CFS's Dr. Al Duchnowski Receives Professor Emeritus Status
Congratulations to Dr. Al Duchnowski who will be granted the status of Professor Emeritus upon his retirement in May 2012. Dr. Duchnowski has served as a faculty member in the Department of Child and Family Studies (CFS) at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute (FMHI) for the past 27 years. (In 2008, the departments within FMHI merged with additional USF academic units to become the USF College of Behavioral & Community Sciences.)
Emeritus status at the University of South Florida is given to individuals whose careers within the University have been exemplary and thus merit recognition and remembrance upon their retirement.
Dr. Duchnowski has made significant contributions to the field of children’s mental health through his work as Co-Deputy Director of the Research and Training Center for Children’s Mental Health (RTC). The RTC operated over a period of 25 years and received $15 million in federal funding.
For the last 18 of his 27 years at USF, Dr. Duchnowski has held a joint appointment in CFS and the Department of Special Education. He has seamlessly integrated children’s mental health and education into his work, addressing the issues facing children with serious emotional disturbances and their families in the schools. This integration has led to implementation of a series of studies spanning a 15-year period, funded by over $4 million in federal grants.
Dr. Duchnowski worked to develop the National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health, serving on the board for 10 years. Additionally, he serves on five editorial boards, has served on many review panels, and served a term as a member of the NIMH Standing Review Panel for Children’s Mental Health Services. Dr. Duchnowski has also completed over 60 publications in peer-reviewed journals, over 150 papers presented at conferences, as well as co-edited five books, 22 book chapters and several monographs.
“Dr. Duchnowski’s body of work demonstrates his intense commitment to the lives of children and their families, as well as the systems that serve them. This commitment has made him an outstanding asset to the University of South Florida and his accomplishments more than qualify him to the rank of Professor Emeritus,” said Dr. Mario Hernandez, Chair of the Department of Child & Family Studies.