GSAPP Leadership
GSAPP Dean’s Cabinet, 2024-2025. Not pictured: Bernadette Cariaga
Dean's Cabinet
2025-2026
Dr. Daniel Hart
Dr. Daniel Hart, a University Professor and former Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor of Rutgers-Camden, has been appointed Interim Dean of the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology (GSAPP) at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, effective September 1, 2024.
Research
My research focuses on adolescent development in context. One facet of this work examines the development of civic life, including political knowledge, volunteering, social trust, and activism. In a series of papers, my colleagues and I have explored the effects of neighborhood, social class, and historical time on the developmental trajectories of these components of civic life. My most recent book is Renewing Democracy in Young America, published by Oxford University Press.
I am also interested in the effects of different kinds of neighborhoods on personality and moral development. In this work, my colleagues and I trace the distinctive effects of neighborhood demographics–poverty, community age structure, segregation – on both configurations of personality traits within adolescents and on teenagers’ moral and antisocial behaviors.
Teaching
As a member of the Prevention Science Program, my teaching focuses on the implementation and evaluation of interventions, with a particular focus on those targeting young people.
Dr. Lara Delmolino Gatley
Lara Delmolino Gatley, PhD, is Associate Dean for Administration and Strategic Operations, Executive Director of Applied and Academic Autism Services, and a Clinical Professor at GSAPP; she also serves as the Executive Director of the Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center. Dr. Delmolino earned her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the Graduate School-New Brunswick at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and completed a pre-doctoral internship at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She has over 20 years of experience instructing practitioners and working with people on the autism spectrum. She has presented at conferences and published books and journals on issues related to Applied Behavior Analysis and the treatment of autism.
Dr. Ryan Kettler
Ryan Kettler, PhD, NCSP, is Associate Dean of Academic and Faculty Affairs and Professor in the Department of School Psychology at Rutgers University–GSAPP. He has held leadership positions as the Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs for GSAPP and as the Assistant Director of Clinical Training for the School Psychology Program. Prior to joining Rutgers, Dr. Kettler was Coordinator of Data Services in the Learning Sciences Institute of Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College. He earned his doctorate in Educational Psychology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Dr. Kettler’s research on data-based decision-making in education has been externally funded and yielded more than 80 publications. Active areas within this program include universal screening, inclusive assessment, and educator effectiveness. Dr. Kettler has been a principal investigator or co-principal investigator on eight grant projects, including three funded by the U.S. Department of Education. He is the author of Research Methodologies of School Psychology: Critical Skills, the lead editor of Universal Screening in Educational Settings: Evidence-Based Decision Making for Schools, and an Associate Editor for School Psychology International.
Dr. Timothy Cleary
Dr. Timothy J. Cleary is the Interim Associate Dean of Research at GSAPP. He earned his B.S. in Psychology from Manhattan College, his master's degree and professional certification in School Psychology from Queens College, and his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from CUNY Graduate School and University Center. Dr. Cleary worked as a school psychologist during the first three years of his career. After serving as an Assistant and Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee from 2004 to 2012, he joined the faculty at GSAPP in the Fall of 2012. Dr. Cleary devotes most of his time to conducting research on SRL and motivation-related intervention and assessment issues as well as emerging trends and professional issues among school-based practitioners and educators. He has secured several research grants to support his research initiatives and has consulted at a national and international level.
Dr. Jennifer Durham
Dr. Jennifer Durham is the Special Assistant to the Dean for Recruitment and Retention and a Teaching Professor in the Department of School Psychology at Rutgers University. Her career is rooted in the principle of the citizen scholar, emphasizing partnerships between universities and society to address critical challenges. Her scholarship focuses on reducing educational and mental health disparities among marginalized youth through four key areas: policy development, participatory and qualitative research, practitioner and student-focused writing, and public scholarship. Notably, her policy work includes documents prepared for Communities in Schools, the nation’s largest dropout prevention network.
In her teaching, Dr. Durham equips students with the skills to address inequities in education and mental health, encouraging innovative and socially just approaches. Guided by Bell Hooks’ philosophy of education as the practice of freedom, she fosters critical thinking, boundary-crossing, and the creation of new possibilities.
Daniel Rice, M.Ed.
Daniel is the Assistant Dean for Student Success and School Climate. He has been a GSAPP employee for over twelve years and joined the Dean’s Office after leading Answer, GSAPP’s national sex education center, for the past three years as their Executive Director. In his recent work, Dan has written professional development modules on cultural responsiveness and micro-aggressions for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – Division of Adolescent School Health; facilitated racial and reproductive justice learning communities and served on the GSAPP diversity committee for Priority II: Promote Inclusive Teaching and Training, serving as the lead for the Professional Development team.
Bernadette Cariaga
Bernadette Cariaga, CPA is the Director of Finance at Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology. She brings more than 17 years of financial management experience across higher education and industry, including prior leadership roles at Rutgers University–New Brunswick, Siemens, and Maquet. A Rutgers Business School alumna, she holds a B.S. in Accounting and is currently pursuing her Executive MBA. Bernadette’s expertise spans budgeting, financial planning, and data-driven analysis, with certifications in tools such as Tableau for Finance Analytics.
Department Chairs
Dr. Vanessa Bal
Dr. Vanessa H. Bal is Chair of the Department of Applied Psychology at Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology (GSAPP). She earned her M.Sc. in neuroscience from the University of Oxford and her Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Michigan, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in human genetics at the University of California, San Francisco. Her research takes a lifespan approach to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), focusing on outcomes in adulthood and developing methods to assess clinical phenotypes. By combining biological and behavioral approaches, her work aims to improve screening, diagnosis, and intervention strategies that build on individual strengths and promote well-being across development. Dr. Bal’s lab also provides clinical and research opportunities for trainees at all levels, including undergraduates and GSAPP master’s and Psy.D. students.
Dr. Nicole Cain
Nicole M. Cain is Chair of the Department of Clinical Psychology and an associate professor at GSAPP. Previously, she was an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Long Island University–Brooklyn. She earned her doctorate in clinical psychology from The Pennsylvania State University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical College in the Personality Disorders Institute. She is currently an associate editor at Assessment and the Journal of Personality Assessment. Dr. Cain’s primary research interests focus on understanding how personality pathology and interpersonal functioning impact diagnosis, psychotherapy process, and treatment outcome. Her recent work has also focused on examining how effortful control, rejection sensitivity, and interpersonal problems impact maladaptive outcomes.
Dr. Elisa Shernoff
Dr. Elisa Shernoff is Chair of the Department of School Psychology and Associate Professor at Rutgers GSAPP. She earned her Ph.D. in School Psychology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Chicago. Her research focuses on training and supporting school psychologists and teachers to deliver evidence-based, culturally responsive practices in underrepresented communities. She also develops and evaluates innovative approaches—such as coaching, professional development, and virtual training—to strengthen teacher effectiveness, student engagement, and equitable outcomes in schools.
Dr. Shernoff has been recognized with multiple honors, including the APA Division 16 Outstanding Dissertation Award, designation as an Early Career Scholar by the Society for the Study of School Psychology, and Rutgers’ Chancellor-Provost Celebration of Faculty Excellence. Her work has been supported by major grants from the Institute for Education Sciences, the National Science Foundation, and private foundations.
