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. 

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