*****welcome to the lab!*****
what do we study?
The development and maintenance of "professional competence" has become a critical keystone in the foundation of a wide range of interdisciplinary practices within educational, regulatory, and certification contexts. The conceptualization and documentation of professional contexts represents a critical point of convergence among otherwise divergent constituencies. A focus on the development and documentation of interdisciplinary, multicultural, and evidence-based practices is a key component of the evidence-based competency movement, and much of my work addresses aspects of this development. Emphasizing the qualitative transformation of needs and competencies across the course of the professional lifespan, my program of research addresses early developmental precursors to competence, such as effective mentoring and self-care, through the later stages of professional development which can be marked by distinction, on the one hand (e.g., American Board of Professional Psychology certification) or disciplinary action, on the other.
My co-authors and I conducted the largest study to date (over 92,000 psychologists) on continuing education (CE) in psychology, exploring the relationship between CE mandates and professional disciplinary actions from state licensing boards. In another study of over 6,000 psychologists nationwide I explored the impact of CE mandates and differences in CE participation and CE experiences among those residing in and out of CE-mandating jurisdictions. My co-authors and I also published the only longitudinal study of CE in our field. I have been collecting data approximately every two years over the past decade to explore the impact of CE mandates on participation, perceptions, and practices of psychologists. During my graduate studies, I developed a concentration in quantitative statistics, and I am pleased to be able to apply my empirical skills to this developing area of research, as well as to mentor my students in rigorous methodology. In my studies, I have explored continuing professional development and professional competence using a variety of research methods, from Delphi methodology and MANOVAs to exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. My overall program of research is designed to provide an evidence-based approach to understanding, generating, and maintaining professional competence across the professional lifespan. It includes conceptual and empirical expressions as this rapidly developing field advances within a broadly interdisciplinary context, both informing, and being informed by, developments within allied fields of health.
Prior
to and during my academic appointment at the University of Utah, I published 49 articles and book chapters, in addition to an edited book and a guest
edited APA journal. More specifically, I have published 34 journal articles and 15
book chapters in books including The APA Handbook of Clinical Psychology (Editors:
Norcross & Freedheim), Comprehensive Clinical Psychology (Editors: Kaslow & Ponce),
The Cycle of
Excellence: Training, Supervision, and Deliberate Practice (Editors:
Rousmaniere, Goodyear, Miller, & Wampold), and The Handbook of Private Practice: Keys to Success for Mental Health
Practitioners (Editors: Walfish, Zimmerman, & Barnett).
In 2017 my colleagues and I organized the first Summit on Promoting Best Practices in Continuing Education and Continuing Professional Development at APA, where the idea was hatched to propose a Special Issue of Professional Psychology: Research and Practice devoted to exploring and supporting best practices in continuing education. In conjunction with APA's Continuing Education Sponsor Approval and Directors of the Office of Continuing Education, the special issue, Critical Conversations in Continuing Education in Psychology, was published in 2019. I contributed as an editor and an author on three publications in the special issue (each of my manuscripts went through blind, independent peer-review before acceptance into the special issue).
In
addition to the articles, book chapters, book, and journal I have published
thus far, I have 5 articles in progress
and 4 studies in progress, which include
international collaborations. I was also recently invited by APA to author "Deliberate Practice in Career Counseling", set for publication in 2023.
Our lab is very active. If you would like to hone your research skills, I have plenty of opportunities to get you immersed in the research experience!
mentoring
I
believe engaging students in the publication process and providing mentorship
for their academic professional development are critical responsibilities of
faculty members, and mentoring is perhaps my favorite part of being a professor! I use a developmental approach with my mentoring style, incorporating the "whole-self" in the mentoring process to provide socioemotional support, networking support, and instrumental support to my students and work to foster peer mentoring throughout the lab as well. We meet weekly as a lab to check in with each other, use the lab as a "think-tank" for new projects, to support each other with ongoing initiatives, and to provide professional development along the way. Many of my students meet individually with me each week as well.
Thus far, my students have
published 9 papers with me, with more in progress. Five additional papers, with students as coauthors, are currently
in the writing stage, and 4 additional
studies with students are currently in progress (one includes a
grant-funded study). In addition to eight doctoral
students and one master's student who are currently in my lab, two University of Utah undergraduate
students sought my mentorship and applied for the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program to develop their research
skills and publication experience; an incoming freshman and a recent graduate
of the University of Utah also joined my lab in May 2019.
Additionally, many
of my 61 symposia, paper
presentations, invited talks, and poster presentations (most of which
occurred at national conventions) involve student collaborations and student co-presenters as well.
Whenever permitted by the Editor, I invite my students to serve as an ad hoc reviewer with me, and I provide mentorship on how to critically evaluate research and write a comprehensive and useful manuscript review.
I have served on 10 dissertation committees and one master's committee at the University of Utah and served on 12 committees at West Virginia University.
I am grateful that I have also been able to extend mentorship and support to other early career academics along the way. Over the past three years, the American Psychological Association invited me to present 3 90-minute live/nationally webcast presentations for their Academic Career Education Series (titles: Lessons Learned in the Academy: Tales of an Early Career Academic; From Surviving to Thriving: How to Banish "Imposter Syndrome" and Other Common Insecurities as an Early Career Academic"; and "Never See a Classroom of Glazed Eyes Again: MAP Your Way to Student Engagement").
grant productivity
I submitted 9 grant proposals thus far, 4 of which have been funded (University of Utah College of Education Research Incentive Seed Grant; Program Evaluation and Research Center Grant; ADVANCE/National Science Foundation Seed Grant; DePaul University Research Council, Competitive Research Grant). Since then, I have identified 5 new potential grant sources for larger, extramural support. Most the grant awards range from $200,000 to over $1,000,000. I was recently awarded a scholarship through the University of Utah to attend the Grant Writing Academy, an intensive weekend workshop designed to support successful large-scale extramural grant applications. We are currently crafting a grant proposal for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.