A Global Perspective: Westminster Education Takes Alumnus to Unexpected Places

TITAN SPOTLIGHT

A Global Perspective Westminster education takes alumnus to unexpected places

By VALENTINE BRKICH ’97

When you’re talking about scuba diving, wintertime in Siberia probably doesn’t come to mind. Unless, that is, you’re Dr. William “Bill” Reay ’78.

Back in 2014-15, Reay was a visiting professor at the Baikal School of International Business-University of Irkutsk, Russia, when he had the opportunity to go cold-water diving in Lake Baikal, the world’s deepest and oldest freshwater lake.

“I’ve always loved scuba,” says Reay, who has also gone wreck diving and cave diving in places like Cenote Dos Ojos in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. “So when I had the opportunity to dive under the ice in Baikal, with its freshwater seals and a type of shrimp that exists nowhere else in the world, I jumped at the opportunity.”

Certainly not your typical diving experience. But, then again, nothing about Reay or his career path has been typical.

For over a quarter of a century now, Reay has been a national leader in mental health services and behavioral health services research. He was one of the original developers of the Child and Adolescent Service System Program, which came about in the early 1980s to provide a mental health system of care for children, adolescents, and their families. He was also a founding member of the National Federation for Children’s Mental Health, which organizes parents across the United States to improve mental health care for children. In addition, he served as a professional research member of the US Department of Education’s Evaluation Team for their research and training centers.

Currently Reay is president and chief executive of OMNI Inventive Care, in Omaha, Neb., which helps individuals with significant behavior or mental-health impairment, serving approximately 650 patients daily. In this role he plans, directs, and manages an operational budget of $12 million.

A large part of Reay’s work involves coordinating applied research across several universities to help practitioners provide the best care possible. As president of The Coalition for Behavioral Health Research to Practice, he facilitates a multi-university research initiative to improve both the behavioral healthcare and the quality of life for individuals and families suffering from behavioral health problems. He also served as a professor of psychology at Northcentral University in Scottsdale, Ariz., where he designed and developed international graduate programs. In addition, Reay consults with businesses and academic institutions in the European Union and at the Caribbean research and training center.

Reay preparing for a January dive in Lake Baikal, located in southern Siberia, Russia. The master diver pictured did not speak English and Reay didn’t speak Russian, so all universal diving hand signals were used to communicate.

“Applied behavioral research has a great deal to offer those with serious mental illness,” says Reay. “Implementing the best available treatment, and then feeding those results back to academic researchers, is the best practice standard.”

Reay grew up in Dubois, Pa., about 100 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. When it came time to choose a college, he wanted something that was far enough away from home, but not too far. “I also knew I wanted a place that offered small class sizes. So Westminster seemed like a good fit.”

Studying psychology, while minoring in philosophy and religion, Reay says the opportunities that now retired psychology professors emeriti Dr. David B. Gray ’56 and Dr. Alan G. Gittis provided him and the other students were invaluable.

For example, during Reay’s junior year, Dr. Gittis brought in Julian Jaynes, noted author and researcher in psychology. “Here I am, a young student,” says Reay, “sitting in a cafe in New Wilmington, chatting with one of the real icons in the field as he’s sipping on tea. That just doesn’t happen at other places.”

He also remembers how Gray helped him continue his education. “I was playing foosball in the old TUB one day, when Dr. Gray walks in and says, ‘Hey, Bill, we need to chat.’ Turns out he’d been working on helping me get into grad school, and he wanted to talk about it. Again, this kind of stuff just doesn’t happen anywhere else.”

After graduating, Reay went on to earn a master’s in quantitative psychology from the University of Nebraska. During that time there was a nationwide experiment being conducted by the National Institutes of Health combining the study of law with a Ph.D. in psychology. Consequently, Reay was invited into the university’s prestigious law-psychology program.

“Lawyers and psychologists are professionally socialized in different ways,” says Reay. “Being a part of that program really made me think a whole lot differently about law, how it affects people, and how people in turn affect law.”

In 2010, as treasurer of the American Orthopsychiatric Association, Reay led a delegation of social scientists to the University of Havana, Cuba. This resulted in a professional research relationship with the Cuban Center for Sociological and Psychological Research and the university, where he set up various student exchanges and was one of only a few American professors invited to teach there.

Over the next five years, Reay traveled to Cuba 39 times, teaching a number of classes including Cuban Constitutional Law. More recently, through a collaborative relationship between multiple universities and The Coalition, Reay is developing international programs aimed at improving student training in psychology, business, and education.

It was during his work in Cuba when Reay was first contacted by the Baikal International Business School about possible academic coordination between themselves and Northcentral University. “They invited me to teach there,” says Reay, “and I ended up meeting some folks who’d been stationed in Cuba during the Cold War. It really helped me understand how academic programs are developed internationally.”

Although his work has taken him around the globe, Reay has always had a fondness for his days at Westminster. Now the father of a 15-year-old, he often thinks his son would do well to follow in his footsteps.

“Being a young person and having the opportunity to be around such influential individuals…you really can’t underestimate the power that has. Westminster provides an environment that creates amazing opportunities for those who are hungry.” S