Faculty Mentors

Each first year graduate student is matched with a clinical faculty member who will serve as an advisor and research mentor to the graduate student during the initial years of the program. Upon entering the program, the faculty mentor works closely with each student to develop and guide their research projects. To facilitate this pairing, we strongly recommend that each applicant select one or two core faculty in the Clinical Psychology Program based on shared research and clinical interests, and describe in their application why they would like to be part of these research teams. Although a close fit between student and faculty interests is not always possible given the focus of the program and the number of core faculty, all faculty have experience working with students whose interests may not specifically align with theirs. In these instances, the faculty strive to support students in developing an excellent program of learning. Below is a list of the core faculty members who will be accepting one or more new students.

Carolyn A. Corbett, Ph.D., Professor – Dr. Corbett’s current research interests are in the areas of mental health issues of minority deaf individuals, ethical issues important when conducting research in small communities, and psychological stress in sign language interpreters. Dr. Corbett’s research team has projects including:

• High risk behaviors in Deaf adolescents
• Emotional experiences of Deaf college students
• Psychological stress in sign language interpreters
• Resiliency in Deaf trauma survivors

Lori Day, Ph.D., Associate Professor – Dr. Day is the director of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Child Resilience Center. Current research interests include: adaption of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) for accessibility for deaf individuals,  and adaptations of psychological measures for deaf individuals. Students on Dr. Day’s research team have recently completed or are in the process of developing their projects on the following topics:

• Adaptation of PCIT for deaf families
• Applications of PCIT for signing children and parents
• Use of WISC-V with deaf children
• Emotional regulation and communication in deaf families

Cara Miller, Ph.D., Associate Professor – Dr. Miller joined the core faculty in fall 2018. Her research interests include trauma and post-traumatic growth; grief/bereavement; applications of research and science on the psychology of human-animal interaction; gender and sexuality; disability and psychosocial identity; and social and multicultural psychology. Students on Dr. Miller’s team are currently working on the following projects:

• Deaf and hard of hearing individuals with developmental disorders
• Asian-American Deaf adults help-seeking behaviors
• Professional experiences working with clients and their service dogs

Lawrence Pick, Ph.D., ABPP, Professor & Director of Clinical Training – Dr. Pick’s research program examines language and cultural considerations when developing, adapting, and/or translating psychological and neuropsychological measures for use with Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Deafblind individuals across the lifespan. Current projects also examine the graduate training and professional experiences of Deaf and Hard of Hearing behavioral health providers. Students on Dr. Pick’s research team are working on a variety of projects including the following:

• Development of a cognitive screener in ASL for use with Deaf adults
• Implementation of a novel acculturation stress measure for use with deaf and hard of hearing adults
• Use of a bilingual measure to evaluate ACEs and protective factors among deaf adults
• Translation and examiniation of IPV and related help-seeking behaviors among deaf, hard of hearing, and deafblind women, men, and refugees (qualitative and quantitative approaches)

Kathryn Wagner, Ph.D., Assistant Professor – Dr. Wagner joined the core faculty in fall 2019. Her current research interests include qualitative appropches to examining the lives and experiences of deaf, hard of hearing, and blind psychotherapists, and the healthcare resources and related access for LGBTQ+ people identifying with disabilities. Students on Dr. Wagner’s research team are examining the following:

• Romantic relationships among cisgendered gay men with disabilities
• Substance use experiences of deaf and hard of hearing individuals
• Application of midnfulness technique during clinical encounters for deaf adults