Brigham, McSweeney named national association fellows

• The Association for Behavior Analysis has named both Thomas Brigham, psychology professor and special assistant to the president, and Frances McSweeney, vice provost for Faculty Affairs, as ABA Fellows.

Because the fellows program began only last year, McSweeney and Brigham are among the first 35 people in the world selected for this status.

ABA reserves the Fellow status for its most distinguished members, those who have made, “sustained and excellent contributions to the field of behavior analysis.” In its press release, the ABA noted:

“McSweeney has made significant empirical and theoretical contributions in the experimental analysis of short term changes in reinforcer effectiveness; and she has demonstrated the generality of her findings across species and conditions. Her work exemplifies the power of programmatic behavior analytic research on basic behavioral processes, and the value to the larger scientific community of such research is evidenced by support she has received from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. McSweeney has published more than 100 articles over a period of more than three decades in a broad range of very high quality journals and she has served multiple appointments on several editorial boards.  Her scholarly achievements have been recognized, both within her university and within her discipline, by many honors and awards including Eminent Professor Award and President of the Association for Behavior Analysis.”

And, “Thomas A. Brigham has been a major contributor to the understanding of self-management and self-control by taking such basic research findings as those on choice and preference and effectively extending them to applications among young people. He has published 53 papers and 7 books, including coediting the influential Handbook of Applied Behavioral Research. He has served as Associate Editor of JABA and on the editorial boards of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, The Behavior Analyst and Behavioral Interventions. He has held several distinguished positions, including an Erskine Fellowship at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, NZ, and a Senior Visiting Fellowship at University College in Cardiff, Wales. He won the ABA Outreach Award in 1992. At Washington State University, he was honored with the Mullen Teaching Award, the College of Liberal Arts Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award, and the Sahlin Award. He has also served the field of Behavior Analysis as President of NWABA and as an Area Coordinator for the ABA program.”

Congratulations Tom Brigham and Fran McSweeney!