Mark Wood

Biography

In Memoriam

Mark Wood (1960-2015)

We are deeply saddened to report that Mark Wood passed away on April 26, 2015 from a heart attack. He was born on May 5, 1960 and graduated from Owasso High School in Oklahoma in 1978.  Subsequently, he served in the United States Navy and obtained a BA from Arizona State University in 1990, and an MA (1993) and PhD in Social Psychology (1996) from the University of Missouri in Columbia. He was a postdoctoral fellow in Community Health at Brown University from 1996-1998.  Since 1998, he has served on the faculty in the Department of Psychology at the University of Rhode Island where he was promoted to Full Professor in 2006. Dr. Wood was an applied social psychologist and his professional activities involved research, teaching, and service in the areas of alcohol use and misuse, social psychology, and research methods. In his main interest area, alcohol research, his focus was on examining psychosocial factors influencing alcohol misuse, especially among college students, and on investigating both individual- and environmental-level preventive interventions aimed at reducing negative consequences associated with alcohol misuse.

Professionally, Dr. Wood was integrally involved with several major organizations and scholarly efforts. He served on the Boards of Directors of the Research Society on Alcoholism from 2009 to 2013, and Rhode Island’s Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) from 2008 – 2013. He was an Associate Editor for Psychology of Addictive Behaviors and the journal, Substance Use, and served on Editorial Boards for the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs and the Psychology of Addictive Behavior. He is the author or co-author of 9 book chapters and over 50 journal articles.  He was also a regular reviewer for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and the National Institutes of Health, as well as an ad hoc reviewer for more than two dozen major journals. Dr. Wood secured grant awards to support numerous research projects, with more than $11 million in funding from major agencies such as the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism, the Department of Education, and the National Institute of Mental Health. He has also been distinguished with a 1998 Sharon Chauncey Fellowship Award from Brown University Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, and a 2006 Outstanding Contributions to Research Award from the University of Rhode Island. Moreover, he was a long-term member of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and the Research Society on Alcoholism.

At the University of Rhode Island, Dr. Wood served as Director of the Behavioral Science doctoral program in the Department of Psychology since 2013. He also served as Co-Director of the Alcohol Health Promotion Partnership Team, working closely with individuals at all levels including students, staff, faculty and the President of the University. Further, he was a much sought after major professor for more than 15 graduate students in Psychology and was a beloved professor teaching both graduate and undergraduate courses in social psychology, basic and applied research methods, alcohol use and misuse, addictive behaviors, and statistics.

He is survived by his wife, Noelle Wood, daughter Olivia Grace, and son Chance, as well as dozens of friends, colleagues and others around the world, all of whom are incredibly grateful for the time he shared with each of us, although much too short. He is remembered for his intelligence and wit, as well as a strong focus and dedication to his work and his students. He was an incredible athlete, running regularly and in major marathons, and even competing in several triathlons. Above all, he was noted for his enormous devotion and love for his family and was very proud of being the first faculty member to take a newly established Family Leave at the University of Rhode Island when his daughter, Olivia Grace, was born. He will be deeply missed.

Research

Dr. Wood was an applied social psychologist with primary research interests in:

  • Preventive interventions to reduce alcohol misuse
  • Etiology of alcohol use and misuse
  • Implicit social cognition
  • Longitudinal data analysis

Education

  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Brown University, 1996-1998
  • Ph.D. 1996, University of Missouri – Columbia
  • M.A. 1993, University of Missouri – Columbia
  • B.A. 1990, Arizona State University

Selected Publications

*student co-authors in bold

Hernandez, L., Lavigne, A. Wood, M.D., & Wiers, R.W. (in press). Moderators and mediators of adolescent substance abuse treatment outcome studies. In M. Maric, P.J.M. Prins, & T. H. Ollendick (Eds.) Moderators and mediators of youth treatment outcomes, London, Oxford University Press

Abar, C. C., Jackson, K. M., & Wood, M. D. (in press). Reciprocal relations between parental monitoring and adolescent substance use and delinquency: The moderating role of parent-teen relationship quality. Developmental Psychology.

Fairlie, A. M., DeJong, W., & Wood, M. D. (in press). Local support for alcohol control policies and perceptions in two college communities. Substance Abuse.

Barnett, N. P., Clerkin, E., Wood, M., Monti, P. M., Tevyaw, T. O., Corriveau, D., Fingeret, A., & Kahler, C. W.  (2014).  Description and predictors of positive and negative alcohol-related consequences in the first year of college.  Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 75, 103 – 114.

Fairlie, A. M., Erickson, D., & Wood, M. D. (2012). Campus and community interventions to reduce alcohol use, abuse, and consequences. In C. Correia, J. Murphy, and N.P. Barnett (Eds.), College student alcohol abuse: A guide to assessment, intervention, and prevention. (pp. 166 – 194). Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley and Sons.

Hoeppner, B. B., Barnett, N. P., Jackson, K. M., Colby, S. M., Kahler, C. W., Monti, P. M., Read, J. P., Tevyaw, T., Wood, M. D., Corriveau, D., & Fingaret, A. (2012). Daily college student drinking patterns across the first year of college. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 73, 613 – 624.

Fairlie, A. M., Wood, M. D., & Laird, R. (2012). Prospective protective effect of parents on peer influences and college alcohol involvement relations. Psychology of Addictive Behavior, 26, 30 – 41.

Short, E. E., Fernandez, A., Borsari, B., Hustad, J.T. P., & Wood, M. D. (2011). Does clinician continuity over two brief motivational sessions improve outcomes in college students? Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 41(3), 313 – 320.

Abar, C., Fernandez, A., & Wood, M.D. (2011). Parent-teen communication and pre-college alcohol involvement: A latent class analysis. Addictive Behaviors, 36, 1357 – 1360.

Fernandez, A.C., Laforge, R.G., Wood, M.D. & Black, J.T.  (2011). Randomized trials of alcohol-use interventions with college students and their parents: Lessons from the Transitions Project. Clinical Trials, 8, 205 – 213. doi: 10.1177/1740774510396387

Fernandez, A., Wood, M. D., Stein, L.A.R., & Rossi, J. (2010). Measuring Mindfulness and Examining its Relationship with Alcohol Use, and Alcohol-Related Negative Consequences. Psychology of Addictive Behavior, 24, 608 – 616. doi:10.1037/a0021742

Fairlie, A. M., DeJong, W., Stevenson, J. F., Lavigne, A. M., & Wood, M. D. (2010). Fraternity and sorority leaders and members: A comparison of alcohol use, attitudes, and policy awareness. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 36, 187-193. doi:10.3109/00952990.2010.491878

Wood, M. D., Fairlie, A. M., Fernandez, A.C., Borsari, B., Capone, C., Laforge, R.G., & Carmona-Barros, R. (2010).  Brief motivational and parent Interventions for college students: A randomized factorial study. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78, 349 – 361.

Fairlie, A. M., Quinlan, K. J., DeJong, W., Wood, M. D., Lawson, D., & Witt, C. F. (2010) Sociodemographic, behavioral, and cognitive predictors of alcohol-impaired driving in a sample of US college students.  Journal of Health Communication, 15, 218- 232.

Capone, C., & Wood, M. D. (2009).  Thinking about drinking: Need for cognition and motivational readiness moderate the effects of brief alcohol interventions. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 23, 684 – 688.

Walls, T. A., Fairlie, A. M., & Wood, M. D. (2009).  Parents do matter: A longitudinal two-part mixed model of early college alcohol participation and intensity.Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 70, 908 – 918.

Wood, M.D., DeJong, W., Fairlie, A., Lawson, D., Lavigne, A., & Cohen, F. &   (2009).  Common Ground: An investigation of environmental management prevention initiatives in a college community. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, Supplement No. 16, 96 – 105.
DeJong, W., Larimer, M. E., Wood, M. D., & Hartman, R. (2009). NIAAA’s Rapid Response to College Drinking Problems Initiative: Reinforcing the use of evidence-based approaches in college alcohol prevention. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, Supplement No. 16, 5 – 11.

Ichiyama, M., Fairlie, A. M., Wood, M. D., Turrisi, R., Francis, D., Ray, A., & Stanger, L.  (2009). A randomized trial of a parent-based intervention on drinking behavior among incoming college students.Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, Supplement No. 16, 67 – 76.

Honors and Awards

  • University of Rhode Island Award, Outstanding Contributions to Research, 2006

Graduate Student Research

  • Dr. Wood has served as major professor for graduate students in each of our three training areas: Behavioral Science, Clinical Psychology and School Psychology

Theses/Dissertations since 2014

  • Martin, S., Ph.D., Dissertation Title: Risk, Promotive, and Protective Influences on Adolescent Alcohol use milestones. University of Rhode Island, August 2014.
  • Bernstein, M., M.A. Thesis Title: Anticipatory social anxiety and alcohol use: An ecologically valid laboratory experiment. University of Rhode Island, May 2014.
  • Paquin, G., M.A. Thesis Title: Automatic or standard: Can we shift implicit racial attitudes?University of Rhode Island, May 2014.
  • Lavigne, A.R., Ph.D. Dissertation Title: Alcohol-related associations and college student alcohol use: Examining the moderating effects of executive abilities (2013)
  • Fairlie, A. M. Ph.D. Dissertation Title: Measurement timing in growth mixture modeling of alcohol trajectories. University of Rhode Island (2012) Funded by a National Research Service Pre-Doctoral Fellowship Award. Co-adviser with Theodore Walls.
  • Scott Martin, M.A. Thesis Title: Prospective Investigation of a Genetically-Informed Enhanced Reinforcement Model of Alcohol Involvement (2012)
  • Matthew Pierce, M. A. Thesis Title: A prospective examination of post-traumatic stress and alcohol use disorder symptomatology among returning veterans (2012)
  • Celeste Caviness, M.A. Thesis Title: Predictors of recidivism in a sample of high-risk, jailed women (2011)
  • Anne Fairlie, M.A. Thesis Title: Who may have benefited? An examination of moderators of interventions targeting college student alcohol use and consequences (2009)
  • Anne Fernandez, M. A. Thesis Title: An examination of mindfulness and substance use among college students (2009)
  • Nancy Brand, Ph.D. Dissertation Title: Psychologists’ approaches to evaluating client progress in psychotherapy practice (2007)
  • Christy Capone, Ph.D. Dissertation Title: An examination of familial alcoholism and attitudes toward alcohol interventions among college students (2007).
  • Caren Witt, Ph.D. Dissertation Title: Examining the psychological correlates of the Binge Eating Disorder symptomatology in a morbidly obese pre-surgical sample (2007).

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