Former Director
Emeritus Professor of Psychology
Ph.D., Experimental Psychology
Texas Christian University
Email address: ibr@tcu.edu
Dwayne Simpson came to the IBR for graduate training in 1966 and never left. His tenure as its Director began during a temporary move to Texas A&M University (1982-1989), followed by another 20 years after the IBR returned to TCU in 1989. In 2009, he became Emeritus Director. His research on drug addiction and treatment effectiveness (reported in over 300 publications) includes several large-scale and longitudinal national evaluations. He later focused his attention on assessments of client functioning and service delivery process, and how these factors influence treatment engagement and retention rates, stages of recovery, and long-term outcomes. This work includes cognitive and behavioral interventions to enhance client services as well as improvements in program management. It also extended to the study of organizational behavior and its role in transferring evidence-based innovations into practice in community and criminal justice settings. Thus, assisting leadership teams in developing comprehensive but practical strategies for implementing innovations has been a priority for him. Simpson has been an advisor to national and international research centers and government organizations that address drug treatment and related policy issues, a Fellow in both the American Psychological Association and American Psychological Society, and has served on the editorial boards for several journals.
Featured Interview
TCU’s spring 2011 Endeavors features an interview with Dr. Simpson in “Fighting the Scourge of Addiction”. Endeavors is produced by the office of TCU Research and Creative Scholarship.
Professional Positions
1970-1982: Professor (Asst to Full) in IBR, Texas Christian University (TCU)
1982-1989: Professor of Psychology, Texas A&M University (TAMU)
Director, Behavioral Research Program, TAMU
Coordinator, Industrial/ Organizational Area, TAMU
1989-2009: Director of IBR, Texas Christian University
1992-2010: S.B. Sells Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Addiction Research
Present: Emeritus Director of IBR and Professor of Psychology, TCU
Research Recognition
- U.S. Distinguished International Scientist Collaborators Award (2009)
- Award Summary, NIDA, March 2009 (PDF: 75KB / 4 pages)
- Final Report on 2009 US Distinguished International Scientist Collaborators Award (USDISCA) (December 2009). This is an IBR Technical Report (PDF: 217KB / 17 pages) and features the “Adaptation and Implementation of TCU Mapping-Enhanced Counseling and Assessment Resources in the United Kingdom.”
- Distinguished Scientist Award for Texas (1987)
- National Institutes of Health/NIDA MERIT Award for Superior Competence and Outstanding Productivity (1999), resulting in a 5-year non-competitive extension of a grant for international research
- Fellow in American Psychological Association and in American Psychological Society (Charter Member)
- Principal Investigator on Federal Grant Awards (totaling $60 million since 1976)