Doing more to help children’s health: Center for Pediatric Psychology enhances OSU’s ability to make a difference
The new Center for Pediatric Psychology at Oklahoma State University is a logical extension of the status of OSU and the state of Oklahoma as national leaders in the field of children’s health. Its mission is “to engage in cutting-edge scientific discovery related to all aspects of children’s health, as well as their families, and to foster integrated research, training and clinical service delivery.”
Larry Mullins, the Vaughn Vennerberg II Chair of Psychology, is the inaugural director. He said the CPPOSU will be an excellent tool for recruiting outstanding faculty and graduate students.
“We have a long history of bringing in some of the best graduate students in the country to train in pediatric psychology,” Mullins said. “Establishing the Center for Pediatric Psychology formalizes what we’ve been doing and allows us to move forward in a much more thoughtful manner. It will help us better fund our graduate students and our research, and really support the growth of a network across the state.”
Two years’ worth of funding from the College of Arts and Sciences has created a speaker series as well as a graduate-student position to help coordinate activities at the CPPOSU. The long-term goal is to add more funding and training resources for graduate students and research facilities such as a dedicated suite that will serve as the program’s physical home.