Cleary McKenzie

Originally from New Haven, Connecticut, Cleary McKenzie, B.A., is a doctoral student in the School Psychology program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She completed her undergraduate degree at the UMass Amherst, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology as well as a minor in Women’s Gender & Sexuality Studies. After graduating, she gained experience working with adult populations with varying mental health and behavioral needs in therapeutic, group home settings. During her graduate school experience, Cleary has been involved with projects exploring factors that hinder and enhance academic engagement in racially diverse students as well as centering marginalized graduate students voices and experiences in behavioral health sciences. She has collaborated on projects investigating the relationship between teachers’ written, qualitative feedback on academic and career success by student identity. Cleary’s professional interests include exploring how to address and eliminate racial and ethnic disciplinary disproportionality within schools, promoting SEL practices for marginalized students, and growing the diversity of the population of practitioners in behavioral health sciences. Cleary is interested in investigating systems-level, multi-disciplinary efforts to achieve these goals.