Rate My Professor Christopher Kearney

Christopher A. Kearney, Ph.D., is Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Psychology Department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). He earned a B.A. in psychology and sociology from the State University of New York at Binghamton, an M.A. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the State University of New York at Albany, and completed his internship at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Kearney joined UNLV in 1990 and also directs the UNLV Child School Refusal and Anxiety Disorders Clinic, a research-based outpatient facility that assesses and treats youths aged 5-16 exhibiting school refusal behavior and related anxiety disorders such as social anxiety, separation anxiety, panic, phobias, selective mutism, perfectionism, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic stress symptoms.

Kearney, a clinical child psychologist, specializes in internalizing problems in youth, particularly problematic school absenteeism and school refusal behavior, posttraumatic stress disorder among maltreated and traumatized youths, selective mutism, perfectionism, and other anxiety conditions. His research encompasses assessment, treatment, taxonomy, family dynamics, school climate, and multi-tiered systems of support. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association Divisions 12 (Clinical Psychology) and 53 (Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology), and has earned awards including the William Morris Award for Scholarship, Barrick Scholar Award, Barrick Distinguished Scholar Award, Harry Reid Silver State Research Award, Distinguished Teaching Award, Alumni Association Outstanding Faculty Award, Outstanding Graduate Faculty Award, Academic Advisor Award-Graduate, Donald Schmiedel Service Award, James Frey Senior Faculty Excellence in Scholarship Award, Outstanding Chair Award, and Black Mountain Institute Research Fellow Award. Kearney has published over 200 works, including books such as Psychopathology and Life: A Dimensional Approach (4th ed., 2024, Cengage), Getting Your Child Back to School (rev. ed., 2021, Oxford University Press), Helping Families of Youth with School Attendance Problems (2019, Oxford University Press), When Children Refuse School (3rd ed., 2018, Oxford University Press), Managing School Absenteeism at Multiple Tiers (2016, Oxford University Press), and School Refusal Behavior in Youth (2001, American Psychological Association). He collaborates with graduate students on publications, provides resources for clinicians, and delivers workshops to school districts and mental health agencies on these topics.