Kathy McNamara, PhD
Associate Dean
Interim Director
School Psychology Program
Cleveland State University
k.mcnamara@csuohio.edu
With sadness, we announce the death of Dr. Constance Hollinger, Professor Emerita of Psychology at Cleveland State University, on April 17, 2020. Connie was a formidable and well-respected presence in the field of school psychology in Ohio, where her research focus on gifted and talented young women later expanded to include empirical studies of the implementation of Intervention-Based Multifactored Evaluation. Connie’s engagement with the Ohio Department of Education and collaborators around Ohio resulted in a seminal work published in the School Psychology Review with Cathy Telzrow and Kathy McNamara in 2003. Connie was perhaps best known for her leadership of the School Psychology program at Cleveland State University from the mid-1980s until 1995. As the director of the School Psychology program, Connie earned the respect of students who later became her friends and colleagues. Hers was a voice of reason in often-lively discussions at meetings of the Ohio Inter-University Council for School Psychology; her perspective of complex situations was both thoughtful and reliably straightforward. She was held in high regard by her colleagues at the university, where she was named ombudsperson for her ability to offer insights that eluded most others, and, later, dean of the Division of University Studies, before returning briefly to the Psychology Department faculty before retiring in 2014.
On a personal note, I am quite certain that I owe my appointment to the CSU faculty to Connie. I’m told that she wrote, signed, and held in her hand a note for the Psychology Department chairperson stating that she would resign her position in the program if the faculty chose at their meeting to hire a preferred candidate who was a child clinical psychologist, rather than a school psychologist. Happily for me, Connie’s colleagues held her in such high esteem that they acquiesced to her wishes, despite the sparse research record that distinguished me from typical university faculty appointees. Beyond her initial gatekeeping, Connie was a generous mentor who kept me abreast of campus politics, ran interference for me on more than one occasion, invited me to join her as a research collaborator, and always had clear-eyed, sensible advice to offer.
Many of her CSU colleagues recognize Connie’s spirit when she persuaded me that my then-6-year-old daughter needed a kitten adopted from the Lake Humane Society; in her refusal kill even the occasional insect found lurking in the corners of her office; in her joyful participation in events as a charter member of the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame and Museum; and in her informal office bull sessions that extended well into the late hours.
At Connie’s request, no services were held. Those who wish to do so may post a remembrance at https://bit.ly/3mF0Rpp and send donations in her memory to the Ashtabula County Animal Protective League, 5970 Green Road, Ashtabula, OH 44004.