Susan Swearer

Department Chair | Willa Cather Professor of Educational Psychology | Professor and Licensed Psychologist, School Psychology Program

Department of Educational Psychology University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Address: TEAC 114B
Lincoln NE 68588-0345
Phone: 402-472-2223 On-campus 2-2223
Email: sswearernapolitano1@unl.edu
Website: BRAVE Lab
Website: Bullying Research Network

Dr. Susan Swearer is currently accepting students for the 2025-2026 Academic Year.

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Google Scholar Link: Susan Swearer

Dr. Susan M. Swearer is the Willa Cather Professor and Chair of the Department of Educational Psychology and Professor of School Psychology at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. She is a licensed psychologist, co-director of the Bullying Research Network (http://brnet.unl.edu) and director of the Bullying Research and Victim Empowerment (BRAVE) Lab (https://cehs.unl.edu/bravelab/). Dr. Swearer received her B.A. in Psychology from Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, PA; her M.S. in Special Education from the Pennsylvania State University in State College, PA; and her Ph.D. in School Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in Austin, TX. She completed an APA-approved internship with the Nebraska Internship Consortium in Professional Psychology at Boys Town in Omaha, NE.

For the past two decades, Dr. Swearer has developed and implemented a data-based decision-making model for responding to bullying among school-aged youth and has conducted staff trainings in elementary, middle, and high schools, and higher education settings with the goal of helping to establish cost-effective and data-based strategies to reduce bullying behaviors. She is the co-author of Bullying Prevention and Intervention: Realistic Strategies for Schools (2009) and co-editor of the books, Handbook of Bullying in Schools: An International Perspective (2010) and Bullying in North American Schools, 2^nd edition (2011). Dr. Swearer has authored over 100 book chapters and articles on the topics of bullying, depression, and anxiety in school-aged youth. Her Target Bullying Intervention Program was featured on CBS Sunday Morning in February 2011; she was an invited presenter at the White House Bullying Prevention Conference in March 2011; and a panelist at the launch of Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation in February 2012 at Harvard University. In March 2012, Dr. Swearer was a featured bullying expert on Anderson Cooper’s daytime show, “Anderson.” From January 2013 to March 2013, she toured with Lady Gaga and the Born This Way Foundation on the Born Brave Bus, a youth empowerment experience that impacted over 150,000 participants. Currently, she is working on an anti-bullying initiative with the National Guard, Helping Everyone Achieve Respect, which has reached over 600,000 high school students in the US. She serves on the Advisory Council for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) of Southern Connecticut and chairs UNL’s Chancellor’s Commission on the Prevention of Sexual Misconduct.

Dr. Swearer is a supervising psychologist in the Child and Adolescent Therapy Clinic at UNL and for seven years was the Director of the Nebraska Internship Consortium in Professional Psychology, an APA-approved internship program that trains 40+ interns annually. Her career has been devoted to the intersection of research and practice and training the next generation of child and adolescent psychologists. Dr. Swearer can be followed on Twitter: @DrSueSwearer; @Bully_Research; and @BRAVE_Lab_UNL.

Education

Ph.D., 1997, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX. School Psychology. APA accredited School Psychology Program.
M.A., 1993, The University of Texas at Austin. School Psychology. APA and NASP accredited School Psychology Program
M.S., 1989, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA. Special Education.
B.A., 1987, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA. Psychology

Courses Taught

EDPS 995 – Doctoral Seminar (Nebraska Bullying Prevention and Intervention Lab)
EDPS 869 – Developmental Psychopathology

Areas of Expertise

Bullying and peer victimization in children, youth, and young adults
Youth empowerment and youth engagement
The comorbidity of psychological disorders in children and adolescents
Developmental factors in psychopathology and cognitive-behavioral
interventions with youth and their families

Honors and Recognition

2022 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Commencement Speaker
2022 Billie Grace Goodrich Distinguished Lecturer, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
2020 American Psychological Association Mid-Career Award for Outstanding Contributions to Benefit Children, Youth, and Families
2018-2019 Big 10 Academic Leadership Program Fellow
2018-current Faculty Fellow, University of Nebraska Public Policy Center
2016 NASP Distinguished Lectureship
2013-current Willa Cather Distinguished Professorship, UNL
2013 Distinguished Alumni Award, University of Texas at Austin. Austin, TX.
2011 Elected to the Society for the Study of School Psychology
2010 Fellow, Division 16, American Psychological Association

Experience

2021-present Chair, Department of Educational Psychology
2012 - present Board Member, Nebraska Internship Consortium in Professional Psychology
2018-2021 Director of Faculty Development, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
2012-present Director, Nebraska Bullying Prevention and Intervention Lab
2005-present Co-Director, The Bullying Research Network (BRNET)
2012-2016 Chair, Research Advisory Board, Born This Way Foundation (BTWF)
2003 - 2012 Director, Nebraska Internship Consortium in Professional Psychology
2011-present Professor of Educational Psychology, The University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Lincoln, NE
2004-2011 Associate Professor, The University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Lincoln, NE. Department of Educational Psychology
2005-2006 Visiting Associate Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
1999 - present Licensed Psychologist, Nebraska # 491
1999 - present Staff member, Anxiety Disorders Clinic, University of Nebraska – Lincoln
1998 - present Clinical Associate to the Clinical Psychology Training Program, University of Nebraska – Lincoln
1997 - 2004 Assistant Professor, The University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Lincoln, NE. Department of Educational Psychology
1996 - 1997 Licensed Professional Counselor, Center for Pediatric Psychiatry, Children's Medical Center of Dallas, Dallas, TX
1995 - 1996 Pre-Doctoral Psychology Intern, Father Flanagan's Girls and Boys Home, Boys Town, NE. APA-approved Nebraska Internship Consortium in Professional Psychology

Memberships

American Psychological Association (Divisions 16, 53)
National Association for School Psychologists
Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies
Society for Research on Child Development
Nebraska Association for School Psychologists
Nebraska Psychological Association