March’s distinguished Alumni in the Spotlight, Dr. Christopher Kunkle currently runs a private clinical and forensic psychology practice in Albany, New York, and works as an adjunct professor at the College of St. Rose where he teaches undergraduate courses in Forensic Psychology, Serial Crimes, Criminal Profiling and Criminal Behavior. In addition, Dr. Kunkle has been the Deputy Chief Psychiatric Examiner for the New York State Office of Mental Health’s Division of Forensic Services since March 2010. There he is responsible for evaluating sexual offenders and testifying in court as an expert in the dangerousness and reoffense risk posed by these offenders, as well as managing a team of doctoral level clinicians, located in 4 regional offices, who are tasked with evaluating high risk sex offenders and offering expert testimony on their evaluation findings.
Dr. Kunkle received his Doctorate and Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology from Post and has a Masters Degree in Forensic Psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He completed his undergraduate study in Chemistry and Forensic Science at the State University of New York at Oswego.
Dr. Kunkle’s past professional experience includes work as a forensic psychologist and forensic scientist. He has held positions at the New York State secure treatment facilities for dangerous sexual offenders in Ogdensburg, NY, the Bellevue Hospital Forensic Psychiatry Service in New York City, the Federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in NYC, the Schneider Children’s Hospital Forensic Treatment Program for Juvenile sex offenders, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Dr. Kunkle has also conducted and published research on violent offenders with mental illness, as well as stalkers and threateners of celebrities, judges and the President of the United States. He is currently involved in several research projects; one on the role of pornography use in the facilitation of sexual deviance and sexual offending, and another on the psychological meaning of offense behaviors in serial violence.
Dr. Kunkle began his professional career as a forensic scientist and quickly realized that his interest in the psychology behind human deviance far outweighed the technical and scientific skill of evidence analysis. He decided to not fully abandon his forensic training but to change career paths and returned to school. After completing Post-baccalaureate courses in Psychology while working at the crime lab, Dr. Kunkle enrolled in graduate school at John Jay College of Criminal Justice to earn a Masters degree in Forensic Psychology. His time at John Jay further solidified his interest in psychology and he subsequently went on to pursue his Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Long Island University, Post’s program.
While at Post, Dr. Kunkle continued pursing his interest in Forensic Psychology. His curiosity and dedication to the area culminated in his dissertation titled, Assessing Risk for Violence Among Patients Court Ordered to Assisted Outpatient Treatment in New York City. The study examined a sample of 94 participants court ordered to receive treatment coordinated by the New York County Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) Program Office at Bellevue Hospital Center. Participants were grouped into three groups; a nonviolent group, a minor violence group, and a severe violence group based on whether or not they committed one or more violent acts during a six-month AOT order. The Historical Clinical Risk – 20 (HCR-20) was scored from participants’ AOT records to determine if the commission of violence during an AOT order could be predicted. Results from the HCR-20 scores revealed that this measure was useful in identifying individuals beginning AOT who had a heightened potential for violence.
Dr. Kunkle attributes a lot of his success to his initiative to create and maintain relationships with people he worked with and/or came in contact with while at school as well as at externship and internship. While professional networking technology helped him maintain contacts, he acknowledges that his gumption to reach out to contacts he had made throughout the program was a catalyst to his accomplishments. He found himself pleasantly surprised at the willingness of not only the people he worked with, but of the people he interviewed with over the course of the internship process, to help him in any way they could. As a professional who has witnessed the benefits of this process firsthand, Dr. Kunkle strongly encourages students to be proactive at fostering professional relationships throughout the process while keeping in mind the potential value of such relationships on one’s future career.