2021–2022 Presidential Award for Faculty Excellence: Early Career Achievement

Susan George

Susan George, Psy.D., assistant professor in the School of Professional Psychology, received the 2021–2022 Presidential Award for Faculty Excellence: Early Career Achievement for her significant contributions to the community through several partnerships and her expansion of the Psychological Assessment Services Clinic.

Since George joined the School of Professional Psychology faculty in 2019, she has secured multiple contracts to develop and expand the Psychological Assessment Services Clinic, which provides psychological assessments to Wright State students and community members.

Without these assessments, Wright State students would be unable to receive appropriate disability accommodations. In the community, assessments are difficult to find and are often costly. The clinic fills this need by training School of Professional Psychology doctoral students to provide affordable psychological assessments.

In response to a need from the community, George became certified in the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, which requires highly specialized training and certification, through Emory University. She has used this training to provide adult autism evaluations to both Wright State students and community members. She is one of a few providers in Raider Country who is trained to provide these specialized evaluations.

Alongside her work at Wright State, George initiated a contract between the Psychological Assessment Services Clinic and Dayton Children’s Hospital to provide evaluations for fetal alcohol syndrome. The waitlist for such evaluations is long, and these assessments are vital for individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder to obtain specialized services and appropriate accommodations.

George also secured a contract with Advocates for Basic Legal Equality (ABLE) to provide child psychological evaluations for low-income families in the Greater Dayton and Toledo areas. These evaluations are typically cost-prohibitive for clients. She has also secured a contract to provide psychological evaluations at Life Solutions South, an organization that provides community mental health services to five counties in Ohio.

George has served with New Beginnings for You, a nonprofit that serves youth and young adults. She has provided counseling to residents and training for staff and worked on the treatment team.

“The work George has provided to New Beginnings for You has made a huge difference in the lives of the residents and families we serve every day as well as my staff,” said Sheri Aldridge, the organization’s CEO.

Aldridge said that George’s counseling work has enabled staff to work through not only personal trauma but more easily assist youth who are traumatized.