Merith Cosden served as Acting Dean (2014-15), and Professor in the Department of Counseling, Clinical and School Psychology, where she also served as Department Chair. She was a professor at UCSB from 1983 to 2015. Dr. Cosden’s research focused on individuals with substance abuse and/or mental illnesses and the relationship of these problems to a history of trauma. Dr. Cosden’s work includes federally-funded evaluations of trauma-informed treatment for court-based programs for adults with substance abuse or co-occurring disorders and perinatal treatment programs for women with substance abuse disorders. She also has had long-standing research interests in factors associated with the social and emotional functioning of individuals with learning disabilities. Dr. Cosden is a recipient of the UCSB Graduate Student Mentor Award and the Santa Barbara Psychological Association Legacy award and is a Fellow in the International Association of Research on Learning Disabilities.