 Dr. Beth Sulzer-Azaroff An early career in public education launched Beth Sulzer-Azaroff's quest for methods to promote behavior change in socially important directions. While pursuing her doctoral studies at the University of Minnesota she discovered the promise of the field of behavior analysis toward that objective. Since then she has been engaged in scholarship, research, consulting and teaching in the field. First at Southern Illinois University, later at the University of Massachusetts, she addressed challenges facing students, clients, instructors, care providers, supervisors, managers and executives in the community, schools, factories, offices, health care organizations and elsewhere. Currently she is a Professor Emeritus of the University of Massachusetts, Adjunct Professor at Florida International University and the University of North Texas, Director of Quality Assurance for the Pyramid Educational Consultants and President of the Browns Group of Naples, a training and performance management consulting organization. In these capacities her work today emphasizes doing research, teaching and writing about behavioral systems for promoting quality Internet-based and direct educational services and healthy performance on the job.
The products of her individual and collaborative efforts have included over a dozen books and monographs, and about a hundred published papers. Sulzer-Azaroff has presented extensively at regional, national and international conferences and has received substantial research and training grant funding. Currently, in addition to consulting in education, human services plus other forms of performance management, she continues to conduct research, teach and write.
Sulzer-Azaroff has served her field and the public in a number of capacities, including: President of the Association for Behavior Analysis (ABA), the Berkshire Association for Behavior Analysis and Therapy and Division 25 of APA; chair (APA Board of Scientific Affairs; Committee on Continuing Education) trustee (Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies), and board member of various national committees; Associate Editor (JABA) and editorial board member of behavioral journals, member of research panels for national funding agencies and in numerous other capacities.
Recognition for Sulzer-Azaroff’s achievements include her election to the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, and being named Fellow in six divisions of the American Psychological Association, also the Academy of Behavioral Medicine, the Association for Behavior Analysis, and the American Psychological Society. She was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the OBM Network of the Association for Behavior Analysis, the Fred S. Keller Award for Distinguished Contributions to Education from Division 25 of the American Psychological Association and the Outstanding Contributions Award from California ABA. |
| Abstract: As a science and technology, behavior analysis shows us what, how and why to teach ABA for successful student learning and performance. As the beneficiary of the information derived from the field, my colleagues, our students and I have enjoyed the opportunity to capitalize on and witness the payoff accorded by following the procedural guidelines inherent in the discipline. By applying fundamental concepts of learning and behavior, such as differential reinforcement, shaping, fading, generalization and fluency training, we have been able to guide students towards heightened competency.This presentation will illustrate how we have carried those features into action in our teaching and training of: university undergraduate and graduate students in the classroom, on-line,and on-site; supervisory and managerial personnel in for-profit and non-profit organizations; specialized staff such as safety personnel and professionals as well as workers in on-the-job training. Some short and long-term results also will be described. |