Honoring a trailblazer in child advocacy

Dr. Michele Moser, professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences with the Quillen College of Medicine, recently earned the 2024 Jim Pryor Child Advocacy Award from the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth (TCCY).   

“She has numerous professional accomplishments, not the least of which was her determination to bring a group of professionals together in the fall of 2010 at the Connecting for Children’s Justice Conference to address a need for Tennessee’s infants, young children and families,” said Richard Kennedy, director of the TCCY.  

This eventually led her to help found the Tennessee Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Initiative, now the Association of Infant Mental Health in Tennessee.   

Moser was licensed in 2003 with the Tennessee Board of Examiners in Psychology. She earned a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. In addition to teaching at Quillen, she also serves with ETSU’s Strong BRAIN Institute and Center of Excellence for Children in State Custody.   

“As you can tell, her work and so many other acts of her heart are on behalf of Tennessee’s children,” said Kennedy.   

Her nominator wrote: “She is tenacious, with a fiery spirit, and a beautiful way of being. Because she never gives up on her big ideas, Tennessee is better equipped to support its babies and the wonderful professionals who hold them.”  

The TCCY began giving out the annual Jim Pryor Child Advocacy Award in 1995 in honor of  

attorney Jim Pryor, who passed away in 1994, and his work advocating for children.   

 ETSU professors regularly earn notable awards, with faculty and staff often winning competitive grants and fellowships.  

East Tennessee State University was founded in 1911 with a singular mission: to improve the quality of life for people in the region and beyond. Through its world-class health sciences programs and interprofessional approach to health care education, ETSU is a highly respected leader in rural health research and practices. The university also boasts nationally ranked programs in the arts, technology, computing, and media studies. ETSU serves approximately 14,000 students each year and is ranked among the top 10 percent of colleges in the nation for students graduating with the least amount of debt.