National Initiative to End
Corporal Punishment

The National Initiative to End Corporal Punishment (NIECP) overall goal is to help develop, coordinate, and lead a national campaign to end corporal punishment in the United States. NIECP is sponsored by three organizations: the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, US Alliance to End the Hitting of Children, and the Vincent J. Fontana Center for Child Protection of the New York Foundling.

NIECP’s strategic goals are to influence policy, change organizational practices to adopt No Hit Zones, foster coalitions and networks, engage and educate providers, parents, and key informants, and promote social change, change attitudes, and behavior about corporal punishment through social media and community education. An Executive committee and seven committees operate to help achieve and implement NIECP’s strategic goals.

Mel Schneiderman, PhD

Senior Vice President, the Vincent J. Fontana Center for Child Protection of the New York Foundling, New York

David Corwin, MD

President, American Professional Society on Abuse of Children and Board Chair, Academy on Violence and Abuse, Utah

George Holden, PhD

President, U.S. Alliance to End the Hitting of Children, Professor and Chair of Psychology Department at Southern Methodist University, Texas

Stacie LeBlanc, MEd, JD

President, American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, Co-founder, the UP Institute

Viola Vaughan-Eden, PhD, MJ, LCSW

President, National Organization of Forensic Social Work and President Emerita, American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, Virginia

Randell Alexander, MD, PhD

President of the Academy on Violence and Abuse, Division of Child Protection and Forensic Pediatrics, Pediatric Child Abuse Fellowship at the University of Florida

Robert Block, MD, FAAP

Past President, American Academy of Pediatrics and Academy on Violence and Abuse, Retired as Emeritus Professor and Daniel C. Plunket Chair, Department of Pediatrics, University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine, Oklahoma

Debra Esernio-Jenssen, MD, FAAP

Child Abuse Pediatrician at Lehigh Valley Physician Group, Pennsylvania

Elizabeth Gershoff, PhD

Professor of Human Development and Family Sciences at The University of Texas in Austin, Texas

J. Bart Klika, MSW, PhD

Chief Research and Strategy Officer of Prevent Child Abuse American, Representing Prevent Child Abuse America, Chicago

Shawna Lee, PhD

Associate Professor of Social Work, School of Social Work and Faculty Associate at University of Michigan

Vincent J. Palusci, MD, MS, FAAP

Professor of Pediatrics, NYU School of Medicine

Janet Rosenzweig, PhD, MPA, MS, BS

Executive Director, American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, Pennsylvania

Deb Sendek, MS

Prevention Specialist at the National Child Protection Training Center, Ohio

Cathy Taylor, LCSW, MPH, PhD

Associate Professor at Tulane University, New Orleans

Victor Vieth, JD, MA

President-Elect, Academy on Violence and Abuse, Senior Director and Founder of Gundersen National Child Protection Training Center at Winona State University, Minnesota

Darrell Armstrong, DDiv, MDiv, EdS-MFT

Pastor at Shiloh Baptist Church, New Jersey

Lauren Caldwell, PhD, JD

Director, Children Youth and Families Office at the American Psychological Association (APA), representing APA, Florida

George Carey

Family Room LLC

Rosemary Chalk, BA

Director, Board on Children, Youth, and Families, Washington D. C

Robert David Cohen

Co-Director of Rain Barrel Communications, LLC, New York

Jan Dunn

Director of Accreditation at National Children’s Alliance, Representing the National Children’s Alliance, Washington

Joan Durrant, PhD

Professor of Community Health at University of Manitoba, Canada

David Finkelhor, PhD

Director of the Crimes against Children Research Center, Co-Director of the Family Research Laboratory, Professor of Sociology at the University of New Hampshire

Tricia Gardner, JD

Past President, American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, Associate Professor at University of Oklahoma, Administrator and Director of Professional Education for the Section of Development and Behavioral Pediatrics, Oklahoma

Ron Hughes, PhD, MSCSA

Co-founder and Director of the Institute for Human Services

Gail Horner, PhD

Pediatric Nurse Practitioner/Pediatric SANE Coordinator at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Representing National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, Ohio

Jeff Linkenbach, PhD

Director and Chief Research Scientist at the Montana Institute, Montana

Mary Anne McCaffree, MD

Chair, National Health Collaborative on Violence and Abuse, American Medical Association, Oklahoma

Ismael Ozanne, JD

Dane County District Attorney, Wisconsin

Stacey Patton, PhD

Assistant Professor of Journalism at Morgan State University, Maryland

Mary Pulido, PhD

Executive Director of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, New York

Teresa Rafael, MSW

Executive Director at National Alliance of Children’s Trust and Prevention, Washington

F. David Schneider, MD

Professor and Chairman, Department of Family and Community Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Representing the American Academy of Family Physicians, Texas

Robert Sege, MD, PhD

Chief Medical Officer at Health Resources, American Academy of Pediatrics, Massachusetts