Teresa Ann Hutchens is an American psychologist, counselor, and educator whose career in school psychology and neuropsychology included research on learning disabilities, psychological assessment, attention, personality, and neurofeedback. She taught and conducted research at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she became associate professor emerita.
Background
Teresa Ann Hutchens was born on February 3, 1954, in Stuart, Virginia, United States. She is the daughter of Jessie Bradford Hutchens Hall and Lois Marshall Hall; J. Marion Hall was her stepfather.
Her professional life developed within the expanding American fields of school psychology, educational assessment, and neuropsychology. These fields increasingly connected psychological testing with educational intervention and the study of learning disabilities, attention, and child development during the later twentieth century.
Education
Hutchens studied education and school psychology at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, earning a Bachelor of Science in Education summa cum laude in 1975 and a Master of Arts in School Psychology and Guidance and Counseling in 1977. Appalachian State, founded as a teacher-training institution in 1899, developed into a comprehensive public university while retaining a strong connection with educator preparation.
She received an Educational Specialist degree from Georgia Southern University in Statesboro in 1980 and a Doctor of Philosophy in school neuropsychology from the University of Georgia in Athens in 1988. Georgia Southern had developed from a normal school into a regional public university, while the University of Georgia, founded in 1785, was the state's flagship public research institution. Her graduate training prepared her for work combining psychological assessment, learning-disability research, and educational practice.
Hutchens began her professional career as a school psychologist with Spartanburg County Schools in South Carolina from 1977 to 1979 and with the Florence School District from 1980 to 1984. She then worked at the University of Georgia in Athens as a learning disabilities specialist in 1986 and as an instructor in 1988. Public-school systems provided the educational setting in which school psychologists assessed learning and behavioral needs and helped connect students, families, and schools with appropriate services.
In 1988, Hutchens joined the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, as an assistant professor and became an associate professor in 1994. The university, founded in 1794 and developed as Tennessee's public flagship institution, supported research and graduate education in psychology and educational psychology. Hutchens also directed the university's Assessment Center from 1988 and worked as an educational consultant for the Oak Hill Adolescent Center in Knoxville from 1989 to 1991.
Her research and teaching addressed school psychology, neuropsychology, psychological assessment, child development, learning disabilities, attention, and personality. She collaborated with researchers in the University of Tennessee's Brain Research and Neuropsychology Laboratory on quantitative EEG and LORETA neurofeedback studies involving attention, executive functioning, working memory, and processing speed. She also served as a consultant to Citizens Aid for Exceptional Children in Knoxville and presented in her professional field. The University of Tennessee later identified her as an associate professor emerita.
She was a university scholar at Appalachian State University from 1972 to 1975.
Her professional and scholarly work contributed to the study and assessment of learning disabilities, attention, personality, and neuropsychological functioning in educational and clinical contexts.
She presented research and professional material in school psychology, neuropsychology, psychological assessment, and related areas.
Works
book chapter
Metabolic Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence
(Co-authored with Jim White in L. Phelps's Practitioner’s ...)
1998
conference abstract
Neuropsychological and QEEG Assessment of Adult ADHD
(Co-authored with J. Noland White and Joel F. Lubar; the a...)
(Co-authored with J. Noland White and Joel F. Lubar; the s...)
2005
Membership
Hutchens's documented professional memberships included the American Psychological Association, International Neuropsychological Society, National Association of School Psychologists, state school-psychology associations in Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina, Phi Kappa Phi, Alpha Chi, and Phi Delta Kappa. These organizations represent psychological science and practice, neuropsychology, school psychology, academic honor societies, and professional education.
Her participation in the Tennessee Association of School Psychologists included service as president during 2001–2002. The association developed from Tennessee's organized effort to address school psychological services and provides professional support and advocacy for school psychologists in the state.
American Psychological Association
,
United States
International Neuropsychological Society
,
United States
National Association of School Psychologists
,
United States
President
Tennessee Association of School Psychologists
,
United States
2001 - 2002
Georgia Association of School Psychologists
,
United States
South Carolina Association of School Psychologists
,
United States
Phi Kappa Phi
,
United States
Alpha Chi
,
United States
Phi Delta Kappa
,
United States
Connections
Hutchens is the daughter of Jessie Bradford Hutchens Hall and Lois Marshall Hall. J. Marion Hall was her stepfather.
