Julia McQuade Selected University of Vermont Graduate Teaching Assistant of the Year, 2010-11

Julia McQuade

The Graduate College of the University of Vermont has selected Julia McQuade of the Psychology Department as the University's outstanding graduate teaching assistant. This highly prestigious award is a direct reflection of the subject knowledge, interpersonal skills, and clinical training she has brought into the classroom time and time again. Julia is a fifth-year student in the Clinical Training Program who will be defending her thesis in May. Her work with Professors Dianna Murray-Close and Betsy Hoza focuses on understanding the cognitive risk and protective factors of emotional and social adjustment for children with ADHD. Often, her research approaches these questions from a developmental psychopathology perspective and examines if risks for children with ADHD are deviations from typical development or are unique to this population. She will be completing her pre-doctoral internship at Massachusetts General Hospital/ Harvard Medical School beginning in July, 2011.

Rex Forehand Ph.D., University Distinguished Professor, Ansbacher Professor of Psychology, and Director of Clinical Training included these comments in his letter of nomination:

"I am writing to highly recommend Ms. Julia McQuade to you for the Graduate Teaching Assistant of the Year Award. I cannot think of a graduate student who has contributed more to the overall teaching mission of the Psychology Department during my eight years on faculty at the University of Vermont! Julia is a highly skilled, motivated, and caring individual. All of these characteristics are apparent in her teaching activities in multiple venues and make her a very deserving candidate for GTA of the Year Award..."

Dr. Timothy Stickle, the instructor of record in Statistics, wrote "Julia was an outstanding TA for the first-year graduate statistics course. This course is the most challenging taken in graduate school by many students. Julia was scrupulously prepared and delivered the material and feedback on their work to students with consummate professionalism. Students were effusive in their praise for Julia's clarity, dedication, preparation, and organization. The calmness and grace with which she dealt with a large and anxious group is noteworthy."

Dr. Kathleen Kennedy, the instructor of record in Adult Assessment, wrote "Julia was an amazing TA. She was proactive in her planning and really helped me (as a first time instructor for the course) to anticipate what the students' needs were. Julia had high (appropriate) expectations of the students in the class and provided them with very clear instruction. To her credit, when there was some dissatisfaction in the class about something I had not provided to the students, Julia tactfully approached me about it."

Dr. Betsy Hoza, the instructor of record for Child and Adolescent Psychological Assessment, wrote "Julia did an outstanding job teaching complex assessment instruments to graduate student psychologists-in-training. This required teaching the 'nuts and bolts' of how to administer and score each measure, supervising the actual practice assessments while they were occurring, as well as giving feedback on administrations afterward."