Once a troublemaking child, who made it out of high school with a D+ cumulative GPA, John Maag became a nationally renowned special educator and legacy in the Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Maag, the Larry and Sharon Roos Professor in Special Education, retires this month after nearly four decades at Nebraska.
Maag spent 38 years of his career doing far more than teaching behavior management and special education. Through his research, teaching, writing, counseling, and mentorship, Maag built a reputation not only as a respected scholar, but as someone deeply committed to improving the lives of others through honesty, compassion, and practical understanding.
“What I remember most is the unwavering support our department chair, John Bernthal, provided me when I came to UNL in 1989,” Maag said. “His support included, but was not limited to, advocating for courses I wanted to teach, assistance through GA and monetary support to continue my research projects I had started at Maryland, loyalty and friendship, and mentorship. There were so many people in SECD who mentored me in various ways in addition to Dr. Bernthal – Dave Beukelman, Stan Vasa, Newell Decker, Charles Healey and Reece Peterson, to name a few.”
Maag arrived at Nebraska after a year at the University of Maryland. His journey began at Arizona State University, where he earned three degrees across psychology and special education. While living in Tempe during the 1980s, he became increasingly fascinated by human behavior and the experiences that shape people’s lives.
His early observations of seeing people enjoying the day while he walked around campus sparked a curiosity to pursue a career in higher education surrounded by a vibrant college atmosphere. Those campus walks would eventually shape his life’s work. In 1988, he was selected to deliver the Ph.D. commencement speech after being named Outstanding Graduate Student of the College of Graduate Studies, an early sign of the impact he would go on to make.
Throughout his career, Maag became known for asking difficult questions and challenging people to think differently about behavior, discipline, and motivation. His work focused on self-management, self-control, ADHD, behavioral disorders, childhood and adolescent depression, and the relationships between teachers, students, and families. Whether presenting at conferences, collaborating with colleagues, or publishing in journals, his goal was never simply to add to academic conversation, but help shape the conversation. He wanted his work to matter in real classrooms, real homes, and real lives.
That commitment became especially clear through his writing. His article, Rewarded by Punishment, published in Exceptional Children in 2000, became one of the most widely cited works of his career because it challenged long-held assumptions about discipline and punishment in education. Rewarded by Punishment continues to be cited today with the total number of citations well into the thousands. His books, including Parenting Without Punishment and Power Struggles, reflected the same philosophy. They encouraged educators and parents to move away from control and conflict and toward understanding, connection, and meaningful change. Written while teaching as a visiting associate professor for a semester at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Power Struggles has gone on to influence school consultants, teachers, and families across the country.
Students often remember Maag not only for what he taught, but for how he taught it. He believed classes should be technical, honest, relevant, and interesting. He wanted students to leave with knowledge they could use, not just theories confined to textbooks. Maag’s passion for reading and learning shaped every course he taught. Influenced by works such as The Structure of Scientific Revolutions and The Coddling of the American Mind, he challenged students to think critically, question assumptions, and remain open to new ideas in real-world scenarios.
“What I’m most proud of is that I never compromised my values and issues that were dear to me,” Maag said. “People at all levels of the UNL administrative chain – chairs, deans, executive vice chancellors – supported me and accepted me for what and who I am."
Outside the classroom, Maag also served as a psychotherapist at Lincoln General Hospital while building a national consulting practice that eventually brought him to schools and conferences across the country. Over the course of his career, he visited 49 states and delivered 42 keynote addresses.
At Nebraska, he earned numerous honors, including the 2014 Donald R. and Mary Lee Swanson Award for Teaching Excellence, the 1993 Teachers College Award for Distinguished Teaching, and what was then known as the Parents’ Recognition Award at the university a total of eight times. Maag was promoted to full professor in 2000, and in 2018, he returned to the commencement stage as a keynote speaker for graduate students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, coming full circle from the young scholar who once stood at a podium in Arizona with big ideas and a passion for understanding people.
At the heart of Maag’s career is a simple but powerful belief: people respond best when they are understood, respected, and genuinely supported. That belief shaped his scholarship, his teaching, his writing, and the countless relationships he built throughout his career. His legacy is found not only in publications and awards, but also in the students he mentored, the educators he inspired, and the lives he helped change through empathy, insight, and a lifelong dedication to learning.
College of Education and Human Sciences
Special Education and Communication Disorders
