Webinar Abstract:
This presentation focuses on the once-in-a-lifetime event, the World Scout Jamboree that took place in the summer of 2019 in West Virginia, with over 42,000 in attendance from over 140 countries. Dr. McNeil will focus on the role of West Virginia University and Mountaineer Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America in this global event . The presentation also will speak to future national events that will be held in West Virginia, at the Summit Bechtel Reserve, which is comprised of ~10,000 acres near Beckley, WV.
Presenter BIO:
Dr. McNeil is the president (a volunteer) of Mountaineer Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, which covers 12 counties in north central West Virginia. His “day job” is as a professor at West Virginia University. He is a licensed psychologist in the state of West Virginia, and led West Virginia University’s mental health team at the World Scout Jamboree this past summer.
One PDU is available for this session.
More about Dr. McNeil:
Daniel W. McNeil is a tenured Professor of Psychology, Distinguished Eberly Family Professor of Public Service, and Clinical Professor of Dental Practice & Rural Health. His major volunteer role, however, is as President of the Mountaineer Area Council (MAC) of the Boy Scouts of America. MAC comprises 12 counties in north-central West Virginia, serving over 1,400 youth.
McNeil is the coordinator of WVU’s Merit Badge University, which is a cooperative effort statewide and regionally with Mountaineer Area Council. This annual event brings over 300 middle/high school students across a six-state region to WVU for a day-long series of activities across the three Morgantown campuses.
Dr. McNeil’s transdisciplinary service activities in West Virginia focus on health, particularly oral health. His statewide program promoting health in pregnant women (and later including their children) is funded by the National Institutes of Health. McNeil blends service activities with research as well as teaching, involving undergraduate, Psychology doctoral, and Dental and other professional students in his Anxiety, Psychophysiology, and Pain Research Laboratory.
McNeil provides service in the state as a licensed Psychologist. He has served on editorial boards of a number of scientific journals in Psychology and Dentistry, and is president-elect of the Behavioral, Epidemiologic and Health Services Research scientific group of the International Association for Dental Research.
A Fulbright Senior Scholar in New Zealand in 2010, McNeil integrates service-research-teaching with groups for whom health disparities exist, including Appalachian populations and indigenous peoples. He is a core member of WVU’s Native American Studies Program.
McNeil has served as the faculty advisor to WVU’s Psi Chi International Psychology Honorary chapter for over 10 years, and has received the international Psi Chi Outstanding Advisor award.