Robert B. McCall, PhD

Robert B. McCall, PhD

Robert B. McCall, Ph.D., is codirector of the Office of Child Development and a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. He received his bachelor's degree at DePauw University and his master's and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Illinois. Prior positions included assistant director for Program Planning and Evaluation at Father Flanagan's Boys Town and chairman of Psychology at Fels Research Institute. The Office of Child Development, started in 1986, is devoted to promoting and managing interdisciplinary partnerships in the domains of education and training, applied research, human service demonstrations, program evaluation and training, applied research, supporting the health, education, welfare and development of children, youth and families. The office is frequently consulted by other university in the United States and abroad regarding how to establish a unit that promotes interdisciplinary and university-community partnerships. McCall has authored hundreds of books, chapters and articles on infant mental development, age changes in general mental performance, the prediction of later IQ, early childhood care and education, developmental research design and analysis, issues in applied research methods and program evaluation, parenting and child development, science communications through the media, and university-community partnerships. He has been associate editor of Child Development and on the editorial boards of 10 other journals, and he was a contributing editor, monthly columnist and feature writer for Parents magazine. For his work communicating development psychology to the general public and helping to create the Office of Child Development, he has been given awards by the American Psychological Association (APA), the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the National Council on Family Relations. In 1998, he received the University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Awards for both Research and Public Service, and in 2003, he received the SRCD Award for Distinguished Contributions to Public Policy of Children. He has been on SRCD's Social Policy and Public Information committees; APA's Public Information Committee and Psychology Today's Board of Directors; APA's Division 7's Executive, Credential, Convention, Program, Public Information and Policy and Planning committees; and he is currently a member of the Governing Council of SRCD.