Jim Persinger’s Personal Page

Aside from candidates in the School Psychology Program, I don't actually meet most who take my classes!  Here is a snapshot to let you get to know me a bit: project upon it what you will.

I earned a B.A. and an M.S. at Emporia State University in ’88 and ‘90, then studied at the University of Kansas while working in education for about nine years.  I primarily worked as a school psychologist after earning an Ed.S. in 1992, but throughout my career have been a preschool coordinator, program evaluator, and teacher for students with autism.  I completed my Ph.D. in 1999, serendipitously at the same time a position opened in ESU’s Department of Psychology and Special Education, and have been here ever since.  I'm the first and only in my family to have gone to college:  I'm still not sure how life brought me this direction!

Random Tidbit:  while working on my doctorate, I was offered a job designing a study for some M.D.'s at KU Med Center, investigating the efficacy of an anesthetizing topical cream for use during newborn circumcision.  Insert punchline here (e.g., “the pay was poor but the tips were plentiful,” etc…. I’ve heard ‘em all).

I have been Director of the School Psychology Program since 2002.  Currently, I teach courses spanning the Secondary Education, Adaptive Education, Educational Leadership, Clinical Psychology, and School Psychology programs.

My wife Keely and I met as students at the University of Kansas, and have been married since 1994.  She’s been a school psychologist in Abilene, Junction City, Manhattan, Flint Hills Coop (Emporia), and Eureka.  She switched hats recently, and is now in her third year as Director of ESU’s Center for Early Childhood Education.

Random Tidbit:  In high school I weighed 270 lbs, and by the time I earned my bachelors I was down to 158 lbs.  Since then, I've been everywhere in-between.  Oh, indeed frustrating.

Our daughter Emma is in third grade, and her favorite activities are going on bike rides with me, playing soccer, tap dancing, and reading.  She's just read the Narnia series and is starting on Harry Potter:  she's astute for her age, and loves school!  Fortunately, she has recently gotten over the whole Disney “Princess” thing (swapping it for, surprise surprise, Hannah Montana), so we can finally redecorate her room into something more tolerable.  Her unwavering goal is to be a veterinarian or a teacher. I’ve discussed with her the option of being a professor, which she says is “boring” and consists of sitting at a desk all day. Verification that indeed she is astute….

Our son Aaron turns four in October, and he likes Pinky Dinky Doo, trains, elephants, helping daddy cook, and <sigh> the Disney “Princess” thing.  His preschool classroom is across the hall from mommy's office, and his playground is below my office window:  the boy doesn't stand a chance of getting away with anything!

Random Tidbit:  Our family business was Miracle Pest Control in Olathe, Ks. from 1936-1999.  I paid much of my way through college by working almost seven years as an exterminator.  Most of my colleagues know this background, so often ask my advice on bug or rodent problems.  It does keep me grounded.

We have a young dog at home named Oliver.  I have countless hours of formal training in applied behavior analysis, and have drawn one conclusion:  it is generally fruitless to try it on a pet schnauzer (or children, or spouse, or yourself, for that matter).

With children to raise, I expect personal time and discretionary income to resume starting in about the year 2025.  But when I can, I do have interests outside of special education:  I'm a good cook, really good in fact.  I practice fingerstyle guitar on and off (I especially like Carter style) but simply have no tempo, so can't get past the embarrassingly-bad stage.   I have always liked “hard” science fiction books (e.g., Heinlein, Niven, Pournelle) but as I've gotten older, almost exclusively read non-fiction:  I'm getting wise enough to figure out that anything an author can dream up will never be more interesting than the reality of history.  I especially enjoy military history (see David Irving’s Hitler’s War: He is one of the few historians who uncompromisingly utilizes only primary sources; also John Keegan, whose writings on the nature of combat are compelling, see The Face of Battle) and American history (particularly Paul Johnson).

Random Tidbit:  my idea of a perfect vacation is to tour museums, art galleries and historical sites.  I never could fathom why somebody would pay to go someplace like a Jamaican resort for fun and sun all day.  Why would I want to pay to get sunburned and sweaty?  I live in Kansas, so can do that for free much of the year.

My many professional affiliations are in my vita below, but my most intensive activity at present is serving as President and Webmaster of the Kansas Association of School Psychologists, helping set up a joint-conference with KS-CEC in 2008.

My research interests are diverse:

· I am working to pilot a sociometric approach for use with Tier 1 of RTI:  a quick snapshop of a classroom, done in two minutes, which can with validity and reliability ascertain which children are likely to have increasingly social and emotional problems barring intervention.  I'm presenting some data at two conferences in 2008 and hope to publish the results this year.

· I research theory and technique in use of role-playing games as social skills intervention with socially maladjusted and seriously emotionally disturbed juveniles, adult international students adjusting to campus-life, and gifted students of all ages.

· The development of systemwide prosocial competence programs is a topic of interest for me.

· In the heyday of the full inclusion movement, I studied and have published on Kansas teachers’ definitions of inclusive education.  Practicing classroom teachers have somewhat different takes on inclusion, and actually operate from a very different philosophical and values foundation, than “inclusion experts” do.  You folks who worked in the schools about 10 years ago, and experienced the “inclusion for all” push, know what I’m talking about.

For those who want to know more about my education and professional background and affiliations, click here to see my vita.

Final note:  I am proud to say that my brother Jeff has been in the Air Force for more than 20 years and is doing his second tour in Iraq in 2008, leaving behind his wife and a son not a year old.  Regardless of how you feel about the situation in Iraq, offer your support to the troops.

Any self-respecting Texan can figure out where this is.	Yep, Emma's as ornery as she looks.
Aaron testing out his new swing set.	Oliver looks much more innocuous than he really is.
I think they're all cuties.	If you know who this is (hint:  Sync magazine named him the #1 nerd of all time) you are indeed nerdly.
If you know who this is, you watch too much reality tv.