Mary McDonald

Dr. McDonald is an Assistant Professor in the CRSR Department (Counseling, Research, Special Education and Rehabilitation) and teaches in the Special Education Program. She began teaching at Hofstra University as an adjunct in 2002 and became full time in 2005. She currently teaches courses such as Educating Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Creating Effective Learning Communities and Research Seminars. She has also developed an approved course sequence in applied behavior analysis for behavior analyst certification.

In addition to her role at the University, she also Directs The Eden II/Genesis Outreach Autism Center in which she supervises outreach, consultation and research programs. She has nearly 20 years of experience directing programs for students with autism from early intervention through adulthood. Previously she served as Associate Executive Director and Directed The Genesis School for students with autism for 14 years.

She has received a number of awards for her work: Citation of Honor from past Queens Borough president Claire Schulman, Award of Distinction from the Town of Oyster Bay, and most recently The Teacher of the Year Award for 2009 from Hofstra University and Outstanding Mentor from The Association for Behavior Analysis International (2010).

She completed her Ph.D. in Learning Theory at the CUNY Graduate Center and is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst- Doctoral level. Dr. McDonald currently serves on a number of boards including her role as Vice President of The Association for Science in Autism Treatment (ASAT) and Council on Autism Services (CAS). Dr. McDonald is currently co-authoring an Introductory Text on Special Education focused on Universal Design for Learning. She has published articles in the areas of self-management, social reciprocity, response to intervention, inclusion and technology in education. Her current research interests include cre