Professor
CurrentBeth Doll is a professor of School Psychology in the Department of Educational Psychology. She completed her doctoral training at the University of Kentucky under the supervision of Dr. Jim Barclay, a well known classroom climate researcher. She began her career as a school psychologist in rural Kentucky and then a clinic coordinator at the University of Wisconsin Madison – experiences that afforded insights into the mental health needs of children that she applied successfully in her research on topics spanning children’s friendships to the pragmatics of measuring student perceptions of classroom climate. Dr. Doll's principal research interest is the promotion of mental health and the psychological well-being of children and youth and aspects of school and classroom systems that contribute to students’ resilience and academic success. Her current work occurs in partnerships with school districts to use student perceptions and classroom data to prompt revised classroom routines. Her developmental investigations of students’ psychological wellness explain how these challenge current conceptualizations of mental health and existing mental health policies. These investigations also examine factors that may contribute to mental disturbance or psychological distress, and the tension between objectivity and meaningfulness in applied school psychological interventions. This presents a special challenge for school psychology because interventions that are most easily and precisely described and quantified may not be perceived by educators as offering the best chance for ensuring psychological health. Dr. Doll was awarded the 2020 Legend’s Award and the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Association of School Psychologists. She is a member of the American Psychological Association’s Board of Education Affairs and is on the editorial board of the International Journal of School and Educational Psychology and Professional Psychology: Research and Practice.
