During the initial stages of her career as a clinical psychologist, Barbara Wasik, PhD, found that interacting with fellow professionals exposed her to a range of fresh perspectives. This experience sparked a commitment to ongoing learning, which she now actively fosters in others.

Wasik, a longtime researcher with the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) and William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor emerita at the UNC School of Education says that she truly benefited from meeting professionals who motivated and challenged her to expand her work.

Recognizing the positive impact these experiences had on her development, Wasik was motivated to create similar opportunities for others at FPG and across UNC's campus. And so, in 2020, with a generous gift to the Institute, Wasik established the Barbara Hanna Wasik Distinguished Lecture.

Each year since, FPG has brought Wasik's vision for this lecture to life by bringing together faculty, students, and researchers from across Carolina's campus to encourage interdisciplinary collaborations that can generate new ideas for exploration.
Wasik has been a leader in how we study children and families since FPG's earliest days. Though Wasik officially retired in 2015, her impact on FPG continues through her charitable giving and collaborations.

The annual Wasik lecture is the highlight of the FPG Distinguished Lecture Series, which began at the Institute during 2018-19. Each lecturer spends a full day at UNC, meeting with faculty and investigators in small groups, joining a luncheon discussion, and delivering a lecture that concludes with an open discussion. Invited lecturers benefit by gaining new opportunities for collaborations. According to Wasik, this lectureship is meant to focus on early and mid-career professionals because they typically have fewer opportunities for these kinds of experiences.

The 2026 Barbara Hanna Wasik Distinguished Lecture features Melissa McWilliams, PhD, a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. McWilliams, a national certified school psychologist, has focused her clinical work on supporting children and adolescents with various emotional and behavioral challenges, as well as their families.

For her lecture, she will present “Crisis Clinic: Timely Short-Term, Interdisciplinary, Family-Based Treatment for Youth in Crisis.” In this talk, McWilliams describes her clinical team’s work in providing timely therapeutic support for youth in crisis, including an overview of initial clinical data from a retrospective chart review of patients seen in Crisis Clinic during 2023-2024 as well as plans for future research in the clinic.

This hybrid event is scheduled for April 1, at 9:00 a.m. Learn more about the lecture and RSVP here.