Lisa Pescara Kovach
Dr. Lisa Pescara-Kovach is a professor of educational psychology at The University of Toledo where she serves as Director of the Center for Education in Mass Violence and Suicide. Lisa has her B.A. in Psychology, M.A. in Experimental Psychology, and a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology with a minor in Child Clinical Psychology. In addition to her university work, she served on the advisory board of the National Association of Behavioral Intervention and Threat Assessment (NaBITA) from 2017 until 2021 and has since moved onto the advisory board of the International Association of Care and Threat Teams (InterACTT) where she is also a content specialist.
Lisa is co-author of White Supremacist Violence: Understanding the Resurgence and Stopping the Spread published through Routledge. Her most recent peer-reviewed publications address domestic terrorism recruitment practices, media contagion in connection to suicides and targeted shootings, as well as the mental health and mass shooting myth. Her work on media contagion, female shooters, threat assessment, and post-mass shooting mental health has been featured in Salon, The Hill, the Californian, Diverse Issues in Higher Education, and the Colorado Sun.
Dr. Pescara-Kovach’s international and national level peer-reviewed and invited presentations include, but are not limited to, issues of domestic terrorism; suicides and homicides related to bullying; behavioral threat assessment; and prevention through postvention in school, campus, and workplace shootings. She is certified in psychological autopsy, mental health first aid as well as group and individual critical incident stress management.
Lisa served as an expert witness for the plaintiff in the estate of Gabriel Taye v. Cincinnati Public School District lawsuit (see https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/04/us/gabriel-tayesuit-settlement/index.html). Within the regional community, she has served as the region’s Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Fundamentals of Mental Health trainer since 2014 and is cofounder and director of the Northwestern Ohio Critical Incident Stress Management team.