Timothy J. Cleary Rutgers - The State University of New Jersey
Timothy J. Cleary is Professor and Chair of the Department of School Psychology in the
Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology (GSAPP) at Rutgers, The State
University of New Jersey. He obtained his PhD in Educational Psychology with a specialization
in School Psychology from the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of
New York, CUNY Graduate School in 2001. Dr. Cleary began his professional career working as
a licensed school psychologist in the public and private sector. He began his academic career as a
Visiting Professor at CUNY before serving as Assistant and Associate Professor at the University
of Wisconsin—Milwaukee prior to moving to Rutgers University in 2012.
Dr. Cleary’s primary research interests include the development and application of self-regulated
learning (SRL) and motivation assessment and intervention practices across academic,
athletic, medical, and clinical contexts. Specifically, he has examined trends in school-based
SRL assessment and intervention practices, developed and validated several types of SRL assessments
(i.e., self-report, teacher rating scales, parent rating scales, microanalytic protocols), developed
and tested academic intervention programs, and investigated links among SRL processes
and performance indicators. He has published over 70 peer-review journal articles and book
chapters specifically addressing SRL issues and applications, coedited a scholarly book on SRL,
served as sole author on an edited volume targeting SRL intervention programs and a sole author
for a research-to-practice book for K–12 teachers, The Self-Regulated Learning Guide: Teaching
Students to Think in the Language of Strategies (2018). Most of his publications have appeared
in top-tiered journals across multiple fields, including school psychology, educational psychology,
medical education, teacher education, and sport psychology. His research productivity has
been widely cited by others, with approximately 8,000 Google Scholar citations and 4,000 citations
since 2018. He was the recipient of the 2021 Barry J. Zimmerman Award for Outstanding
Contributions to the fields of studying and self-regulated learning research from the Studying
and Self-Regulated Learning Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research
Association (AERA).
Dr. Cleary’s extramural grant funding is significant in both its quantity and quality, and
most of his projects have been collaborative in nature. He is serving or has served as a Principal
Investigator (PI) or Co-PI on grants from the National Science Foundation, the Department
of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), Institute for
Educational Sciences (IES), and the Spencer Foundation. Over the course of his career, Dr.
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Cleary has served in a lead or collaborative scholarly role on grants totaling approximately $12
million.
Dr. Cleary has also taken on several leadership roles at the university and national levels.
Across institutions, he has served as Program Director, Director of Clinical Training,
and Department Chair. He also participated as a Fellow in the inaugural Rutgers Leadership
Academy in 2015. At a national level, Dr. Cleary has served on the executive board for the
Studying and Self-Regulated Learning Special Interest Group (SSRL SIG) of the American
Educational Research Association (AERA), performing roles of Chair, Program Chair, and
Secretary. He also served as Chair for the Graduate Student Mentoring Program of the SSRL
SIG for four years and has participated in various mentoring programs sponsored by NASP and
Division C of AERA. Dr. Cleary currently serves on prestigious editorial boards for school psychology
journals (Journal of School Psychology, School Psychology) and educational psychology
journals (Journal of Experimental Education, Metacognition and Learning) and served as a panel
reviewer for IES grant for several years. Dr. Cleary is frequently asked to provide professional
development workshops to school personnel, researchers, and psychologists across the country
regarding the application and motivation and SRL principles.