Program Accomplishments & History

History of The School Psychology Program at UNL

On July 7, 2006, Dr. Terry Gutkin was interviewed about the history of the school psychology program. Dr. Gutkin was a faculty member of the program for 26 years (1975-2001) and the majority of those years he served as the program director. His longevity, expertise and insight shed light on the history and prominence of a program that is highly respected, both locally and nationally. The interviewer, Lynae Johnson, was a graduate student at UNL and she conducted the interview by phone. Below is a short summary of Dr. Gutkin’s responses during the interview. Quotations indicate direct words used by Dr. Gutkin.

"How was the UNL program established?"

The UNL school psychology program holds a rich history of “astounding faculty” through which the “cream of the school psychology community” has passed and currently resides. This tradition of excellence started with Paul McDermott, who was “absolutely brilliant” in the area of statistics and psychometrics. Paul McDermott came into the program with a specialty in the statistical side of school psychology and focused on what he called “actuarial assessment.” He wrote a chapter detailing this notion in the first edition of the Handbook of School Psychology. In 1975, Howard Temporo left the program and Paul McDermott explicitly wanted to fill the vacancy with someone possessing a strong consultation background and orientation. In 1975, consultation was a very unique training approach among the school psychology programs. It was Paul McDermott’s hope to move the school psychology program at UNL in the direction of consultation and intervention. I was hired to build up these elements of the program. Three years later Cecil Reynolds was hired into the program. Cecil came in as an assistant professor with almost 20 publications. He and I just started publishing. The Handbook of School Psychology was born over lunch and we worked on it nearly everyday. During our routine lunches, we would talk about the program, school psychology, publishing, and ways to make things better in the field. Cecil and I were a very good balance because Cecil was heavy in traditional school psychology and psychometrics testing and I was heavy in the consultation side of school psychology. So, there always was this thread in the history of the program with both sides. We are still collaborating and working on the 4th edition of the Handbook of School Psychology.

"Who else was on the faculty around that time?"

When The Buros Institute was brought to our department, we expanded the faculty by taking Cecil’s position and splitting it 50-50 with the Buros Institute. Steve Elliott was also hired to be half-time with school psychology and half-time with the Buros Institute. Then Cecil left and we brought in Joe Witt who was also half-time Buros Institute and half-time school psychology. In the early 80s, Steve Elliott left for Louisiana State University and we interviewed several people. We had a hard time choosing between Jane Conoley and Jack Kramer. Fortunately, we were able to hire both of them in 1983!

"What is the philosophy of the program?"

I had been a common denominator in the program for 26 years during its growth period. I had a very strong ecological systems perspective for the program and very much saw the need for consultation and intervention.  I hired people with assessment expertise, but really had much broader views.  The quintessential moment was when we had our first APA site visit (1980 accredited), as we had to put together our credentials to get APA accreditation.  We said we were “ecologically oriented,” so APA said, “Well, write it up.”  That was the beginning of having a name for our philosophy and “ecological” captured the orientation of the program.  The program did have a very heavy behavioral component as well.  I believe that “behavioral is a subset of an ecological approach.”  As program director, I had a lot of influence on how our model was expressed.  It was very unique at the time, as few other programs had employed the idea of an “ecological” approach. The model has really taken hold.  It  was very significant and I am proud of the event.

"Can you reflect on the prominence of the program?"

The program has held prominence over time for reasons that may include the conceptual core that was developed, the astounding faculty, and the dissemination of well-trained students. In the earlier years, programs existed but didn’t have a conceptual model.  Cecil and I helped put the program on the map with The Handbook of School Psychology, helping bring national prominence.  WhenThe Handbook of School Psychology was released, it was “the book” and brought attention to our name and the program’s name.  We also published the book:  The Essentials in School Psychologyin 1984 (Reynolds, Gutkin, Elliott and Witt, 1984).  This was not the first textbook, but it was one of the very first to conceptualize a core/model of school psychology practice (i.e., ecological).  To write this book together, we really had to flush out what the model was and we were not all that similar in orientation.  We made a “big splash” coming out on the heels of The Handbook of School Psychology, which had sparked interest and notoriety in UNL school psychology program. At around the same time we became the 11th school psychology program accredited in the country.  

Additionally, the faculty has always been a “who’s who” of school psychology.  We kept hiring astounding faculty, which undoubtedly had an incredible impact on the quality of the program.  Consequently, we attracted a large number of students who have gone on to be well-known, and as a result have garnered a great deal of national visibility.