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
