Mark Shriver, Ph.D.: Outstanding Teacher

Mark Shiver, Ph.D. professor, psychology, Munroe-Meyer Institute, will receive the Outstanding Teacher Award at the annual faculty meeting at 4 p.m. April 24 in the Durham Research Center Auditorium.

• Name: Mark Shriver, Ph.D.
• Title: Professor, psychology, Munroe-Meyer Institute
• Joined UNMC: 1994
• Hometown: Omaha

What are the greatest rewards of teaching?
One reward comes from my everyday interaction with students and being a part of their transformation into professionals and colleagues who can provide much needed behavioral health services to children and adolescents in our state. Another reward is that being a teacher requires that I continue to be a student and to continue learning, which makes me a better clinician.

Describe a moment in your career when you realized you had picked the right occupation.
There are a paucity of effective behavioral health service providers for children and adolescents in this state, particularly for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Any effect I can have as an individual clinician is multiplied exponentially by training others in effective behavior health service delivery. I realized early on in my career that I’m a better clinician and have larger impact when I’m training others.

What are the biggest challenges you face as a teacher?
In clinical education, I think the biggest challenge is balancing effective training of students with effective service delivery for patients. It requires systematic planning and continued vigilance to ensure that the student is receiving the best possible training experience and the patient is receiving the best possible care.

How do you know when you’ve been successful as a teacher?
I know I’ve been successful when I have the opportunity to work with former students as professionals or colleagues and see that they are continuing to be passionate about what they do. When they continue to learn by participation in conferences, take on leadership roles in professional organizations, participate in research and supervise students themselves, I know I’ve done my job.