Our Team

On this page:

Director

Portrait of Amanda Nickerson, PhD.

Amanda Nickerson, PhD

Amanda Nickerson is a professor of school psychology and the inaugural director of the Alberti Center for Bullying Abuse Prevention at the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York. Her research focuses broadly on school safety and building social-emotional strengths of youth, with a particular emphasis on bullying and other forms of violence and victimization. She has published more than 100 journal articles and book chapters, written 5 books and conducted over 300 professional presentations. She is an author of the PREPaRE School Crisis and Intervention Training Curriculum and is coordinator of research for the National Association of School Psychologists School Safety and Crisis Prevention Committee. She has served on multiple editorial boards and committees, including associate editor of the Journal of School Violence. Dr. Nickerson’s work has been funded by federal, state and private funders, including the Institute of Education Sciences and the National Institutes of Health. She is a licensed psychologist, nationally certified school psychologist and fellow of the American Psychological Association.

Biography and Publications

Associate Director

Portrait of Stephanie Fredrick, PhD.

Stephanie Fredrick, PhD

Stephanie Fredrick is the associate director of the Alberti Center and associate professor in the Department of Counseling, School and Educational Psychology. She is a licensed psychologist and a nationally certified school psychologist. She has previous experience working as a school psychologist and consulting with schools on bullying prevention and social emotional learning. Broadly, her research investigates how schools, families and communities can prevent peer victimization and increase resiliency and protective factors among children experiencing victimization. She is particularly interested in universal school-based preventative and protective factors, including social support, school climate and social-emotional learning.

Biography and Publications

Program and Operations Manager

Portrait of Brie Kishel.

Brie Kishel

Brie Kishel is the program and operations manager at the Alberti Center since 2014. Brie obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in child and youth services from Medaille College, and spent over 18 years working for a local non-profit organization. As an education coordinator at the Museum of disABILITY History, she developed and presented a bullying prevention program in several Western New York districts. Some of Brie's responsibilities for the Alberti Center include marketing and communications; financial and operations management; and event planning, including coordinating the Alberti Center's colloquium series, annual conference, and monthly sessions for the Dignity for All Students Act (DASA) workshop requirement for New York State teacher certification. She is also an active member of the Suicide Prevention Coalition of Erie County and planning committees for Spread the Word Inclusion-WNY and the Erie County Law Enforcement Foundation.

Community Programming Consultant

Portrait of Toni Torchia, PhD.

Toni Torchia, PhD

Toni Torchia graduated in 2017 with her doctoral degree in combined counseling and school psychology from the University at Buffalo. She has an extensive amount of experience working in research at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions in a variety of roles, including project coordinator, on multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health as well as a National Institute of Justice grant. Her responsibilities at the Alberti Center have included program evaluation for the PREPaRE School Crisis Prevention and Intervention Training Curriculum developed by the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP). Dr. Torchia is currently leading the center's efforts to develop and deliver student-centered programming for schools and community agencies related to bullying and peer relationships. Her interests include community outreach, program evaluation, research on peer bullying and victimization, dating violence and substance abuse.

Postdoctoral Associate

Portrait of Hannah Rapp, PhD.

Hannah Rapp, PhD

Hannah Rapp is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Alberti Center. She received her doctoral degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research centers on social and emotional learning, and bullying abuse among individuals with learning disorders and developmental disabilities. Her dissertation examined the secondary victimization experiences of parents of adolescent children with disabilities following bullying abuse. Hannah aims to apply results from her study to support parents of adolescents with developmental disabilities in the local community, and to further investigate family systems’ approaches to the prevention and response of bullying abuse.