About

Hi, I'm Tyler Renshaw, PhD. Here's a bit about me.

I am an Associate Professor in the Psychology Department at Utah State University. I've been at USU for about 5 years; before that, I was faculty in the Psychology Department at Louisiana State University for 5.5 years. That makes 10+ total years in the professor gig.

Prior to becoming a professor, I grew up in the East Bay Area of California. Fun fact: California, Louisiana, and Utah are pretty different places.

I hold a PhD in Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology from the University of California at Santa Barbara (2011). Professionally, I identify as a school psychologist and school mental health researcher. I am a Nationally Certified School Psychologist, a state-credentialed school psychologist (Utah), and a licensed psychology resident (Utah).

Here at USU, I mostly work in our School Psychology PhD & EdS Program. I'm the Program Director; I teach grad seminars on school-based mental health assessment and intervention; and I supervise clinical training in schools. I also run the School Mental Health Lab and mentor a team of fabulous grad students.

The big idea driving my work is that schools should be community hubs for mental health services; not just for kids, but also for educators and parents and families. I believe schools should offer both prevention and treatment, and should balance reducing suffering with improving wellbeing. Most importantly, I believe school-based services are integral to promoting mental health equity.

I am one of those geeky academics who is really, really into research. I believe that, with good values in hand, research can help make the world a more socially just place. I strive to do research that helps more kids and schools and communities become more mentally healthy.

Most of my research is collaborative. I'm fortunate to work with brilliant, fun colleagues and creative, inspiring grad students. You can learn about our work and how to connect with us on my lab page.

Here are some highlights of my research work to date:

• I've authored 1 book, 85 journal articles, 14 book chapters, and 17 other publications. That's 117 total written works.
• My collective written works have 4,700+ scholarly citations.
• I coauthored the third edition of School Psychology for the 21st Century, which is a foundational introductory text in my field.
• APA Division 16 awarded me the Lightner Witmer Award (2017) for early career research contributions to school psychology.
• I'm an Associate Editor for School Psychology Review, which is one of the leading journals in our field.
• Previously, I was Editor-in-Chief and Associate Editor for Assessment for Effective Intervention.

I also greatly value student mentoring. When I was a student, I was lucky to have several kind, energizing mentors who helped me find my way. They believed in me, advocated for me, and cleared paths for me. I hope to pay that forward to my students. I believe mentoring should be values-driven, personalized, and compassionate. I have two main mentorship goals: help students figure out where they want to go, then support them in getting there.

Here are several things I'm proud of regarding my mentoring to date:

• I currently mentor 6 PhD students and 3 EdS students.
• My College here at USU recently awarded me the Outstanding Graduate Mentor of the Year Award (2022).
• 3 of my former mentees now hold PhDs in School Psychology and are doing cool stuff to make the world a more mentally healthy place.
• I've served on 110+ grad student committees, which means I've played a small role in supporting lots of students in achieving lots of milestones.
• I have mentored 20+ undergrad RAs in my lab, all of whom have gone on to graduate programs in mental health fields.

You can learn more about me, my lab, and our work by looking around this website or checking out my full academic CV. You can also catch me on Twitter. ▲