Dr. James Koval, MFT

Director of the M.S. Program in Emergency Services Administration
Professor of Family Studies assigned to Department of Criminal Justice

Education

Ph.D. – Oregon State University (Family Studies)
MS. – Texas Tech University (Family Studies; Marital and Family Therapy)
B.S. – Creighton University (Psychology, Pre-Medicine)

Statement of Professional Engagement:

Dr. Koval's area of specialization examines the development, utilization, and effectiveness of programs designed for preventing or mitigating marital and family distress. He is particularly interested in examining intervention programs to strengthen the resiliency of public safety professionals and their families to the strains of day-to-day operations as well as the impact of major traumatic incidents. For the last 25 years, Dr. Koval has been licensed as a marriage and family therapist working within community mental health agencies and in private practice. As an Approved Clinical Supervisor he has been responsible for the training and mentoring of marital and family therapy trainees and interns. He continues to work in a variety of roles with the local police department to support the mental health needs of their personnel.

Research Interests

• Posttraumatic growth and public safety professionals
• Conflict skills training for couples in high stress careers
• Creating emergency management collaboratives across academic and public safety communities