Cassandra Bolar

Cassandra Bolar, Ph.D., serves as Associate Professor of Psychology in the School of Social Sciences at the University of West Georgia's College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. Her research employs ecological frameworks to examine contextual factors affecting father involvement, intimate relationships, and familial functioning within the African American community.

Her educational background includes a Bachelor's in Child and Family Development from the University of Georgia and Master's/Doctoral degrees in Human Development and Family Studies from Auburn University. She holds a Certified Family Life Educator credential from the National Council on Family Relations.

Dr. Bolar's research spans clinical relationship education (creator of Marriage Head Start curriculum), public health interventions (directing NIMHD grants at Morehouse School of Medicine's Satcher Health Leadership Institute), and community-based programming. Her work consistently addresses health disparities through initiatives like the Smart and Secure Children program.

Analysis of thesis topics and course content reveals strong trends in neurodiversity in relationships, maternal healthcare experiences, and attachment theory applications to law enforcement contexts. Her scholarship bridges clinical practice with systemic public health approaches.

She actively supervises thesis research across diverse domains including neurodiverse relationships, maternal healthcare, and police-community attachment dynamics. Her grant work includes directing three NIMHD research grants at Morehouse focused on reducing health disparities through parenting curricula.

Dr. Bolar maintains active clinical practice in couples therapy while directing significant federally-funded research initiatives. Her laboratory work centers on community implementation of evidence-based relationship and parenting programs.