10.1037/a0032726.
Niolon, R. (2012). The differentiation of stepfamily therapy. [Review of the book
Stepfamily therapy: A 10-step clinical approach by S. Browning and E. Artelt].
PsycCRITIQUES, Vol 57(4), doi: 10.1037/a0026022.
Niolon, R. (2012). Forget Mars and Venus: Men and women from earth are
Richard Niolon Ph.D. Page 4 of 6
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complicated enough. [Review of the book The Science of the Couple: The
Ontario Symposium on Personality and Social Psychology by L. Campbell, J. G.
La Guardia, J. M. Olson, and M. P. Zanna (Eds.)]. PsycCRITIQUES, Vol 57(44), doi:
10.1037/a0029863.
Niolon, R. (2007). Mediation and Story Telling. [Review of the book
Improvisational Negotiation: A Mediator's Stories of Conflict About Love, Money,
Anger—and the Strategies That Resolved Them by J. Krivis]. PsycCRITIQUES, Vol
52(23), doi: 10.1037/a0006677.
Niolon, R. (2006). Fragile Families: Science and Assumptions. [Review of the
book Fragile Families and the Marriage Agenda by L. Kowaleski-Jones and N. H.
Wolfinger]. PsycCRITIQUES, Vol 51(26), doi: 10.1037/a0002920.
Niolon, R. (2006). A Therapist's Toolbox. [Review of the book The Couple and
Family Therapist's Notebook: Homework, Handouts, and Activities for Use in
Marital and Family Therapy by K. M. Hertlein and D. Viers (Eds.)]
PsycCRITIQUES, Vol 51(5), doi: 10.1037/05238512.
Niolon, R. A. (2005). Work and Family Conflicts: Conceptualization and Analysis
[Review of the book Work, Family, Health, and Well-Being]. In PsycCRITIQUES,
Vol 50(48), doi: 10.1037/05202512.
Niolon, R. A. (2005). A Primer on Same-Sex Couples Therapy [Review of the book
Relationship Therapy With Same-Sex Couples]. In PsycCRITIQUES, Vol 50(14),
doi: 10.1037/041324.
Niolon, R. A. (2005). Gay Marriage Today [Review of the book Why Marriage? The
History Shaping Today's Debate Over Gay Equality]. PsycCRITIQUES, Vol 50(9),
doi: 10.1037/041219.
Niolon, R. A. (2005). Economic Models of Parenting [Review of the book Family
Investments in Children's Potential: Resources and Parenting Behaviors That
Promote Success]. In PsycCRITIQUES, Vol 50(4), doi: 10.1037/040931.
Niolon, R.A. (2004). Sibling Sexual Abuse. In D. Matthews (Ed), Child Abuse
Sourcebook (1st ed). (chapter on causes of and responses to sibling sexual abuse,
included in a general sourcebook on child sexual abuse)
Presentations
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Niolon, R. A., & Georgescu, S. (2015, July). ACT, willingness, and the ethics of
informed consent. Paper presented at ACBS Annual World Conference 13, Berlin,
Germany, 2015.
Niolon, R. & Georgescu, S. (2014). Informed Consent in Modern Contextual CBTs.
Continuing education presentation (3 hours) at the annual conference of the
Association for Contextual Behavioral Science, Chicago, IL.
Theoretical Orientation Panel - Colloquia for TCS students representing major
theories taught in our program; panel moderator Fall 2008 and 2009, panel
member Fall 2006 and 2007, and 2010 to 2012.Parental Capacity Assessments Presentation to the Child and Adolescent Track Students as part of the Guest
Speaker Series Fall 2008, Summer 2010, 2011, and 2012.
Efficacious Couples Therapy - Continuing education presentation at Bradley and
Allendale Center on Gottman and the Sound Marital House Model, February 2009.
Parental Capacity Assessments - Continuing education presentation at Bradley
and Allendale Center on the scholarly basis and an applied method to evaluation
parental functioning and parent-child attachment, February 2008.
Assessing GLBTQ Clients. TCS Cultural Impact Conference, October 2005.
Keynote Speaker for diagnostic practicum students.
Richard Niolon Ph.D. Page 5 of 6
Clinical
Experience
Partners and Couples
July 2003 to current
Independent Private Practice
Chicago Illinois
August 1998 to June 2003
Center for Personal Development
Psychological Consultant
Director of Training
Great Lakes Psychological Services
Psychological Consultant
Clinical Practice
Activities
August 1998 to June 2003
August 1999 to May 2003
September 1994 to June 1998
Stroger-Cook County Hospital
Chicago Illinois
September 1993 to August 1994
Department of Psychiatry Clinical Intern
Chicago Illinois
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Parental Capacity Assessments - Developed and refined an observation method
based on research to evaluate parent-child interactions in a culturally-sensitive
context. Assessed discipline style, parent-child attachment, communication and
organizational skills, and empathic interactions. Aided courts in decision-making
regarding placement and adoption, parent and child needs, and parental
contact. Some cases required court testimony. Approximately 300 evaluations
completed.
Child Custody Evaluations - Conducted thorough assessment of divorced parents
consistent with "best interests of the child" criteria. Observed families in
structured and natural settings, interviewed parents extensively, and called
upon psychological testing, collateral informants, and case records to advise
court on issues such as custody, mediation, access, and special needs of the
child. Approximately 300 hours experience.
Psychological Assessments and Screenings - Evaluated children, adolescents, and
adults in a range of complex and ethnically diverse cases. Focused on
intellectual abilities, emotional adjustment, coping strengths and weaknesses,
treatment needs and goals, as well as vocational, daily living, and parenting
skills. Some cases required court testimony. Approximately 600 evaluations
completed.
Therapy and Counseling - Conducted individual, family, and couples therapy with
gay/lesbian and heterosexual couples, addressing parent-child conflict, recovery
from abuse and neglect, step-family development, and numerous other issues.
Over 15 years' experience.
Clinical Supervision and Training - Supervised and trained graduate students,
masters-level counselors, and post-doctoral staff in individual and group
sessions. Oversaw therapy, assessment, and practice development, as well as
procedure changes for HIPAA compliance, data mining of practice billing and
scheduling software, and presentation on practice services for marketing.
Offered in-house training seminars on various topics. Over five years' experience.
Consultation - Advised social workers and supervisors on case management and
clinical prognosis, client mental health needs, ethical issues, and professional
reward/burnout prevention both in the office and on-site for social services
agencies. Offered on-site training seminars on topics such as uses of
psychological assessment, and team-building exercises.
Richard Niolon Ph.D. Page 6 of 6
Professional
Information
Education
Saint Louis University, Doctor of Philosophy,
May 1997
Chair: James Korn, Ph.D.
Licensure
Clinical Psychologist, November 1998 to current
(eligible for licensure in Hawai'i)
IL License Number 071-005742
Professional Membership
American Psychological Association
Division 44 - Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender
Issues
Division 36 - Society for the Psychology of Religion
and Spirituality
Technology
Skills
Member: 65859834 since 1994
Member
Member
PsychPage.com
Creator and webmaster of Psychpage.Com, active 15 years. Sections include pages on
relevant Illinois law and ethical issues for professionals, tools to aid professors in
creating class web resources and sites, and handouts on basic clinical issues and
disorders for mental health professionals and students. Most popular articles on the site
include a series on domestic violence with special attention to gay and lesbian couples,
and a section on modern issues for couples and couples therapy.
Other Skills
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Knowledge of several course management systems, as well as use of a simple
wiki for websites to allow cross-linking and tagging
Proficient in Microsoft Office 2010 (Word, Excel, Access, Powerpoint)
Basic skills with Wordpress, HTML, and JQuery