Munroe-Meyer Institute
UNMC_Acronym_Vert_sm_4c
University of Nebraska Medical Center

Gina M. Kunz, PhD

Professor, MMI Department of Psychology
Licensed Psychologist

402-559-6408

Gina Kunz, PhD

Gina M. Kunz, PhD, is a professor in the UNMC Munroe-Meyer Institute Psychology Department, and she also is the Associate Director for Program Growth and Sustainability. Kunz received her PhD in Psychology at Louisiana State University with school psychology as her program of study. Kunz is a licensed psychologist for children and adolescents, and her areas of professional expertise include assessment and behavior management for children and adolescents with behavioral challenges and attention deficits, academic assessment and intervention for children and adolescents with academic challenges, professional development and instructional coaching for adults who teach and support children, parent training, school-based consultation, and strengthening positive home-school partnerships. Kunz completed her pre-doctoral internship at MMI Psychology through the Nebraska Internship Consortium for Professional Psychology and has held faculty member positions in medical centers and institutions of higher education.

She is the inaugural and former Director of the Research Institute in the College of Education at the University of South Carolina. Prior to her position at the University of South Carolina, she was Assistant Director of the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools housed in the College of Education and Human Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Prior to her 15 years at UNL, she held faculty positions at two medical centers - LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, and the Munroe-Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. In both medical centers, she served as a licensed psychologist as part of interdisciplinary teams of professionals.

She also has provided behavioral health services through private practice in rural, urban, and suburban areas. Kunz has secured more than $32 million as PI/Co-PI for large-scale research funded nationally, including the Carolina Family Engagement Center which will have received almost $10 from the U.S. Department of Education across 10 years (2018 – 2028). She conducts research primarily for the purpose of identifying strategies and practices that are effective in improving the lives of children and their families and teachers, across all the environments in which they live and learn.

  • PhD: Psychology – Louisiana State University, 1999
  • MA: Psychology – Louisiana State University, 1995
  • BS: Psychology – Louisiana State University, 1991

Specialty Certifications

  • Licensed Psychologist

Kunz provides patient care services at UNMC Munroe-Meyer Institute Department of Psychology in the School Mental Health Clinics.

Clinic Location: Munroe-Meyer Institute

  • Lee, S. C., Nugent, G. C., Kunz, G. M., & Houston, J. (2024). Effects of a Follow-up PD with Distance-Based Peer Instructional Coaching on Secondary Science Teachers' Inquiry-Based Teaching Practices in Rural Schools. Journal of Science Education and Technology. https://doi.org/10.1080/1046560X.2024.2327774.
  • Nugent, G., Houston, J., Kunz, G., & Chen, D. (2023). Analysis of instructional coaching: What, why and how, International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMCE-08-2022-0066
  • Xu, Y., Harrison, T. M., Chan, A. C. Y., Lewis, A. A., Levkoff, S. E., & Kunz, G. M. (2023). Custodial grandchildren’s school attendance and academic performance during COVID-19: The role of technology. Societies, 13, https://doi.org/10.3390/soc13100215
  • Harrison, T., Xu, Y., Forrester, P., Levkoff, S., Lewis, A. A., Kunz, G. M., & Utter, K. (2023). Educational and mental health challenges of grandchildren raised by grandparents during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Carolina: Qualitative results from a community-based study. In Reardon. R. M. & Leonard, J. (E.d.s). School-University-Community research in a (post) COVID-19 world. Information Age Publishing, Inc. 
  • Xu, Y., Pace, S., Kim, J., Iachini, A., King, L. K., Harrison, T., DeHart, D., Levkoff, S. E., Browne, T. A., Lewis, A. A., Kunz, G. M., Reitmeier, M., Utter, K., & Simone, M. (2022). Threats to online surveys: Recognizing, detecting, and preventing survey bots, Social Work Research, 46(4), 343–350. https://doi.org/10.1093/swr/svac023
  • Mathews T. L., Daly E., Kunz G. M., Lugo A. M., McArdle P., Menousek K., & Kupzyk K. (2022). Addressing the need for training more school psychologists to serve toddlers and preschoolers with autism spectrum disorders, Contemporary School Psychology, Oct 24:1-16. DOI: 10.1007/s40688-022-00434-4.
  • Adolescent Psychology
  • Child Psychology
  • Grant Writing I and II
  • Grantsmanship
  • Systems of Consultation in School Psychology
  • Academic assessment and intervention for children and adolescents with academic challenges.
  • Assessment and behavior management for children and adolescents with behavioral challenges and attention deficits.
  • Parent training.
  • Professional development and instructional coaching for adults who teach and support children.
  • Parent training.
  • School-based consultation.
  • Strengthening positive home-school partnerships.
  • Recipient of the 2017 Article of the Year Award from the Society for the Study of School Psychology/Journal of School Psychology: “A randomized trial examining the effects of Conjoint Behavioral Consultation in rural schools: Student outcomes and the mediating role of the parent-teacher relationship” (Sheridan, Witte, Kunz, Angell, & Wheeler, 2017).
  • Recipient of the 2013 Article of the Year Award from the Society for the Study of School Psychology/Journal of School Psychology: “The Efficacy of Conjoint Behavioral Consultation on Parents and Children in the Home Setting: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial” (Sheridan, Ryoo, Garbacz, Kunz, & Chumney, 2013).
  • Recipient, Student Leadership Award for the Nebraska Chapter of the American Association of Mental Retardation, 1999.
  • Graduated with Cum Laude Latin Honors (3.7) in Psychology, LSU, 1991.
  • Recipient, Upper Division Departmental Honors in Psychology, LSU, 1991.
  • Recipient, Presidential Scholarship Award for Academic Achievement, LSU, 1990.
  • The National Dean's List (1990 – 1991).
  • American Psychological Association.
  • National Association of School Psychologists.
  • Nebraska Psychological Association.
Psychology Department

University of Nebraska Medical Center
Munroe-Meyer Institute
985450 Nebraska Medical Center
Omaha, NE 68198-5450

Clinic Appointments

Adolescent talking with therapist, by Gustavo Fring from Pexels.
Department Services

Explore programs and services available through MMI's Department of Psychology.