Educational Background

B.A., Whitworth College (Psychology); Ph.D., Columbia University (Educational Psychology).

Professional License and Certification: Applied Psychologist in New York; Certified School Psychologist in states of New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts.

Scholarly Interests

For the past 20 plus years Professor Brassard has been studying psychological maltreatment - its assessment, the emotional injuries and behavioral problems that result, and the contextual factors that moderate the effect of maltreatment, particularly the role of schools, teachers and peer relationships. She also studies psychological aggression in the teacher-student and peer relationships and its impact on children's functioning as part of a longitudinal study of 800 secondary school children followed from middle school through high school. She is a co-author/editor of 4 books, 2 on psychological maltreatment, 1 text on preschool assessment, and numerous research articles and chapters. She was a co-chair of the task force that wrote the Guidelines for the Psychosocial Evaluation of Suspected Psychological Maltreatment (APSAC, 1995) which is the standard for forensic practice and governmental agency investigation. She teaches courses on family as the context in child development, personality and behavioral assessment of children and adolescents, a practicum on psychological assessment where student's perform comprehensive forensic evaluations of clients in the Center for Educational and Psychological Services. Clinically, she has worked in schools (preschool-high school), a prison, and clinics with normally developing as well as maltreated and other troubled children and youth and their families.