One hundred miles from Fort Hood, The University of Texas at Austin has various experts available to discuss aspects of Thursday’s shooting. This list will continue to grow. For the most updated version, please visit http://www.utexas.edu/news/2009/11/06/fort_hood.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Howard Prince
Clinical Professor, LBJ School of Public Affairs
512-471-4303
hprince@mail.utexas.edu
(Prince is out of the country. To schedule an interview, please call Susan Binford at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at 512-415-4820.)
The recent recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the American Psychology Association’s Military Psychology Society, in part for his research into Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Prince holds a Ph.D. in psychology from The University of Texas at Austin and the rank of brigadier general (ret.) in the United States Army.
Suicide terrorism
Ami Pedahzur
Associate Professor, Department of Government
512-232-1452
512-363-6387 (cell)
pedahzur@austin.utexas.edu
Pedahzur is an expert on terrorism, counterterrorism and political extremism. With witnesses saying Maj. Hasan shouted “God is great” in Arabic before he began shooting, Pedahzur can provide context on how the incident relates to suicide terrorism.
The Fort Hood community
Ken MacLeish
Graduate student, Anthropology
512-964-4661 (cell)
K_mac@mail.utexas.edu
MacLeish recently completed a yearlong field project in which he lived in Killeen and immersed himself in the Fort Hood community. He is working on a dissertation on how the war in Iraq and violence affects the local community in its everyday life.
Stress and mental health professionals
Christopher McCarthy
Professor and Counseling Psychology Program Director, Department of Educational Psychology, College of Education
512-471-0368
512-825-3768 (cell)
chris.mccarthy@mail.utexas.edu
McCarthy has studied how mental health professionals cope with stress. Specifically, by examining the demands such professionals experience and their resources for coping, he has sought to better understand what factors lead to professional stress and burnout. His research also investigates the stress and coping processes of younger individuals and diverse populations.
War and violence throughout history
Thomas Palaima, Ph.D.
The Raymond F. Dickson Centennial Professor in Classics
512-471-5742
512-680-6623 (cell)
tpalaima@mail.utexas.edu
Palaima has spent decades researching war, violence and society from comparative and historical angles ranging from antiquity to present-day America. He recently authored an opinion piece on a new play about the impact of war.
Minorities in the Military
John Butler
The Gale Chair in Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Red McCombs School of Business; Director, Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurship; Director, Institute for Innovation, Creativity and Capital (IC²); Professor, Department of Sociology
512-656-9903 (cell)
john.butler@mccombs.utexas.edu
Butler has been a consultant for the U.S. military and many private firms. A sociologist and a business professor, he has studied race in the military and examined the economic and educational reasons people enter the military. A decorated Vietnam veteran, he is co-author of “All That We Can Be: Black Leadership and Racial Integration the Army Way.”
How communities cope with tragedy
Ricardo Ainslie
Professor, Department of Educational Psychology
512-471-0364
rico.ainslie@mail.utexas.edu
Ainslie has done research on, and written books about, communities’ responses to tragedy. He offered insights and expertise after tragedies like the Columbine shootings, epidemic of drug-related killings in Mexico and the racially motivated murder of James Byrd in Jasper, Texas.
Kevin Stark
Professor, Department of Educational Psychology
512-471-0267
kevinstark@mail.utexas.edu
Stark is one of the top national experts on depression in youth and did the largest-ever study on intervention and treatment for girls. He was called upon by New York City and New Orleans to develop procedures for dealing with youth after 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina. His depression treatment program has been adopted by Belgium and the Netherlands as the only state-approved procedure for depression in youth.
Mary Steinhardt
Professor, Department of Kinesiology and Health Education
512-232-3535
msteinhardt@mail.utexas.edu
Steinhardt is a nationally recognized expert on resilience and has done studies on response to stress and anxiety with Dell employees, college students, people suffering from diabetes and families at Fort Hood.
Aaron Rochlen
Associate Professor, Department of Educational Psychology
512-471-0361
aaron.rochlen@mail.utexas.edu
Rochlen is the preeminent national researcher on men’s emotional health and has done one of the only scientific studies on stay-at-home dads as well as one of the few studies on how men process, manifest and handle depression.
