William John (Ian) Martin Evans

Ian M. Evans is Professor of Psychology at Massey University in New Zealand. After his PhD at the University of London’s Institute of Psychiatry, he taught behavior assessment and therapy for many years at the University of Hawai’i while also serving as consultant psychologist to specialized programs for children and adults with very complex developmental needs. He founded the Hawai’i Association for Autistic Children and was appointed Commissioner on the Governor’s State Planning and Advisory Council for Developmental Disabilities. At this time, he and Luanna Meyer began their collaborative work in the public schools across the state, funded by a federal research grant on children’s challenging behavior. They have published together on learning and behavior, including major meta-analyses on effective interventions and the earliest practical books on behavior problems for use by teachers and practitioners entitled Non-Aversive Intervention for Behavior Problems and an Educative Approach to Behavior Problems.

After becoming Director of Clinical Psychology Training at SUNY-Binghamton, Ian continued his focus on disabilities as well as leading the Binghamton Liberty Partnership Project. This intervention research was funded by state and federal grants to work with elementary schools in preventing school dropout using a home-visitor model to enhance teacher-parent communication. His book Staying in School: Partnerships for Educational Change reports this work and that of colleagues across New York State evaluating initiatives in regular education to support children, families, and the schools. Since moving to New Zealand in 1995, he has been professor, clinical program director, and department head at the University of Waikato and then Massey University. He also served as President of the New Zealand Psychological Society. His most recent work is teacher-focused to enhance the emotional atmosphere in elementary school classrooms, which has led to publication of a manual and a series of research reports. His life-long commitment to children with autism and their families has been recognized by honors including Life Member of the advocacy group Parent-to-Parent and chairing the government’s Living Guidelines Group of the New Zealand Guidelines for Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

Ian has published 6 books, 54 book chapters, and over 100 refereed journal articles, and he serves on the editorial boards of 5 international journals. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. His other interests include photography, antiques of the Arts and Crafts period, taking long non-strenuous walks, wine tasting, and watching his grandchildren develop.