From the Office of the Dean...

October 20, 2009

Psychology alum wins Early Career Award

Dr. Shannon Suldo, a 2004 graduate of the School of Psychology Program at the University of South Carolina, is the recipient of this year’s American Psychological Association Division 16 Lightner Witmer Early Career Award.

This award recognizes outstanding research contributions of early career scholars. It is given for scholarly activity and contributions that have significantly nourished school psychology as a discipline and profession. This includes systematic and imaginative use of psychological theory and research in furthering the development of professional practice, or unusual scientific contributions and seminal studies of important research questions that bear on the quality of school psychological training and/or practice.

Shannon has recently been promoted to associate professor (and Program Director) in the School Psychology Program at University of South Florida. During the period under consideration, Shannon authored or co-authored a remarkable 100 scholarly publications (37 journal articles and book chapters and 73 professional conference presentations), including an “article of the year” in School Psychology Review and a featured article in the same journal on her “Dual-Factor Model of Mental Health.” She has received external funding for her research, already serves on the editorial boards of half a dozen key journals in her field, and has been nominated for outstanding teaching at USF.

Her research interests include subjective well-being during youth (e.g., positive indicators of children's psychological well-being, interventions to promote students’ life satisfaction, a dual-factor model of mental health, how adolescents' mental health is influenced by parent-child and student-teacher relationships), the social-emotional functioning of high school students participating in rigorous college preparatory programs, and the provision of school-based mental health services, including evidence-based ecological interventions for students with emotional and behavioral disorders.