David Ahern, Ph.D. (1980) --  CPS 2008 Distinguished Alumnus

Left to Right: Dean Karen Grosby, Professor Ed Simco, CPS Founding Dean Frank DePiano, Distinguished Alumnus David Ahern, Mrs. Ahern, Professor Emeritus Leo Reyna, Professor Nathan Azrin, CPS Advisory Board Chair Joe Millsaps, Ms. Vicki Azrin.

CPS Alumna Co-authors Children’s Book

CPS Alumna Melissa K. Runyon, Ph.D. (1996) has co-authored When Love Hurts a children’s therapeutic book to assist children in healing from child physical abuse. Dr. Runyon is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Treatment Services Director at the Child Abuse Research, Education, and Services (CARES) Institute at the University of Medicine & Dentistry, New Jersey-School of Osteopathic Medicine.  Dr. Runyon, the lead developer of a treatment model designed to address the needs of both the child and offending parent in cases of child physical abuse, provides extensive training and ongoing case consultation in that area both nationally and internationally, most recently to four agencies across the country of Sweden. She served as a member of a NIMH-sponsored U.S. Delegation to address Child Sexual Abuse and HIV issues in South Africa. South Africa-United States Consultation on Child Sexual Abuse Research convened under the South Africa-United States Cooperation Forum in conjunction with the Second South African Gender-Based Violence and Health Conference.

Professor and Alumnus Publish In Leading Criminal Justice Journal

USAF Major Monty Baker (Ph.D. 02) recently completed his second Iraq deployment. His dissertation project has been accepted for publication in “Criminal Justice and Behavior”, a premier criminal justice journal. Major Baker is currently stationed at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas and will return to campus to present to  CPS students in February. The article, published with Professors Van Hasselt and Sellers, is entitled “Validation of the Novaco Anger Scale”. The scale was used with an incarcerated offender population. The work will appear in Criminal Justice and Behavior.

The abstract is below:

Many attempts have been made to construct measures that assess different aspects of anger.  The Novaco Anger Scale (NAS) was developed to assess anger and predict violent behavior.  Validity research on the NAS to date has yielded promising results.  However, few studies have examined the NAS among incarcerated offenders.  Therefore, the purpose of this study was to:  (1) examine the psychometric properties of the NAS in a sample of male and female incarcerated adults; (2) investigate the relationship between the NAS and self-report measures of anger, social desirability, and personality; and (3) evaluate the factor dimensions of the NAS using confirmatory factor-analytic procedures.  Participants were adult male and female offenders incarcerated in “Program Units” of three large county jail facilities in Southeastern Florida.  Results indicated that the theoretically-derived scales of the NAS demonstrated both reliability and validity in these groups of offenders.  Further, the correlations between the NAS and anger measures were significant.  Based on confirmatory factor analyses, the two-factor oblique model was supported, and all NAS subscales loaded significantly on their designated factors. 

Dr. Ahern

Ahern with Professor Ed Simco & Dean Karen Grosby

The Center for Psychological Studies 2008 Distinguished Alumnus, David Ahern, Ph.D. (1981), gave a noontime presentation during his recent visit to NSU.  Dr. Ahern’s presentation, Current and Emerging eHealth Technologies: Is the Future Now?, dealt with the impact of internet-enabled information communication technologies on the physician-patient relationship.

Dr. Ahern, who is Assistant Professor of Psychology (Psychiatry) at Harvard Medical School and National Program Director, Brigham and Women’ Hospital, Health e-Technologies Initiative, has had a distinguished career in research. He has published over 60 original articles and several book chapters in the areas of chronic pain, cardiovascular behavioral medicine and eHealth research, as well as being a popular speaker for numerous professional organizations.

Master’s Alumna Accepts Position with Broward County School Board

Center for Psychological Studies Alumna Mabel Thackeray, M.S. (2007) has accepted a position as Counselor for the Broward County School Board.  Ms. Thackeray will be providing counseling for schools in the North Broward area.

CPS Alumna begins term as president of  the North Florida Chapter of Florida Psychological Association

Center for Psychological Studies alumna Jane Echterling, Ph.D. (1999) began a one-year term as president of the Florida Psychological Association: North Central Florida Chapter on January 1, 2008.

Beth Gewirtzman, Psy.S. (2005) was recently interviewed on NBC/WTVJ South Florida Today show. She recently published a children's book entitled "Allie the Alligator" that was featured during the interview.  She also recently published a book of poetry entitled "Passionate Words of the Heart".

CPS Alumnus Anthony Castro, Psy.D/Ph.D (2005) has accepted a position at the University of Miami School of Medicine providing forensic services on issues primarily involving children/adolescents/families. Dr. Castro recently completed a two-year clinical fellowship in pediatric forensic psychology at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School.

Justin Rigsbee, a former doctoral student and postdoctoral resident of Nova Southeastern University’s Center for Psychological Studies, recently returned as an honor graduate from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Glynco, Georgia.  Dr. Rigsbee completed his training at FLETC in conjunction with his employment as a staff psychologist at the Federal Correctional Complex (FCC) in Beaumont, Texas.  In order to graduate with honors, Dr. Rigsbee was required to qualify on three different firearms (nine millimeter, shotgun, and M-16 rifle), excel in academia, demonstrate proficiency with various restraints, self-defense techniques, and exhibit professionalism within a correctional environment.  Dr. Rigsbee’s current duties include providing brief intervention to incarcerated offenders, conducting intake screenings, suicide risk assessments, protective custody screenings, group treatment, and providing consultation to various departments at the FCC. Congratulations!

Brian Freedman, Ph.D., (2006) has accepted a position at Kennedy Krieger’s Center for Autism and Related Disorders, at the Kennedy Krieger Institute.. Located in Baltimore, Maryland, the Kennedy Krieger Institute is a multi-faceted, multidisciplinary program for children with autism spectrum disorders.

Center for Psychological Studies Alumna Melissa Brymer, Ph.D/Psy.D.has been appointed Director of the Child Trauma Program at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Center for Psychological Studies Alumnus Luis Bedregal (Ph,.D. 2002) has received an appointment as assistant professor at  the Yale University Connecticut Mental Health Center (CMHC). The CMHC is a collaborative endeavor of the Yale University Department of Psychiatry and the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.

Dr. Morin is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Sleep Disorders Center at the Univeristé Laval in Quebec City where he joined the faculty in 1994. He holds a Canada Research Chair on Sleep Disorders and is past President of the Canadian Sleep Society. From 1986 to 1994 he served on the faculty of the Medical College of Virginia and headed the Insomnia Treatment Program.

A Diplomate of the American Board of Sleep Medicine, he has been conducting clinical research and treating sleep disorders patients for the past 20 years. His research program on insomnia is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research He is Associate Editor for the journals Sleep and Behavioral Sleep Medicine. He has published four books and over 100 articles and book chapters. His main contributions have been in the development and validation of therapeutic approaches for chronic insomnia. He has received a Distinguished Scientific Award for an early career contribution to psychology (1994, American Psychological Association), and two awards for an exceptional career contribution to psychology (2004; Ordre des Psychologues du Québec; 2006, Société Québécoise pour la Recherche en Psychologie).