From the Fall 2004 issue of Community: The Magazine of Wright State University
By Richard Doty
Last fall saw a milestone on the Wright State campus: students, friends, and current and former faculty of the School of Professional Psychology gathered to celebrate the school’s 25th anniversary and a legacy that includes a commitment to diversity and community service and forging new ground in producing doctoral-trained practicing psychologists.
“Wright State’s School of Professional Psychology is a prime example of the best we can do in preparing psychologists for professional careers,” said featured speaker Donald Peterson, who ranked WSU’s program among the top six of the 91 Psy. D. programs in the nation. Peterson is considered the father of the Psy. D. movement, or practitioner model of psychology, in the United States.
When the school was founded in 1978 under the tutelage of its first dean, Ronald Fox, it was among the first university-based programs in the country to grant the Psy. D. degree. Today, it is the degree awarded by most doctoral programs nationwide that emphasize training for the practice of psychology.
“The school has produced many remarkable psychologists over its 25-year history,” said John R. Rudisill, dean. Today, SOPP graduates number over 500 and work in 39 states, plus internationally in Africa, India, and Canada.
Also embedded in its mission is a special commitment to training and serving the needs of a diverse population, especially African Americans and Appalachians. In recent years, approximately half of the SOPP student body has been comprised of ethnic minority as well as persons with physical disabilities.
“The school has served the community through providing services to underserved population for little or no remuneration,” explained Rudisill. These services are primarily offered through the Duke E. Ellis Human Development Institute, located near downtown Dayton, and the Center for Psychological Services, an on-campus facility that is unique for being the only counseling center in the country housed in a professional psychology school.
“In 100 years, the SOPP will still flourish,” explained Rudisill. “Its contributions to our society are vital.”
In fact, the following SOPP grads demonstrate how the school prepares its graduates to practice in a range of settings and roles for today’s rapidly changing society.
Winners Off The Field
Working with professional athletes for more than 13 years, Yolanda Brooks is senior director of player development for the National Basketball Association, a similar position she held with NFL team Dallas Cowboys for seven years. “With some 24 NBA rookies under 20 and 82 players with international backgrounds representing 40 countries, the issues we deal with for personal and professional development engage my psychology training on a regular basis,” she explained. She said SOPP taught her to “think outside the box” and look for “unique opportunities to apply my skills and expertise.”
A 1989 SOPP graduate, Brooks worked as a private consultant and clinician before joining the Cowboys. She said her NBA duties largely replicate her work in Dallas, but on a much broader scale as she assists player development officials from all 30 NBA teams.
“I assess each team and provide the necessary guidance, training, and assistance so that teams can address the needs of their players and their families. This includes such issues as stress management, transitioning, dealing with the challenges of balancing professional and personal life issues, life skills, substance abuse, and parenting. NBA players are always on stage, as they spend as much time with a microphone in their hands as they do with a basketball on the court.”
Change Agent
“Change happens” could be the mantra of Dennis O’Grady, a practicing psychologist in Dayton and author of the popular book Taking the Fear Out of Changing. The 1982 SOPP graduate is the founder of New Insights Psychology Services. “What psychologists do well is help people cope with change,” he explained, “and that is what my practice is all about. I help individuals, couples, and families deal better with change.”
O’Grady’s interest in change has expanded beyond his office practice to include business consulting and nationwide public speaking appearances on such topics as confidence building, dealing with conflict, and conquering the fear of failure. His clients include the U.S. Air Force, NASA, McDonald’s Corp., Ameritech, General Motors, and the IRS.
His book, first published in 1992, is now in its fourth printing, with some 50,000 copies sold. It is an outgrowth of columns he wrote for Dayton area newspapers. “The book had a huge impact on my life. It changed how I think about change by teaching me to enjoy it instead of fear it. I was able to develop the stages of change, which the book explores in depth because they are the emotional building blocks we all need to successfully cope with our hopes, fears and dreams.”
In addition to his book, O’Grady has developed No Hard Feelings, a cassette audio tape program on anger issues and has a new book in the works on communication issues. He remains connected to SOPP as an adjunct clinical faculty member in addition to his independent practice as a family and marital psychologist.
On The Beat
As a deputy chief with the Rochester Police Department, Cedric Alexander takes psychology to the people, but most of his “people” are police officers and administrators. The 1997 SOPP graduate has a combined career of law enforcement and mental health.
“Training as a psychologist is imperative for administrative work,” he explains, “because this usually involves the management of people and/or resources. What we learn and train to do well is understand human behavior. It’s important to know how organizational systems influence our individual well-being and development.”
His duties in Rochester provide ample opportunity for Alexander to pursue this. His responsibilities, for example, include training programs, the family and victim services section, internal affairs, and leadership and management certification.
Alexander’s background includes 16 years as a police officer in Florida and five years as an assistant professor with the University of Rochester Medical Center Department of Psychiatry. His medical center duties included providing mental heath services to police and fire personnel and clinical supervision of medical students.
“SOPP provided me with the skills to better understand people, organizations, and our environment, and this certainly helps in police administration work,” he concluded.
