Experts Guide
USF wants to be a resource to the community, and we are pleased to provide you with these profiles on our areas of interest and expertise. We hope readers will call us when they have questions, need consultation or training, speakers for meetings, or are interested in collaborating on community-based research projects.
Meet our Experts
| Mary Armstrong | Department of Child and Family Studies USF Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute Managed care and its impact on children with serious mental health problems; fostering child resilience especially in children with serious mental health problems; the role of social support to parents of children with mental health problems; the impact of welfare reform on adolescent girls. |
| Kathleen H. Armstrong | Dept. of Child and Family studies. USF Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute Division of Training, Research, Evaluation and Demonstration (TREAD)
Interventions for young children with challenging behaviors and their families; children with medical and developmental disabilities; assessment of infants, toddlers and children. |
| Jennifer Baggerly | USF College of Education Play therapy for children; filial therapy for parents, trauma resiliency for children and adults, bioterrorism preparedness, diversity issues including homeless and gay/lesbian. |
| George Batsche | USF College of Education Bullying, adolescent depression, aggression, violence prevention. Batsche has been on NBC Today, Oprah Winfrey and 20/20 on bullying, aggression and violence prevention. |
| Judith Becker Bryant | USF College of Arts & Sciences All topics affecting children and parents – from language to what young children are like and why they do things they do, and how parents can interact with, teach and understand their children, to talking to children and everyday children’s issues. “Most of my career has focused on basic research on how children learn conversational skills, politeness, turn-taking; how parents socialize these skills, implications of using these skills for popularity and interactions with peers.” |
| Barry B. Bercu | USF Office of Research Growth hormone, growth hormone secretagogues (release of growth hormone), growth disorders in children, disorders of sexual development, thyroid, adrenal, and abnormalities related to how the brain regulates pituitary hormones. (Bercu was an early expert in Reye’s Syndrome in children, which causes liver and brain failure.) He has been interviewed and featured in both print and broadcast media. |
| Michael J. Berson | USF College of Education Social studies education, technology in the schools, Internet safety, global child advocacy |
| Ilene R. Berson | USF College of Education Cyber exploitation of children and youth; sexual abuse of children; missing and exploited youth; role of schools in prevention and intervention of child maltreatment; mental health needs of children in the child protection system; early intervention and prevention of child abuse and neglect. |
| Karen Blase | Department of Child and Family Studies USF Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute Child and family programs and practices. |
| Roger Boothroyd | Mental Health Law and Policy, USF Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute Mental health services research - more methodology focused, i.e., the study of outcomes and processes. |
| Kathy L. Bradley-Klug | USF College of Education Pediatric health issues, Communication between educators and medical professionals, Alternative academic assessments, and Web-based Instruction. |
| Richard V. Briscoe | Department of Child and Family Studies USF Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute Identifying the strengths of African-American families and creating neighborhood-based systems of care. |
| Annette Christy | Department of Mental Health Law & Policy USF Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute Florida’s Baker Act Data |
| Martha Coulter | USF College of Public Health Maternal and child health, family violence. |
| Ann Cranston-Gingras | USF College of Education Migrant education, special education, and education of youth who are disenfranchised from education and marginalized – like migrant farm workers, dropouts and those with disabilities; particularly migrant dropouts with hidden disabilities. |
| Glen Dunlap | USF Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute Positive behavior support, autism, early childhood intervention, family support. |
| Eric M. Eisenberg | USF College of Arts and Sciences Organizational communication, health communication, and communication and identity. |
| Patricia J. Emmanuel | USF College of Medicine Pediatric and Adolescent HIV infection; Pediatric Infectious Disease, particularly other congenital infections and bone and joint infections. |
| Mary E. Evans | USF College of Nursing Intensive case management, crisis services for children, evaluation of child service delivery models. |
| Mari T. Fernandez | Center for Research on Children’s Development & Learning USF College of Education Human development, early care and education, assessment, socio-emotional development of infants and toddlers, childhood disability, family involvement in education, cross-cultural issues in development, and collaborative problem solving. |
| Dean Fixsen | Division of Training, Research, Evaluation and Demonstration (TREAD) USF Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute Development and national implementation of evidence-based programs for children, families, and adults with mental health and behavioral disorders. |
| Sondra J. Fogel | School of Social Work USF College of Arts and Sciences Homelessness, poverty shelters, self-sufficiency, community economic issues. |
| Robert M. Friedman | Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute University of South Florida Children’s mental health, child policy, research and evaluation methodologies, university/community partnerships, resilience and protective factors for children and families, children’s emotional and behavioral disorders, systems of care, children in poverty, teen violence, kids born to teen parents, substance abuse by children. |
| Heather George | Division of Applied Research and Educational Support (DARES) USF Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute Functional behavioral assessment, positive behavior support, school-wide discipline. What is one of your newest grants/projects? “The Research and Demonstration Center for School-wide Behavior Support.” |
| Peter A. Gorski | University of South Florida Infant and early childhood health, behavior and development, child development, social determinants of health, the relationship between social capital and children’s health and development, and creating working partnerships between community stakeholders, professionals and academic faculty and programs. |
| Susan Greenbaum | USF College of Arts and Sciences Neighborhood blight, low-income housing, Afro-Cubans in Tampa. |
| Arthur M. Guilford | Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders USF College of Arts and Sciences Infant communication disorders, play therapy for troubled children. |
| Kathleen M. Heide | USF College of Arts & Sciences Youth crime, juvenile homicide, youth violence, juvenile justice, kids who kill parents. |
| David Himmelgreen | Department of Anthropology USF College of Arts and Sciences Community health, nutrition, HIV/AIDS prevention and education. |
| Judi Jetson | USF Collaborative for Children, Families & Communities |
| Harold Keller | USF College of Education State of the education field, School psychology. |
| Renu Khator | University of South Florida Water policy, environmental policy, building consensus among governmental agencies. |
| James R. King | USF College of Education Early intervention for students at-risk in learning to read, more individualized instruction and less curriculum, “teaching at the point of need.” |
| Craig Latimer | Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office Child abuse investigations, juvenile justice, empowering communities to make change in the juvenile justice system |
| Katherine J. Lazear | Research & Training Center for Children’s Mental Health USF Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute Families experience with the mental health system; use of natural helpers and supports in the community; system of care development and cultural competence in system building, qualitative approach to evaluation and research. |
| Karen D. Liller | USF College of Public Health Children’s unintentional injury prevention, health education program planning, and evaluation of school and community programs. |
| Mary Lindsey | USF Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute Parental involvement in their children’s education, and mobilizing community resources to support the education of children “at risk” of school failure. |
| Carol MacKinnon-Lewis | USF Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute Professional Training |
| Susan A. MacManus | USF College of Arts and Sciences Campaigns and elections, redistricting, women & minorities in politics, election reform, media and politics, public opinion polls, government budgeting & finance, Florida politics—all levels, intergenerational issues and public policies. |
| John Malone | USF College of Medicine Management of type 1 diabetes and its complications. |
| Kofi Marfo | USF College of Education Early childhood intervention programs, parent-child interaction, child development policy, cognition and instruction, childhood disability. |
| Janet L. Moore | USF College of Visual and Performing Arts Music education, sociology of music, philosophy of the arts, rhythm and movement research, children’s musical development. |
| Robert L. Nixon | USF College of Business Administration Organizational behavior, and structure of organizations and their ability to compete in the environment. (NOTE: prefers to be a resource only.) |
| Luanne Panacek | Children’s Board of Hillsborough County Leadership to the local community and state on system of care development and revenue maximization. |
| Karen (Kay) M. Perrin | USF College of Public Health Adolescent health with a special focus on teen pregnancy. |
| Vicky Phares | Department of Psychology USF College of Arts and Sciences Fathers and developmental psychopathology. |
| Dick J. Puglisi | USF College of Education Workforce skills, economic education, implications of global economy on education. |
| Linda M. Raffaele Mendez | USF College of Education Children with special needs, parent advocacy, home school collaboration. |
| Allen W. Root | USF College of Medicine Growth disorders, sexual maturation, endocrinology. |
| William S. Rowe | USF College of Arts & Sciences Child welfare, HIV and AIDS training, international development of programs in foreign countries. |
| Diane M. Straub | USF College of Medicine Adolescent medicine, contraception, eating disorders, general pediatrics, HIV in adolescents, puberty and youth in transition, STD’s. |
| Anne Strozier | Department of Social Work USF College of Arts and Sciences Kinship care (relatives raising children), the effect of substance abuse on families, incarcerated women, alternative approaches to psychotherapy. |
| Averill Summer | USF School of Music USF College of Visual and Performing Arts Children’s choir training, conducting, and repertoire; piano performance, and piano literature. |
| Brenda Townsend | USF College of Education Urban education issues and social skills instruction, particularly African-American children and families; cross-cultural teacher preparation; behavior disorders and learning disabilities; recruitment and retention of non-traditional groups of people. |
| Beverly Ward | Center for Urban Transportation and Research USF College of Engineering Planning and policy analysis, social or community impact assessment, spatial anthropology, specialized transportation, and transportation demand management. |
| Rick Weinberg | Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute University of South Florida |
