Department of Psychology

Dr. Gagnon is a Professor of Psychology and a member of Appalachian State University’s Master of Arts & Specialist in School Psychology Program. Since arriving at Appalachian in 2002, she has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in educational psychology, child and adolescent psychology, psychological tests & measurements, psychoeducational assessment, and emotional-behavioral assessment. In 2020, Dr. Gagnon received the Appalachian State’s Academy of Outstanding Teachers Award.

Dr. Gagnon studies child temperament, particularly in preschoolers, and is working with New INSIGHTS®, an evidence-based intervention grounded in research on child temperament, parenting, and student-teacher relationships. An additional area of research focuses on bullying, and her research lab is working on studies of high school bullying, mental health, emotion regulation, and social support. Dr. Gagnon has also contributed to the school psychology training literature with a paper describing an evidence-based approach to teaching psychoeducational assessment incorporating GoReact®, an online video feedback tool.

Dr. Gagnon is involved in the North Carolina Association of School Psychologists as a member of the Awards Committee. She contributes to the National Association of School Psychologists as a Reviewer for the NASP Program Accreditation Board.

Relevant Publications (bold denotes current/former students)

Gagnon, S. G., Huelsman, T. J., Kidder-Ashley, P., Macomson, H., Taylor, C. N., Hall, H. W., & Harshman, E. (under review). INSIGHTS Into Appalachia: Implementing an Evidence-Based Social Emotional Learning Program in Rural Schools. Submitted to Journal of School Psychology, special issue on Research, Program Evaluation, and Return on Investment to Promote a Strong School Mental Health Workforce.

Breitenstein, R. S., Gagnon, S. G., Webb, R. M., Choquette, E., Horn, I., Bollinger, M., Watson, M. M., Honeycutt, K., Gough, C. J., & Kidder-Ashley, P. (2025). Can social support protect the mental health of college students who experienced bullying in high school? Education Sciences, Special Issue: Stress Management and Student Well-Being, 15, 388; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15030388

Gagnon, S. G., Yarbrough, J. L., Hall, H. W., Black, H., Hendricks, C., & Wingfield, L. (2024). Investigating a model for teaching cognitive assessment using GoReact as a feedback tool. School Psychology Training and Pedagogy, 40(3), 45-59.

Maine, J., Huelsman, T. J., Gagnon, S. G., Webb, R. M., & Ashley, P. K. (2024). A penguin is not a giraffe: Categorizing preschool children according to temperament. Early Childhood Education Journal. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1007/s10643-024-01696-8 

Nagle, R. J., Gagnon, S. G., & Kidder-Ashley, P. (2020). Issues in preschool assessment. In V. C. Alfonso, B. B. Bracken, & R. J. Nagle (Eds.), Psychoeducational assessment of preschool children, Fifth Edition. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Gagnon, S. G. (2019). GoReact Psychoeducational Assessment Interactive Rubric. In H. Gambin, Three resources for psychoeducational assessment training. Invited by GoReact. https://blog.goreact.com/psychoeducational-assessments/ 

Gagnon, S. G., Huelsman, T. J., Kidder-Ashley, P., & Lewis Heffner, A. (2019). Preschool student-teacher relationships and student-specific teaching stress. Early Childhood Education Journal, 47, 217-225. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-018-0920-z 

McClowry, S. G., & Gagnon, S. G. (2018). Maintaining the fidelity of the intervention. In Melnyk, B. M., & Morrison-Beedy, D. (Eds.), Designing, conducting, analyzing, and funding intervention research: A practical guide for success. New York, NY: Springer. 

Recent Presentations (bold denotes current/former students)

Gagnon, S. G., Bollinger, M. L., Watson, M. M., & Macomson, H. (2024, October).Bringing INSIGHTS to life: Moving beyond research and into the real world. To be presented at the North Carolina School Psychology Association Fall Conference, Carey, NC.

Sargent, A. L., Choquette, E. R., Horn, I. M., Watson, M. M., Bollinger, M. L., Baker, A., & Gagnon, S. G. (2024, February). Bully vs. bully-victim: An exploratory study observing differences in personality.Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, New Orleans, LA. 

Horn, I., M., Choquette, E. R., Bollinger, M. L., Watson, M. M., Baker, A., Sain, M., & Gagnon, S. G. (2024, February). Let’s focus on bullies: Personality, anxiety, & social support. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, New Orleans, LA.

Sargent, A. L., Choquette, E. R., Horn, I. M., Watson, M. M., Bollinger, M. L., Baker, A., & Gagnon, S. G. (2024, February). Differentiating bullying roles: Personality traits of bullies, victims, and bully-victims. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, New Orleans, LA.

Sargent, A. L., Choquette, E. R., Horn, I. M., Watson, M. M., Bollinger, M. L., Baker, A., & Gagnon, S. G. (2023, October). Bully vs. bully-victim: An exploratory study observing differences in personality. Poster presented at the North Carolina School Psychology Association Fall Conference, Winston-Salem, NC.

Horn, I., M., Choquette, E. R., Bollinger, M. L., Watson, M. M., Baker, A., Sain, M., & Gagnon, S. G. (2023, October). Let’s focus on bullies: Personality, anxiety, & social support. Poster presented at the North Carolina School Psychology Association Fall Conference, Winston-Salem, NC.

McClowry, S. G., Gagnon, S. G., Harvey, E., & Hinrichs, A. (2023, October). Culturally adapting a temperament-based intervention. Symposium presented at the 24th Occasional Temperament Conference, Orford, Québec, Canada.

Gagnon, S. G., Yarbrough, J. L., Rector, R., Cummings, C., & Maclean, L. (2023, February). Just say the words in blue! Reducing examiner error while teaching psychoeducational assessment. Poster presented at the 2020 Trainers in School Psychology Conference, Denver, CO.

Gagnon, S. G., Gallatin, B., Augustine, E., Rector, R., Choquette, E., Horn, I., & Hynek, C. (2023, February). High school bullies and bully-victims: Who, How, and Why? Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Denver, CO.

Gagnon, S. G., Huelsman, T. J., & Main, J. D. (2023, February). Squirrels, foxes, and bears, oh my! Grouping children by temperament. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Denver, CO.

Thomson, A., Gagnon, S. G., Augustine, E., Gallatin, B., Rector, R., Horn, I., Choquette, E., & Holden, F. (2022, October). Bullying in high school and college: What happens to anxiety? Poster presented at the North Carolina School Psychology Association Fall Conference, Cary, NC. 

Thomson, A., Gagnon, S. G., Gallatin, B., Rector, R., Augustine, E., Horn, I., & Choquette, E. (2022, October). Bullying in high school and college: What happens to depression? Poster presented at the North Carolina School Psychology Association Fall Conference, Cary, NC.

Gagnon, S. G., Gough, C. J., McAlister, C., Moyer, N., Rojas, S., Kidder-Ashley, P., Glaze, M. Rector, R., & Gallatin, B. (2022). Emerging adults and COVID-19: How are they faring? Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Boston, MA.

Gagnon, S. G., Moyer, N., Gough, C. J., McAlister, C., & Rojas, S., Kidder-Ashley, P., & Bingman, A. (2022, February). Late adolescent cyberbullying versus face-to-face bullying: Exploring reasons. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Boston, MA.

Gough, C. J., Moyer, N., McAlister, C., Rojas, S., Breitenstein, R., Gagnon, S. G.,Kidder-Ashley, P., & Augustine, E. (2022, February). Social support and coping strategies among bullied individuals. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Boston, MA.

Gagnon, S. G., McAlister, C., Kidder-Ashley, P., Rojas, S., Moyer, N., Gough, C. J., & Bingman, A. (2022, February). Let’s focus on our LGBTQ students: Bullying and mental health. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Boston, MA.

Kidder-Ashley, P., Shelton, A., Winner, B., Pages, M., & Gagnon, S. G. (2020, February). Late-adolescent targets of bullying: Personality characteristics, coping strategies, social support. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Baltimore, MD.