Meet our Faculty Members!
By Cathy Offen and Aubrey Elmore
Paul McCabe:
Mental Notes: Where did you obtain your degrees from?
Ph.D. and M.A., Clinical and School Psychology, Hofstra University.
B.A., Psychology, University of Rochester
A.A., Early Childhood Education, Cazenovia College
Mental Notes: How long have you been in the field?
I received my doctorate in May 1998, although I began teaching at RIT in September 1997. I worked as a per diem school psychologist in 1996-1997.
Mental Notes: Please tell us about your previous and current job experiences.
Currently, I am faculty in the school psychology program, and have been since 1997. I am also a part-time psychologist at Rochester Hearing and Speech Center since 1998. I conduct Early Intervention and CPSE assessments, and consult with our classrooms which serve speech/language delayed preschoolers. Prior to coming to Rochester, I completed my clinical internship at Brunswick Hall in Long Island, an acute-care psychiatric facility, working with children and adolescent populations primarily. I also worked as a psychology intern at Pilgrim Psychiatric Center in Long Island with the geriatric units, completing neuropsychological assessments. I worked as a per diem school psychologist in the Williams Floyd School District in 1996-97, and completed my school psychology internship there in the previous year. I have served as a camp counselor and preschool teacher during the summers between 1989 and 1997.
Mental Notes: Describe your personal areas of interest in research (past and current projects).
My research focuses on early childhood social, emotional, and language growth. In particular, I am interested in what happens when one of these areas fails to develop according to typical patterns. I began working with language delayed preschoolers for my dissertation, examining the efficacy of a social competence training program on this population. Currently, I am working with this population at RHSC to examine which types of language disorders are most likely, to evidence a concomitant social or behavioral problem. I am also looking at the assessment devices used with this population to ascertain how effective they are in capturing the difficulties these kids may have. Previous research has been conducted in the areas of resiliency, primary prevention and maltreatment, mostly focused in the early childhood years.
Mental Notes: What made you choose this particular field?
I have always enjoyed working with young children, and have found them to be fascinating as clients and research participants. It is amazing to watch typical development unfold in a pre-determined fashion, yet vary so greatly based on environmental conditions and consequences. It is equally perplexing to see how development may go awry, and to apply a scientific model of inquiry to ascertain how and why this happened, and what methods of remediation will most likely ameliorate the delay/disorder. Of course, another perk of working with this population is that for young children, play is work, and work is play, and I can think of no better way than to spend the day than to do so playing.
Mental Notes: What are some of your personal hobbies? What do you do to relax?
I like to cook, garden, read, watch videos and movies, listen to music (all varieties), photography, drawing and painting, and travel. I spend quite a bit of time restoring my house as well.
Mental Notes: Can you remember your very first job, or the job that perhaps helped you through graduate school? (ha-ha)
Babysitting my little brother and sister was probably my first related job, which piqued my interest in young children initially, and I continued to baby-sit throughout high school and college. I also was a lifeguard and swim instructor for young swimmers.
Ginny Costenbader:
Mental Notes: Where did you obtain your degrees from?
Both my Master's and Ph.D. are from Syracuse University.
Mental Notes: How long have you been in the field?
A long time! I began as a classroom teacher and over the years I taught from preschool to science and math in middle school and high school (actually in reverse order). After returning to school, I worked as a school psychologist in two rural school districts. Just after I finished my doctoral degree, a job opened at RIT. Although I really enjoyed being a school psychologist, I decided to try academics. I have been here ever since!
Mental Notes: Describe your personal areas of interest in research (past and current projects).
My research interest has always been on kids with emotional and behavioral problems. There kids are so complex, programming needs for them can be so intensive, and the current federal and state regulations regarding ED youngsters are so insufficient to be at times just plain unfair (in my opinion!). I've also been interested in the role of the school psychologist as consultant in the schools- a role we as a profession have been moving toward for years-inch by inch. Over the years I have also had an opportunity to work with students on a broad range of research projects that were of interest to them. In September a former student, Sandra Janiga, and I published a paper in the Journal of Learning Disabilities on the transition process for students with LD who are entering post-secondary education. Currently I am struggling to complete a paper on the pre-referral intervention process.
Mental Notes: What made you choose this particular field?
That's the question we ask you when you come for your interviews! The tables are turned! When I was a classroom teacher, there were students I could not reach and really did not feel equipped to understand. Students who did not seem to learn like my other kids, who struggled through materials grade levels below their placement. Kids who could not read efficiently- or could not read at all. Kids who always were angry, or sad, or silent. Kids who were never silent!! Kids who were coping with what seemed to me to be overwhelming life situations. It was these very special kids who made me want to go back to school in psychology.
Mental Notes: What are some of your personal hobbies? What do you do to relax?
I like to play tennis and to garden. (I find that digging in the mud is very therapeutic). I have two dogs and walking them is so relaxing. I love to read- but in recent years all that I have time to read is student papers and textbooks- so I listen to books on tape on my ride back and forth to work. /
Scott Merydith:
Mental Notes: Where did you obtain your degree from?
I received both my master's and doctoral degrees from Kent State University.
Mental Notes:How long have you been in the field?
I've been in school psychology for 20 years, although I can't believe it. Prior to going into academia, I was a practicing school psychologist in Ohio for approximately eight years and was able to work in some very interesting settings-- inner city high schools, parochial high schools, day treatment centers, and public elementary schools. During my doctoral studies I realized that I wanted to focus on teaching and research. I was lucky enough to receive a teaching appointment at Florida State University-great school but the weather was too hot! I subsequently moved to Virginia to become the director of the school psychology program at George Mason University-another great school, but the area was too crowded. Last spring I interviewed at RIT and again was fortunate to be offered the position as Chair of the School Psychology Program- a first rate school where the weather and population density appear just right, at least for my liking.
Mental Notes: Describe your personal areas of interest in research (past and current projects).
My overall research interest has been with social-emotional assessments, specifically techniques used in ED evaluations. Social-emotional assessment is probably the one area of assessment that school personnel look exclusively to the school psychologist as the expert. This area requires us to integrate data from a variety of sources (self, parent, peers, teachers) through the use of a variety of techniques (observations, behavioral checklists, interviews, self-reports, projectives). In order to do this we must know the strengths and limitations of the various techniques and informants that we use; or as R. Cattell described, we must dodge the third error source (i.e., not make incorrect psychological interpretations from psychological tests.). The error source that I've investigated the most has been that of the distortion of responses by children and parents due to social desirability-that is, trying to make a favorable impression. It's a real problem in social-emotional assessment that few test developers in school psychology have had the courage to address. Other areas of research that I'm interested in are intervention practices for aggressive children, such as the use of moral reasoning with them. Currently, I am working with students on their theses in areas of interest to me, such as emotional recognition among juvenile delinquents and children with nonverbal learning disabilities, and school climate. With the latter, I've recently developed a School Fairness Scale that was accepted for a presentation at APA this August. Basically I've integrated Kohlberg's view of justice with that from social psychology. My co-authors and I believe that perceived fairness is the most important factor in establishing a healthy school climate.
Mental Notes: What made you choose this particular field?
This is an interesting question for me that shows sometimes it pays off to be in the right place at the right time. After undergraduate school, I was working in business and was enrolled in a master's program in philosophy, which I liked but didn't feel I could land a job in that field. I was really at a crossroads on what to do with my life. I thought about going to law school, earning a teaching certificate, or going into experimental psychology. It just so happened that at a party I ran into a couple of school psychologists. I thought, "this sounds so cool" and had them tell me all about their work. The next day I went to the library and started to read every journal I could find on school psychology. The more I read, the more I liked the field. I did a site visit at a Day Treatment Center for ED kids and met with the school psychologist and knew that this is what I wanted to do. And well, the rest is history.
Mental Notes: What are some of your personnel hobbies? What do you do to relax?
For stress release I find running, swimming, and walking my lab bring immediate relief. Hobbies for me include, playing music, reading history, golfing, and playing chess (I like to play at least three games a week to keep in shape). For fun I really like going to the movies and then stopping out for a late night dinner with my wife, Erin, where we can linger over for hours.
