Robert L. Hatcher has been appointed to the Graduate Center in the newly created position of director of the Wellness Center, overseeing its two components, the Psychological Counseling and Adult Development Center (PCAD) and Student Health Services (SHS). He comes from the University of Michigan, where over the past twenty-two years he directed both the Institute for Human Adjustment and the Psychological Clinic, served on the faculty in the department of psychology’s clinical program, and was an active member of Michigan’s campus-wide Mental Health Workgroup. Past president of the Association of Directors of Psychology Training Clinics, he is a national leader in graduate education in psychology. He holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan and a B.A. in English literature from Yale.

Currently associate editor of the journal Training and Education in Professional Psychology (TEPP) and a consulting editor for Psychotherapy Research and the Journal of Counseling Psychology, Hatcher has been a major contributor to the competencies movement in psychology. A publication reflecting his most recent work in this area, “Competency Benchmarks: A Model for Understanding and Measuring Competence in Professional Psychology across Training Levels,” will appear in TEPP in November 2009. His research interests focus on the therapeutic alliance in psychotherapy and on interpersonal strengths. His “Inventory” of these strengths will appear in Psychological Assessment in December 2009.
Dr. Hatcher’s appointment becomes effective November 1, 2009. Until his arrival, Professor Emerita Carol Tittle, former executive officer of the Ph.D. Program in Educational Psychology, will serve as interim director.

Photo: Courtesy of Robert L. Hatcher