Tremere Faculty Service Award Presented to Psychology Professor
Caraway joined the faculty at USD 20 years ago and has served as director of the USD Psychological Services Center as well as a stint as acting director of the Clinical Psychology Graduate Training Program. Currently, she is the psychology discipline head for the SD LEND program, which trains clinicians to provide medical care to children and young adults with neurodevelopmental disabilities. In addition to her administrative duties, she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses and researches topics related to diversity and mental health and the effects of interpersonal violence.
Her service work in the community blends well with her professional experience. Since 2004, she has called on her research and training in the area of interpersonal violence to serve as a board member for Domestic Violence Safe Option Services, a non-profit agency aiding victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in southeast South Dakota. In turn, this work complements her role as a liaison with community emergency service personnel as a faculty volunteer with USD’s I CARE program, which combats sexual assault on campus.
In addition, her background in developmental psychology guides her in her volunteer position on the board of Vermillion’s Center for Children and Families in Vermillion, a nonprofit childcare and preschool facility. She has also served on the Head Start Grantee Board for 20 years.
Caraway said she sees her volunteer work as a way to use her expertise where she can provide the most help. “When you see an area in your community where you can use your professional training to help, that’s when you think, ‘I just can’t sit here in my office,’” Caraway said.
Her service activities also inform her teaching and keep her abreast of issues that influence her clinical work in psychology. “We are in a service field.” Caraway said. “We need to know what’s happening in our communities, such as health disparities in different populations.”
Caraway encouraging her colleagues at USD to offer their expertise to the surrounding community and she welcomes any acknowledgement of the importance of volunteer work from the institution. “If you look at people who do a lot of service work, it’s often women and people from marginalized groups,” she said. “It’s my hope that everyone will value service and get out there and help.”
The Blair and Linda (Schuller) Tremere Faculty Service Award was established in 2011 by Blair and Linda Tremere of Golden Valley, Minn., to encourage and recognize the valuable role that Arts & Sciences faculty play in the lives of their communities and state. All tenure-track and tenured faculty in the College of Arts & Sciences are eligible to receive the award. Linda (Schuller) Tremere is a 1970 alumna from the USD School of Business (B.S., Accounting) and a native of Amherst, S.D. Blair Tremere, a Sioux Falls native, is a 1968 alumnus from the USD College of Arts & Sciences (B.A., Government/Journalism) and also received his M.A. in Public Administration from USD in 1971.
