Psychology Faculty Position Request #3
Assistant Professor of Psychology – Pediatric Neuropsychologist
1. Program strength and vitality
This faculty member would fill a vital role in both the clinical psychology program and the
newly approved undergraduate neuroscience program. Pediatric neuropsychology is a
professional specialty concerned with learning and behavior in relationship to a child’s brain. A
pediatric neuropsychologist is a licensed psychologist with expertise in how learning and
behavior are associated with the development of brain structures and systems. He or she may
also provide treatment, such as cognitive rehabilitation, behavior management, or psychotherapy.
At EMU, we have been developing a faculty and instructional specialization track in early
development/child within psychology, and this appears to be an increasingly popular area of
emphasis for our graduate students. Indeed, our students are successfully securing prestigious
internships and postdoctoral fellowships in this area. We currently have one faculty member
with expertise in pediatric neuropsychology (Lajiness-O’Neill). We also have faculty with
expertise in pediatric psychology (Peterson), child clinical psychology (Huth-Bocks, Byrd,
Freedman-Doan), developmental psychology (Janisse, Chow, Staples), and developmental
methodologies (Chow, Staples). Our pediatric and child clinical psychologists train our master’s
and doctoral level clinicians in state-of-the art assessment and treatment for a host of child
medical and mental health disorders. Our developmental psychologists, whose foci are primarily
child/adolescent development, emphasize human growth and development in such areas as
social, cognitive, personality and emotional functioning. Two of our developmentalists have
expertise in applied statistics (Chow, Staples), with proficiency in dyadic and longitudinal data
analysis. All are vital to the undergraduate and graduate curriculums.
To expand the breadth and depth of our undergraduate training and with an emphasis on the
contemporary scientific study of the nervous system in both typical development and
psychopathology, a new undergraduate interdisciplinary (Psychology, Biology, Chemistry)
Neuroscience Program was proposed and approved for a tentative launch in the fall 2016. Our
neuroscience faculty possess expertise in sensory processing (Breza), motor functioning (Bo),
mechanisms of learning (Rusiniak), and higher-order cognition (Lajiness-O’Neill). This
program emphasizes a strong interdisciplinary research component, which will encourage
research collaborations across disciplines and vertically between undergraduate and graduate
programs. If sufficiently staffed, both the clinical psychology and neuroscience program will be
able to offer opportunities to explore brain-behavior relationships and the brain correlates of
typical and aberrant behavior, the area of specialization of neuropsychology. Neuropsychology is
a hybrid subspecialty under the umbrellas of both psychology and neuroscience; hence,
expanding this area of instruction and research expertise will continue to distinguish EMU from
our comparable institutions. This faculty member will help cover our expanding
neuropsychology and neuroscience courses (see item #4). He/she will also attract high quality
undergraduate and graduate students who have an interest in a particular area of pediatric
neuropsychology. Dr. Lajiness-O’Neill is currently receiving graduate applications from
prestigious institutions such as Johns Hopkins University/Kennedy Krieger, Duke, Yale, Loyola,
and University of California to study in this area, but we do not have sufficient staffing in
pediatric neuropsychology to consider the high number of quality applicants. Additionally, there
is a high potential for this new faculty person to secure extramural funding, depending on the
person’s area of research, given that this is one of the fastest areas of growth in the field.
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Psychology Faculty Position Request #3
Assistant Professor of Psychology – Pediatric Neuropsychologist
2. Demand for program
The Clinical PhD program admits 8 students every fall. Graduation rates indicate that students
graduate from the program in an average of 6.2 years. This is within the typical range for an
APA-accredited PhD program. The Clinical Behavioral MS program admits between 8 - 12
students each year for the 2-year program. Graduation rates indicate that between 7-12 students
graduate each year from the program. The General Clinical MS program admits between 10 and
12 students as well, and has had high graduation rates over the past four years.
Currently, at the graduate level, Dr. Lajiness-O’Neill teaches Clinical Neuropsychology
(PSY610) and Neuropsychological Assessment (PSY710) every other fall and winter,
respectively. These courses are now required as part of the newly created Assessment Track
within our doctoral program. This means that approximately 15 students need to take this
graduate level course every other year. She also currently teaches Cognitive Neuroscience
(PSY433) at the undergraduate level which is rotated with Drs. Bo and Breza. This course is a
restricted elective of our Group B – Biological courses. This course is offered once per
academic year. This past fall semester, ~35 students enrolled. With the launch of the
neuroscience program in the fall, we will have coverage for the Introduction to Neuroscience
course (NSCI 301) (Dr. Breza). However, as the program ramps up to capacity, there will be one
section of NSCI 301 each fall, 2 sections of Advanced Neuroscience (NSCI401) each fall, and 1
section for each of the individualized research intensive Neuroscience Seminar I (NSCI330) and
Neuroscience Seminar II (NSCI440) each winter, some of may be covered by Dr. LajinessO’Neill.
Dr. Lajiness-O’Neill also provides clinical supervision for all child/pediatric cases at the
Psychology Clinic. She is the only faculty member who can currently supervise pediatric
neuropsychology cases or those cases with complex developmental disabilities requiring
specialized assessment training (e.g. autism). Unfortunately, given her current teaching load,
coupled with the demands that will be required to teach some of the neuroscience courses, and
the administrative support that she will provide to the Neuroscience program as a Co-Director,
there will be woefully insufficient coverage for these clinical cases and this will intensify. In
addition, when Dr. Lajiness-O’Neill goes “off service” from the clinic, there is no one to
supervise these cases for up to a year. In addition, when Dr. Lajiness-O’Neill is released for a
grant, we have had to hire adjunct faculty members to either teach her courses or assist Dr.
Peterson with child assessments at the clinic.
3. Relation to department and college goals
As noted, the doctoral program recently revised its areas of emphasis that included an
Assessment track. Students in the doctoral program can opt to specialize in Assessment that
includes the training in the psychological and neuropsychological assessment of individuals
across the developmental spectrum with a host of developmental and acquired disorders and
psychopathologies. Thus, this position supports the department’s commitment to quality
education and training in clinical skills that is compliant with APA guidelines. In addition, as
noted, the faculty have more recently recognized its serendipitous strength in child/early
development and is now consciously fostering this as part of an EMU Psychology Department
branding. Finally, the hire of another Pediatric Neuropsychologist would serve in meeting the
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Psychology Faculty Position Request #3
Assistant Professor of Psychology – Pediatric Neuropsychologist
needs across the training curriculum (undergraduate psychology and neuroscience as well as
graduate experimental and clinical programs) and substantially enhance the research curriculum
of both the neuroscience program and psychology department. The faculty person would also
have to demonstrate a solid line of research in Pediatric Neuropsychology that would support
student interests and attract high quality applicants to our programs.
Similarly, the College has a strong commitment to increase scholarly research and dissemination
(Goal 2.1) and promote student research experiences (Goal 2.4). The department would rate
highly a candidate who can attract both graduate and undergraduate students to his/her lab and
involve them in scholarly activities. Additionally, because this faculty member would help
provide assessment services to the community at large, this hire would increase and promote
more community engagement (Goal 3.2). Finally, because this person would help support the
Neuroscience Program, this hire would increase interdisciplinary research (Goal 2.3) and
strengthen the integration of the natural sciences (Goal 4.3).
4. Current availability of faculty
Over the past several years, we have had very limited pediatric assessment supervision at the
Psychology clinic given competing demands that both Dr. Lajiness-O’Neill and Dr. Peterson
have with other courses and commitments. It has been necessary to hire adjunct supervisors
nearly every semester, and many cannot supervise assessments. Dr. Peterson teaches the
Cognitive Assessment course twice a year and does assessment supervision at the clinic. Her
area of expertise is pediatric psychology. Dr. Drossel is also a neuropsychologist, but her area of
expertise is adult/geriatrics. With the launch of the neuroscience program, we will also require
other individuals with expertise in human brain imaging to complement the cellular, molecular,
and animal/behavioral methodologies of the Chemistry, Biology, and other Psychology faculty.
Drs. Breza and Lajiness-O’Neill have some expertise in this area, but we anticipate that the
teaching and research demands in this area will escalate substantially over the next decade.
5. Relation to General Education
The position will not affect the General Education program.
6. Other Important Information
The APA wants to see that core faculty teach required courses in the program and cover
supervision at an onsite clinic. This preserves the integrity of the program and ensures that the
program is compliant with the clinical goals as outlined in the program goals. APA understands
if the program has to hire adjuncts for a short period of time to fill in, but wants to know that the
university has a commitment to maintaining the core clinical faculty and replacing key faculty
when needed. Core faculty are defined as individuals who have credentials in the program’s
objectives and goals and serve as role models for students. They must be identified with the
program and at least 50% of their professional time must be devoted to program-related
activities. The department currently has 10 core faculty (Drs. Hoodin and Dr. Gordon are at 50%
and no longer count as core). The APA requires a student-to-faculty ratio that is stable and can
adequately cover program needs as identified in the most recent self-study. We will need to
complete a new accreditations process in 2017,
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