Dorothy L. Espelage, Ph.D.
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
"Research & Practice of Bully Prevention: Past, Present, and Future"

Dorothy L. Espelage, Ph.D. is a Professor of Child Development and Associate Chair in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She is a University Scholar and has fellow status in Division 17 (Counseling Psychology) of the American Psychological Association.

She earned her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Indiana University in 1997. She has conducted research on bullying for 18 years and more recently has examined correlates of sexual harassment, dating violence, and homophobic teasing. As a result, she presents regularly at regional, national, and international conferences and is author on over 90 professional publications.

She is co-editor of four published books including Bullying in North American Schools: A Social-Ecological Perspective on Prevention and Intervention and International Handbook of Bullying published by Routledge. She is Associate Editor of the Journal of Counseling Psychology. She has presented thousands of workshops and in-service training seminars for teachers, administrators, counselors, and social workers across the U.S.

Her research focuses on translating empirical findings into prevention and intervention programming. She is currently funded by the CDC and is conducting a randomized clinical trial of a bullying prevention program in 36 middle schools. She authored a 2011 White House Brief on bullying among LGBTQ youth and attended the White House Conference. She is also funded by National Science Foundation to develop better methods to assess bullying among adolescents.

Dr. Espelage has appeared on many television news and talk shows, including The Today Show, CNN, CBS Evening News, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and Anderson; she has been quoted in the national print press, including Time Magazine, USA Today, and People magazine.