Program Faculty and Advisors
All students are assigned primary and secondary advisors upon admission to the program. Primary advisors function as mentors and agree to oversee the professional development of the student; whereas secondary advisors agree to oversee the professional development of the student should the primary advisor be unavailable. All full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty as well as clinical adjunct faculty may serve as primary or secondary advisors for students. The program faculty includes:
William Ahearn, Ph.D., BCBA-D, Clinical Adjunct Faculty
Jason Bourret, Ph.D., BCBA-D, Clinical Adjunct Faculty
Jessica Carlson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
William Dube, PhD., BCBA-D, Clinical Adjunct Faculty
Daniel Gould, Ph.D., BCBA-D, Clinical Adjunct Faculty
Chris Hakala, Ph.D., Professor
Gregory Hanley, Ph.D., BCBA-D, Associate Professor, Doctoral Program Director
William Holcomb, Ph.D., BCBA-D, Clinical Adjunct Faculty
Amanda Karsten, Ph.D., BCBA-D, Assistant Professor
Ava Kleinmann, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Dennis Kolodziejski, Ed.D., Full Professor, Department Chair
David Palmer, Ph.D., Clinical Adjunct Faculty
Dongxiao Qin, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Rebecca MacDonald, Ph.D., BCBA-D, Clinical Adjunct Faculty
Denine Northrup, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Eileen Roscoe, Ph.D., BCBA-D, Clinical Adjunct Faculty
Jessica Sassi, Ph.D., BCBA-D, Clinical Adjunct Faculty
Jason Seacat, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Murray Sidman, Ph.D., Clinical Adjunct Faculty
Sheralee Tershner, Ph.D., Professor
Rachel Thompson, Ph.D., BCBA-D, Associate Professor
The doctoral program operates according to a junior colleague model. In this model, the student and advisor share equal responsibility in planning for the student’s academic success and ensuring that the student is making timely progress toward the degree requirements. Thus, advisors assist students as they select required and elective courses, develop their research projects, and prepare for Ph.D. requirements (e.g., assist in selecting a review paper topic). Advisors and students also work collaboratively on the students’ professional development. Specifically, advisors assist students in clarifying their goals and attaining substantive experience in teaching (e.g., identifying opportunities and mentoring), research (e.g., ensuring that the student is presenting posters, oral presentations, and is publishing their data where appropriate), and service (e.g., committee work at the local or national level, serving as a reviewer for a journal). Students typically work with one advisor, but may work with others or have coadvisors.