Dr. Lisa Pescara-Kovach is a professor of educational psychology at The University of Toledo where she also serves as the Director of the Center for Education in Mass Violence and Suicide and Chair of the Mass Violence Collaborative. Lisa has her B.A. in Psychology, M.A. in Experimental Psychology, and a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology with a minor in Child Clinical Psychology.
In addition to her work at the university, she serves on the advisory boards for the International Alliance for CARE and Threat Teams (InterACTT) as well as the National Association for Behavioral Intervention and Threat Assessment (NABITA). Dr. Pescara-Kovach’s international and national level peer-reviewed and invited presentations include, but are not limited to, the topics of suicides and homicides related to bullying victimization, behavioral threat assessment, and school, campus, and workplace shootings. Lisa has a forthcoming book along with Dr. Brian Van Brunt and Bethany Smith Van Brunt titled, White Supremacist Violence: Understanding the Resurgence and Stopping the Spread. Her most recent publications address media contagion in connection to suicides and targeted shootings as well as the mental health and mass shooting myth. She is also a web content creator for Navigate 360 (formerly the ALICE Training Institute).
Within the regional community, Dr. Pescara-Kovach has served as the region’s Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Fundamentals of Mental Health trainer since 2014 and is the co-founder and director of the Northwestern Ohio Critical Incident Stress Management team. Her work on media contagion, female shooters, threat assessment, and post-mass shooting mental health has been featured in Salon, The Hill, the Californian, Diverse Issues in Higher Education, and the Colorado Sun.