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Verna Houck Motto Professor Emeritus
Associate Dean Emeritus for Research and Training
Gerald Mahoney is the Verna Houck Motto Professor Emeritus and the associate dean emeritus for research and training. He has been involved in research and higher education for 30 years. His research has focused primarily on parent and family influences on children’s development and social emotional functioning.
Mahoney has published numerous studies on parent influences on the development of children at-risk or with disabilities, as well as on the application of research findings from the parent-child literature to early intervention practice.
Why I Chose This Profession
I began my professional career in the early 1970′s as a special education teacher for elementary school-aged children. Because I felt strongly that the types of educational procedures I was using with these children were of limited value, I began to examine the research literature related to mental retardation. I hoped that this literature would help me better understand the factors that contributed to children’s developmental delays, which in turn would help me develop more effective instructional procedures for working with these children. My personal interest in this research literature helped me to understand that although there were many theories about mental retardation, there was little empirical research to support these as a viable foundation for developing more effective educational procedures. This stimulated my interest in pursuing a career in which I could conduct investigations and develop more effective interventions for children with a wide range of disabilities.
Biosketch | Curriculum Vitae |
Education
Doctor of Philosophy, Vanderbilt University
Master of Arts, Xavier University
Bachelor of Science, Xavier University