William R. Jenson

Dr. Jenson is a full professor and past Chair of the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Utah. He is the founder of the Pingree Center for Children with Autism which he directed for nine years before going to the University of Utah. He is affiliated with the Utah Autism Project in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Utah and serves on several advisory boards. He has been an Associate Editor for the School Psychology Review, and served on the editorial boards of School Psychology “Quarterly Journal” of Emotional and Behavior Disorders, School Psychology International, and reviews for several other journals. He has written and published over one hundred research articles, chapters, and books. Dr. Jenson has been Project Director on several funded projects including Personnel Preparation in Autism and low incidence disabilities and Leadership from the US Office of Education.

His research includes early intensive intervention, meta-analytic reviews of evidence-based practice interventions, social skills training, and the management of severe problematic behaviors for children with autism. His research workgroup has recently published a twenty-year longitudinal study of individuals with high-functioning autism. He has been a researcher for the collaborative UCLA-University of Utah epidemiological survey of autism. Dr. Jenson is a national and international speaker for children with disabilities, particularly on research and interventions based on “his Tough Kids book series” series. Dr. Jenson received his Ph.D. in applied behavior analysis and school psychology from Utah State University. He received an MS in experimental psychology and a BS in psychology from the University of Utah.

Dr. Jenson is a Fellow of Division 16 (School Psychology) of the American Psychological Association and a member of the Society for the Study of School Psychology. He has several awards for service from the Utah Autism Society, Lifetime Achievement Award from the Utah Association of School Psychologists, and the Extraordinary Service Award from the Utah Behavior Initiative.