Retrospective: Distinguished researcher, psychology professor and campus leader, V. Mark Durand retires

Matthew Cimitile

In the field of autism and developmental disabilities, there are few names more internationally recognized than V. Mark Durand. A professor of psychology at USF St. Petersburg for the past 20 years, Durand’s research focuses on developing models for understanding and treating challenging behaviors in people with autism spectrum disorders.

Working with his colleague Edward G. Carr, Durand developed functional communication training (FCT), which aimed to address challenging behaviors via new ways of communicating. First detailed in a 1985 paper, FCT has become a world-renowned protocol for treating severe behavioral challenges, often resulting from autism and developmental disabilities.

Since developing FCT, Durand and his colleagues have combined the technique with other popular therapies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, to help families, teachers and patients collectively improve results. He also regularly trains psychologists and social workers on ways to employ FCT in their practice. The protocol has been recognized as one of 27 evidence-based practices by the National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorder and been cited more than 3,300 times in various publications.

In addition, Durand has published 14 books, including abnormal psychology textbooks, that have been used at more than 1,000 universities worldwide and translated into 10 languages. His work has been singled out for professional recognition from leading journals and the American Psychological Association. In 2020, he was named a University of South Florida Distinguished University Professor, the first in the history of USF St. Petersburg to earn this distinction.

Durand joined USF St. Petersburg in 2003 as the founding dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. He was the university’s regional vice chancellor for academic affairs from 2005–2007, and again from 2015–2016.

Durand retired at the end of the fall 2023 semester. We sat down with him to hear more about his distinguished research and teaching career and to look back at his time at USF St. Petersburg.

In addition, I’m proud of the many students I taught and the research and writing I continued to do while here, writing several editions of textbooks and books. Today I look back and think, “how did I do all of it? -V. Mark Durand

How did your interest in the field of developmental disabilities begin?

I worked in a clinic in graduate school, working closely with children who had autism. I was fascinated by why they acted the way they did, how they would hit themselves and others and why they did so. I tried to come up with a way to assess such behavior and to treat these behaviors. The goal was to not involve punishment, since at that time (around 40 years ago), kids were being shocked, they were being hit if they were hitting themselves.

In 1985 you and a colleague wrote a transformative paper, introducing functional communication training (FCT). How would you summarize what FCT is and the goal of this treatment?

What we wanted to do is find out what the function of the behavior problem is. Behavior problems are a form of communication. Like when a baby cries, there is a reason for doing so. At the time, people weren’t looking at it in that way. Through FCT, we developed four reasons for such behavior: getting attention from somebody, escaping situations, getting things and the behavior feels good.

We assessed what the function of each behavior was and then sought to treat it with something more appropriate. For example, if a student is nonverbal, we teach them to point to a picture. If they wanted a break from work that might be too hard, they would point to a picture of a chair to give them a break. Our goal was to teach kids with such disabilities to be able to communicate in a way so people who are not trained at all would know how to respond. Essentially, you wouldn’t need to be trained in autism to deal with someone with these behavior problems. When people followed FTC, most of the behavioral problems with autism went away. It has also been found to work well for people with a range of disorders, including those with attention deficit disorder (ADD) or dementia.

Were you shocked with how globally adopted this training has become?

I am now! It took a while. I’ve given hundreds of talks, including a recent keynote address at the Juvenile Arthritis Association. I think through these talks and having colleagues who conducted their own research on FCT, it sort of multiplied. Over time people tried FCT and they saw better outcomes. It probably took about five years or more before other groups started to adopt the protocol and saw that it could be effective. It has been one of those things that when you look back, it took a long time, but today with how adopted it is across the world, it is shocking to be honest.

What brought you to USF St. Petersburg and why was this campus an attractive place for you to continue your career?

People didn’t really have a good understanding of autism back then. It wasn’t well researched across the country, so being able to move as a researcher was limited for me. But if I became an administrator, I could be portable. So, at SUNY-Albany I eventually became chair of the Psychology department and then an interim dean. Then we had a bad winter and I remember telling my wife, “We don’t have to stay here anymore.” Shortly thereafter, I applied for the job to be founding dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at USF St. Pete. We had both been to St. Petersburg before for conferences and found the city to be such a beautiful place and we loved the warm weather. When I received the job offer, it didn’t take us long to make the decision to come down.

Looking back on your 20 years, what are you most proud of during your time at USF St. Petersburg?

The campus was a great challenge for me because it was new in a sense, as it was undergoing its own accreditation for the first time. We had to teach people how to do tenure reviews and things such as that, because everything was done through Tampa before and it would now be going through St. Petersburg. I was extremely proud of playing a part of us getting accredited. Not many people can say they helped to get the initial accreditation for their institution.

In addition, I’m proud of the many students I taught and the research and writing I continued to do while here, writing several editions of textbooks and books. Today I look back and think, “how did I do all of it?”

I feel that I accomplished everything I set out to do. And I’m especially proud of the fact that I was promoted to a USF Distinguished University Professor. Nobody on the branch campuses had done that before. Ralph Wilcox (USF provost at the time) called me to tell me the news and I was shocked, because I didn’t really think that would happen.

What do you plan to do in retirement?

My wife and I are planning regular trips. I also asked a colleague of mine who retired recently what he does with all his free time. He told me, “My days just seem to fill up.” So, I don’t plan to do much initially and just see how my days fill up.