As the founder of the internationally acclaimed Families and Schools Together, Inc. (FAST) organization, Dr. McDonald is one our nation's leading social entrepreneurs and experts on building strong relationships between families, children and schools. She founded FAST in 1988 as a means to support the type of family bonding necessary for children to thrive in school and life. She built the organization based on her experiences as a mother, clinical social worker, college professor, family advocate, community steward, and a child of a U.S. Diplomat who attended 12 schools in five different countries (Europe, Middle East and Washington, DC) by the time she graduated from high school. FAST currently operates signature programs in 49 U.S. states and 20 countries, and recently launched a major new initiative covering several regions of Australia and their Northern Territories. You can learn more about FAST here: www.familiesandschools.org.
Beyond FAST, Dr. McDonald has had vast experience and impact in her field. She received her bachelor's degree in philosophy from Oberlin College, a Master's degree in social work from the University of Maryland-Baltimore, and her PhD in Psychology from the University of California-Irvine. She has been a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker and an American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) Certified Family Therapist.
Dr. McDonald began her professional career as a Psychiatric Social Worker with the University of California-Los Angeles Neuropsychiatric Institute, where she began to pursue what would become a lifelong passion: applying research findings to create solutions for the real-life challenges faced by children and families. Dr. McDonald then moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where she launched what became a 22-year distinguished career with the University of Wiscosin-Madison, working as a Researcher with the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, a professor of Social Work in the UW-Madison School of Social Work and as a clinical faculty member in the UW's Department of Psychology.
In 2008, Dr. McDonald joined Middlesex University, London, as a Professor of Social Work Research. For nine years until her recent retirement, she divided her time each year between London and Madison, where she continues to work with Families & Schools Together, Inc., the UW-Madison Wisconsin Center for Education Research, and now One City Early Learning. Dr. McDonald is the mother of two grown children and grandmother to three children. Her son, Ben Wikler, a native Madisonian and West High graduate, is the past Washington Director for Moveon.org and current chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.
