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News and Announcements from Recent Semesters

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Researchers at Boston Public Schools' Behavioral Health Department's Summer Research Retreat held at UMASS Boston in August 2025.

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​The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) highlighting research by lab member and Diana Laenen in August 2025.

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Project Beacon Fellows with Dr. Fallon and Dr. Tracy Paskiewicz visiting the Capitol building in Washington, DC as part of the NASP Public Policy Institute in July 2025

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Congrats, Ray (left) and Elisa (right), winners of the College of Education and Human Development's Anti-Racism Award in May 2025.

 

Spring/Summer 2026

  • ​At the annual convention of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) in February 2026, lab member and PhD candidate Ryan Sunda and Dr. Fallon received recognition for their co-authored publication, McKenney et al. (2025), as honorable mention of School Psychology Review's article of the year! Read it here.

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  • In Februrary 2026, rising second-year PhD student Abby Furey was selected as a Student Editorial Board member for NASP's flagship journal,  School Psychology  Review (SPR). Previously, rising fifth-year PhD candidate, Emily Romero, served a two-year term on the board. Congrats, Abby and Emily! 

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  • In the Spring 2026 semester, lab members Diana Laenen and Jacqueline Osborn proposed their dissertations. Way to go!

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  • In February 2026, several lab members successfully matched to APA-approved internships through the APPIC process including:

    • Lillian Day: Devereux Massachusetts

    • Julia Kausel: Kennedy Kreider/Johns Hopkins Behavioral Psychology 

    • Ryan Sunda: Boston Public Schools' Behavioral Health Department​​

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  • Our lab's recent publications (*denotes student/mentee co-author):

    • McKenney, E. L. W., Lawson, T., Heidelburg, K., Fallon, L. M., McPherson, E. C., Rodriguez-Harris, D., *Sunda, R., Charpentier, J., Sipior, C., & Williams, S.  (in press). Micro-level advocacy toward socially just multi-tiered systems of support: Action steps. Journal of School Psychology.

    • Grapin, S. L., Fallon, L. M., Newman, D. S., Goldie, P. D., *Ali, R., Cohen, E., *Laenen, D. P., Grinshpun, S., & Lasd, D. (2026). Interest in multicultural and social justice research topics, epistemologies, and methodologies among school psychology journal editorial board members. School Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2026.2657787

    • Fallon, L. M., *Ali, R., Daniels, B., *Stobbe, R., *Wang, A., *Bagepalli, R., Anderson, M., La Salle-Finley, T., Green, J. G. & Ervin, A. (2026). Promoting equity-centered Tier 1 supports in an MTSS framework. Exceptional Children. https://doi.org/10.1177/00144029251413965

    • Knox, J., Ash, T. L., Fisher, A. E., & Fallon, L. (2026). A quantitative content analysis examining barriers to diversity training implementation in schools. School Psychology, 41, 293-303 https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000729

 

Winter 2025

 
New lab publications!
  • Fallon, L. M., Luh, H., & Lawson, T. K. (2026). Behavioral consultation: Research and implications for promoting practice. In A. Garbacz, D. Newman, W. Erchul, & S. Sheridan (Eds.). Handbook of Research in School Consultation (3rd Edition). Taylor and Francis Group. - Check out the book here!​
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  • Fallon, L. M., La Salle-Finley, T., *Norman, G. N., *Laenen, D., *Romero, E., *Adams, J., *Clay, K., *Wollin, T., *Anderson, M., *Sunda, R., & Ervin, A. (2025). “We all can learn from one another”: Student, caregiver, and educator perspectives to strengthen culturally responsive practice within multi-tiered systems of support for behavior (MTSS-b). School Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2025.2601508 - Read it here!​​
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  • Fallon, L. M., *Laenen, D. P., *Kausel, J., *Sunda, R., *Palacios Molina, A. V., & *Romero, E. D. (2025). Prompting implementation of culturally responsive teaching in a therapeutic setting. School Psychology, 40(3), 404–409.  https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000638 - Read it here!
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  • Fallon, L. M., *Laenen, D. P., & *Romero, E. D. (2025). ​​Advancing racial equity with MTSS-B in self-contained classrooms. Beyond Behavior, 34(3) 159–169. https://doi.org/10.1177/10742956251340597 - Read it here!​​
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  • New grant alert! First-year lab member, Abby Furey, supported Dr. Fallon and the Center for Social Development and Education (CSDE) with a successful proposal to the American Camp Association's Character at Camp Initiative. The Center was funded with a $207,808 grant for their project, Character+ at Camp Shriver!  The project started in January 2026 and will go through December 2027, incorporating explicit character education at Camp Shriver, CSDE's fully inclusive, free summer camp for youth in the Boston area.
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Fall 2025

  • Welcome Abby Furey and Brian Rozumny to the lab! Both Abby and Brian are incoming school psychology doctoral students working with Dr. Fallon and Dr. Brian Daniels, respectively. Learn more about them under the "Team" tab!

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  • Dr. Fallon as Director of the Center for Social Development and Education (CSDE) at UMASS Boston on September 1, 2025. Learn more about the Center here.

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  • Fourth-year lab member, Diana Laenen, recently had her work featured by the National Association of School Psychologists. Her research related to appreciative inquiry is highlighted in the photo below.

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  • Congrats to recent alumni lab member, Andrea Molina Palacios, for starting her APA-approved doctoral internship at White Birch Educational Services based in Portsmouth, NH!

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  • Congrats to alumni lab member, Dr. Patrick Robinson-Link, for completing his post-doctoral fellowship with Innovations for Youth (i4Y) at UC Berkeley. Dr. Robinson-Link recently began his new position as a school psychologist with Montgomery County Intermediate Unit in Norristown, PA!

    • Learn about lab members under the "Team" tab.

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  • In August 2025, Dr. Fallon and second-year doctoral student and UMB-SAIL lab member, Juan Hernandez, joined the Boston Public Schools' Behavioral Health Services Department for their Summer Research Retreat held at UMASS Boston to plan research activities and goals for AY25-26. The retreat also included researchers from Northeastern University and Boston University (see photo left).​

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  • In July 2025, several Project Beacon Fellows visited Capitol Hill advocating for school mental health and a fully-funded Department of Education. Fellows met with Congressional staffers for Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey, Katherine Clark, Seth Moulton and Stephen Lynch. See photo on the left.​

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  • Lab members Elisa Cabral and Ray Ali were honored at the College of Education and Human Development's (CEHD's) Annual Award Ceremony with the CEHD Anti-Racism Award in May 2025. See photo below!

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Fall 2024

  • Welcome, Audra and Juan to the lab! Congrats to recent graduate lab members, Staci and Patrick! Learn about lab members under the "Team" tab.

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  • News from Current and Former Lab Members:​​

    • Andrea Molina Palacios matched to White Birch Educational Services in the 2025 APPIC Match!

    • Dr. Staci Ballard began as an Assistant Professor in School Psychology at New Mexico State University in September 2024! Congrats, Staci!

    • Dr. Patrick Robinson-Link began as a post-doctoral fellow with Innovations for Youth (i4Y) at UC Berkeley in September 2024! Way to go, Patrick!​

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  • The lab recently received the following external grant:

    • Co-Principal Investigator (PI: Amy Cook; Co-PI: Brian Daniels). Transforming Boston Access to Mental Health in Schools (BAMHS). Funded: $299,793 over 2 years (2024-2026). Improving Youth Behavioral Health Outcomes in Boston through Behavioral Health Workforce Expansion Grant, Boston Public Health Commission.​

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