Miriam Thompson invited panelist to 15th Annual Meeting of Law School Diversity Professionals

Miriam Thompson, Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology at UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School, co-led the workshop “To Be a Rock in Troubled Waters: Trauma-informed Teaching, Support, & Advocacy” at the 15th Annual Meeting of Law School Diversity Professionals on May 6. The conference is hosted by New York Law School in New York City, NY.

Thompson’s workshop, co-presented by Rebecca Stahl, Executive Director of the Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children and the Courts, University of Baltimore School of Law, and moderated by Mark Bell, Director of Diversity Initiatives and Recruitment at the University of Baltimore School of Law, addressed how conventional law school experiences like events, applications, exams, and reading assignments are often created without consideration of how they might trigger post-traumatic stress in students. The panelists shared their expertise and helped participants explore how academic and administrative content can be crafted in ways that acknowledge trauma, and thereby protect students rather than ignore or exploit painful past experiences.

The Annual Meeting of Law School Diversity Professionals brings together law school diversity professionals and supporters in a collaborative environment to: engage thought leadership and develop best practices to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion in legal education; promote relationship building, communication, and resource sharing among law school DEI leaders; and,
advance the matriculation, success, and support of underrepresented students and graduates of U.S. law schools.

Dr. Miriam Eady Thompson is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology (CCSP) and is also the Director of Mind and Behavior Assessment Clinic (MBAC) located on UCSB’s campus. As a teaching professor and as assessment clinic director, Dr. Thompson trains doctoral students on the ethical and responsible administration of standardized psychological assessments. Dr. Thompson is a licensed psychologist (MA-11267), a health service provider, and a Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP). In 2009, Dr. Thompson earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Arizona, double majoring in Psychology and Spanish. In 2012, Dr. Thompson earned a Master of Arts in School Psychology and in 2016, she earned a Ph.D. in School Psychology (with a minor in Special Education and a specialization in Learning Disabilities) from the University of Arizona. During her doctoral training, Dr. Thompson completed an APA-accredited doctoral internship at the Multidisciplinary Evaluation & Consulting Center (MDC) at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. In 2017, following completion of her doctoral internship, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Neurodevelopmental Assessment of Young Children (NYC) at the Brenner Center at William James College in Newton, Massachusetts. At the Brenner Center, Dr. Thompson administered a wide range of neuropsychological evaluations to children, adolescents, and adults. In 2018, she completed a second postdoctoral fellowship at the Boston Juvenile Court Clinic (BJCC) at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. At BJCC, she completed court-ordered psychological evaluations and worked closely with social workers, probation officers, attorneys, and judges. Finally, from 2018 to 2020, Dr. Thompson was an assistant professor in the School Psychology Department at William James College.