Promoting Positive Learning Environments through Improved School Climate

Catherine Bradshaw will address the importance of school climate as a factor for preventing behavioral and mental health problems in children. She will touch on the role of adults and educators in the promotion of school climate and climate reform efforts. Bradshaw will also consider the extent to which issues like school bullying and other forms of stress negatively impact school climate and a range of student outcomes.

Catherine Bradshaw is a professor and the associate dean for Research and Faculty Development at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia; she also was previously an associate professor and the associate chair of the Department of Mental Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she still serves as co-director of two federally funded research centers focused on school-based prevention programming. She holds a doctorate in developmental psychology from Cornell University and a master's of education in counseling and guidance from the University of Georgia.

Her primary research interests focus on the development of aggressive behavior and school-based prevention. She collaborates on research projects examining bullying and school climate; the development of aggressive and problem behaviors; effects of exposure to violence, peer victimization, and environmental stress on children; and the design, evaluation, and implementation of evidence-based prevention programs in schools.