Joann Hess Grayson

Joann Hess Grayson (February 5, 1977) is an American clinical psychologist and professor at James Madison University.

Biography

Grayson obtained her PhD in clinical psychology from Washington University, Saint Louis. She joined the psychology faculty of Madison College in Harrisonburg, Virginia, in 1976, which was renamed James Madison University (JMU) the following year.

In 1980, Grayson was instrumental in the establishment of the Harrisonburg/Rockingham County Family Support Center and the foundation of First Step, a shelter for abused women. By 2009, she founded eleven prevention programs in the Harrisonburg-Rockingham County area, including one that paired university students with at-risk youth.

Grayson has been the editor of the Virginia Child Protection Newsletter (VCPN) since 1981, and she has served in the roles of lead researcher and primary writer. The VCPN aims to inform those working in child protective services, among other related professions, on child abuse, family violence, and child welfare issues, and it was being distributed to around 12,500 individuals and organizations by 2005. From 1983 to 1993, she was a member of the Governor's Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, serving as its chair for four years.

In 2001, Grayson provided testimony to Congress regarding the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act.

In the educational realm, Grayson introduced a field placement program within James Madison University's psychology department. Grayson has used a service-learning model in which "teaching, scholarship, integration of knowledge and service are blended activities," and by 2009 she was responsible for "supervising some 9,000 hours of community service by JMU students," in addition to appearing before Congress and publishing the VCPN.

Grayson was one of 11 recipients of the 2004 TIAA-CREF Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award, awarded to faculty in the state's public and private colleges and universities by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. The federal Administration for Children and Families (part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services) in 2005 awarded her the Commissioner's Award for Virginia. In 2006, she received the Champion for Children Award from Prevent Child Abuse Virginia, and was named Virginia Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. Grayson was one of eight women named a Woman in History by the Library of Virginia in 2009, after she was nominated for the distinction by a fourth-grade class from Island Creek Elementary School with whom she spoke to about protective parents using the chickens from her family's farm as an example.

As of 2005, Grayson lives on a farm in Harrisburg, Virginia, with her husband and two children.

References

This article "Joann Hess Grayson" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Joann Hess Grayson. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

---