CCIE Distinguished Lecture Series - Fall 2025

The College Distinguished Lecture Series is a platform designed to inform, inspire, and connect UCF’s research community—and the broader public—with today’s most urgent and impactful topics. Each lecture spotlights cutting-edge research that influences education, community development, and policy at both national and global levels.

Distinguished Lecturer

Carolyn J. Heinrich, PhD, Department of Health Policy, Vanderbilt University

Topic

Improving School Capacities to Respond to Children’s Rising Mental Health Needs

Synopsis

This lecture will present the emerging findings from an NIMH-funded study focused on generating new knowledge on program and policy levers that schools can deploy to increase the effectiveness of school-based interventions for addressing children’s mental health needs and reduce inequities in children’s health and education outcomes. The research employs a mixed methods approach, drawing on high-quality, linked health and education data that include the population of children in Tennessee who have a Medicaid record at any point in time since 2006, as well as in-depth interviews with staff in three-fourths of Tennessee school districts. The research involves an innovative partnership between Vanderbilt University, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and four state agencies (TN Department of Health, TN Department of Education, TN Department of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services, and TennCare). The implications of the study findings for education policy, health policy, and collaborative governance will be discussed in the presentation.

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