Kevin D. Wu, Profile
Photo by James Hohner, May 2014
I have been on the psychology faculty at NIU as part of the clinical psychology training program since 2005. Prior to that, in reverse chronological order:
* I completed a postdoctoral fellowship in anxiety disorders with Cheryl Carmin at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center (2004-2005)
* I completed my predoctoral clinical internship (focusing on anxiety disorders and the OCD Clinic) at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center (2003-2004)
* I completed my MA and PhD programs in clinical psychology with Lee Anna Clark and David Watson at the University of Iowa (1997-2003)
* I worked as a mental health technician at St. John's - Macomb Hospital in Warren, MI (1995-1997)
* I spent just under a year in a post-baccalaureate training program in the Department of Sociology at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI (1995-1996)
* I completed a BS in psychology at the University of Michigan (1991-1995)
* I grew up in Warren, MI, living there until 1991, when I was 18 years old
I appreciate and value my roles as a researcher and educator, and frankly have spent the majority of my adult life engaged in their pursuit. My wife, Angela, is a psychologist who studies behavioral neuroscience, so the psychology conversation spills over to dinner time. On the pages of this website, the reader should take away a good sense of what I focus on and how I approach that work. My curriculum vitae is available as a PDF at the bottom of this page. Below, let me provide a bit of personal information.
When not working, my focus is my family and I cherish being a husband and father. My wife and I are raising a son, who already has taught me a great deal about life that I had not learned in my 41 years prior to his birth. One such lesson has been to be more mindful of what I am doing at any given moment and to not look too far ahead. I'm pretty sure there's a relevant quote from Yoda somewhere in there. At any rate, my days are scheduled and routinized pretty much from sun-up until sun-down, so I have to work pretty hard to maintain some balance. Time has become a most precious commodity and balancing it is a daily challenge for me. I take each of my roles in life seriously and try not to short-change any one of them.
During holidays and summers, we do our best to spend time with our extended families (who are mainly in Chicago and Detroit but are scattered from California to New York, and increasingly, Florida), camping with our hardier friends (typically in Michigan, Wisconsin, New York, or Ontario, Canada; the below picture was taken some years ago during a hike in Zion National Park in Utah, but I realized that the day I updated the site I was wearing the same t-shirt!). We also both work hard to stick to our respective exercise regimen. I was active in sports during my youth, with a particular emphasis on tennis. I wasn't good enough to continue beyond high school, but since I was an undergraduate student, I have enjoyed working out and am pretty serious about keeping physically fit. My 87-year-old father walks several miles daily and hilariously is more fit than I am from a cardiovascular standpoint. His mother was still buying exercise equipment from the Home Shopping Network as she approached her 100th birthday, so it definitely runs in the family. We also are TV and movie fans, but are somewhat limited to programs appropriate for kiddos at the moment. Thankfully, our son enjoys Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives and also Carnival Eats on the Food Network. In terms of hobbies, I have two passions: Music and Sports. Regarding the former, I have played the guitar (sadly, poorly) since I was 16 years old, once dreaming of making it big as a rock star. When I can, but rarely now, I still like to get together with more musically-accomplished friends who indulge me by covering 1980s heavy metal tunes, but most of my guitar time is spent in my home office with a drum track playing in the background. I recently bought a more sophisticated effects board with looper capability -- whatever gets me playing more was the idea -- but I can barely get the darn thing to work! Grumble, grumble, old man things. Alas, the waist-length hair and dreams of joining Iron Maiden were characteristics of a much younger man than the old guy who looks back at me from the other side of the mirror. Regarding sports, most people who know me even casually know of my lifelong investment in Michigan football. I have lived and breathed M GO BLUE since I was 8 years old, as do my father, sister, and several UM alum friends. Basketball merely is entertainment compared to football, but I get caught up in the Big Ten and NCAA basketball tournaments when my Wolverines are playing well -- and things are looking pretty good with Juwan Howard at the helm. The Fab Five was my freshman year in Ann Arbor! Being from Metro Detroit, I used to get excited come NHL playoff time since the Red Wings were perennial contenders for the Stanley Cup from the mid-1990s until around 2010; during the past decade, however, summer has started early and they appear to be in a long-term, total rebuild mode. But, there's a new stadium (R.I.P. Joe Louis Arena) and Stevie Yzerman is back in the building to turn things around. The Detroit Lions and Tigers are maddeningly frustrating (worst NFL Draft picks ever? Maybe Oakland or Cleveland fans have an argument, but even the Browns are good now!). Neither team seems to be able to get over the hump. I've never been much of a Pistons fan, but ESPN's 30 for 30 on the 1980s "Bad Boys" gave even me a small shot of Detroit pride. So, I like sports, but concede that they have taken a back seat in my life in recent years. The days of being overly invested in sports outcomes probably are over. Probably.
Overall, I try to live a balanced life, one in which my drive to achieve professionally is tempered by the overriding importance of family, friends, physical and mental health, and plain old happiness. I think this perspective is the one I bring to work each day, and to my interactions with colleagues and students. I have been very fortunate to have worked with talented professionals and good people who helped extend the lessons I learned from my family about balance. For 16 years, I have found NIU to be a great place to play this out. Even as my role has changed over the years, such as by serving currently as the Director of Graduate Studies for Psychology, I maintain an emphasis on graduate training and forming working relationships with faculty, staff, and students. My role as a member of NIU's Graduate Council also helps me to learn about the university and aspects of graduate training outside of Psychology, which is proving to be quite interesting. My journey as a faculty member at Northern Illinois University has been a wonderful experience.
* I completed a postdoctoral fellowship in anxiety disorders with Cheryl Carmin at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center (2004-2005)
* I completed my predoctoral clinical internship (focusing on anxiety disorders and the OCD Clinic) at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center (2003-2004)
* I completed my MA and PhD programs in clinical psychology with Lee Anna Clark and David Watson at the University of Iowa (1997-2003)
* I worked as a mental health technician at St. John's - Macomb Hospital in Warren, MI (1995-1997)
* I spent just under a year in a post-baccalaureate training program in the Department of Sociology at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI (1995-1996)
* I completed a BS in psychology at the University of Michigan (1991-1995)
* I grew up in Warren, MI, living there until 1991, when I was 18 years old
I appreciate and value my roles as a researcher and educator, and frankly have spent the majority of my adult life engaged in their pursuit. My wife, Angela, is a psychologist who studies behavioral neuroscience, so the psychology conversation spills over to dinner time. On the pages of this website, the reader should take away a good sense of what I focus on and how I approach that work. My curriculum vitae is available as a PDF at the bottom of this page. Below, let me provide a bit of personal information.
When not working, my focus is my family and I cherish being a husband and father. My wife and I are raising a son, who already has taught me a great deal about life that I had not learned in my 41 years prior to his birth. One such lesson has been to be more mindful of what I am doing at any given moment and to not look too far ahead. I'm pretty sure there's a relevant quote from Yoda somewhere in there. At any rate, my days are scheduled and routinized pretty much from sun-up until sun-down, so I have to work pretty hard to maintain some balance. Time has become a most precious commodity and balancing it is a daily challenge for me. I take each of my roles in life seriously and try not to short-change any one of them.
During holidays and summers, we do our best to spend time with our extended families (who are mainly in Chicago and Detroit but are scattered from California to New York, and increasingly, Florida), camping with our hardier friends (typically in Michigan, Wisconsin, New York, or Ontario, Canada; the below picture was taken some years ago during a hike in Zion National Park in Utah, but I realized that the day I updated the site I was wearing the same t-shirt!). We also both work hard to stick to our respective exercise regimen. I was active in sports during my youth, with a particular emphasis on tennis. I wasn't good enough to continue beyond high school, but since I was an undergraduate student, I have enjoyed working out and am pretty serious about keeping physically fit. My 87-year-old father walks several miles daily and hilariously is more fit than I am from a cardiovascular standpoint. His mother was still buying exercise equipment from the Home Shopping Network as she approached her 100th birthday, so it definitely runs in the family. We also are TV and movie fans, but are somewhat limited to programs appropriate for kiddos at the moment. Thankfully, our son enjoys Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives and also Carnival Eats on the Food Network. In terms of hobbies, I have two passions: Music and Sports. Regarding the former, I have played the guitar (sadly, poorly) since I was 16 years old, once dreaming of making it big as a rock star. When I can, but rarely now, I still like to get together with more musically-accomplished friends who indulge me by covering 1980s heavy metal tunes, but most of my guitar time is spent in my home office with a drum track playing in the background. I recently bought a more sophisticated effects board with looper capability -- whatever gets me playing more was the idea -- but I can barely get the darn thing to work! Grumble, grumble, old man things. Alas, the waist-length hair and dreams of joining Iron Maiden were characteristics of a much younger man than the old guy who looks back at me from the other side of the mirror. Regarding sports, most people who know me even casually know of my lifelong investment in Michigan football. I have lived and breathed M GO BLUE since I was 8 years old, as do my father, sister, and several UM alum friends. Basketball merely is entertainment compared to football, but I get caught up in the Big Ten and NCAA basketball tournaments when my Wolverines are playing well -- and things are looking pretty good with Juwan Howard at the helm. The Fab Five was my freshman year in Ann Arbor! Being from Metro Detroit, I used to get excited come NHL playoff time since the Red Wings were perennial contenders for the Stanley Cup from the mid-1990s until around 2010; during the past decade, however, summer has started early and they appear to be in a long-term, total rebuild mode. But, there's a new stadium (R.I.P. Joe Louis Arena) and Stevie Yzerman is back in the building to turn things around. The Detroit Lions and Tigers are maddeningly frustrating (worst NFL Draft picks ever? Maybe Oakland or Cleveland fans have an argument, but even the Browns are good now!). Neither team seems to be able to get over the hump. I've never been much of a Pistons fan, but ESPN's 30 for 30 on the 1980s "Bad Boys" gave even me a small shot of Detroit pride. So, I like sports, but concede that they have taken a back seat in my life in recent years. The days of being overly invested in sports outcomes probably are over. Probably.
Overall, I try to live a balanced life, one in which my drive to achieve professionally is tempered by the overriding importance of family, friends, physical and mental health, and plain old happiness. I think this perspective is the one I bring to work each day, and to my interactions with colleagues and students. I have been very fortunate to have worked with talented professionals and good people who helped extend the lessons I learned from my family about balance. For 16 years, I have found NIU to be a great place to play this out. Even as my role has changed over the years, such as by serving currently as the Director of Graduate Studies for Psychology, I maintain an emphasis on graduate training and forming working relationships with faculty, staff, and students. My role as a member of NIU's Graduate Council also helps me to learn about the university and aspects of graduate training outside of Psychology, which is proving to be quite interesting. My journey as a faculty member at Northern Illinois University has been a wonderful experience.
| wucv.pdf |
