Robert McInerney, Ph.D.

Professor, Psychology
Undergraduate Coordinator, Psychology Program

Contact Information

• Office: 502G Lawrence Hall
• Phone: 412-392-4721
• Fax: 412-392-4781
• Email: rmcinerney@pointpark.edu

Education

• Bachelor of Arts, Psychology, Montclair State University
• Master of Arts, Clinical Psychology, Duquesne University
• Doctor of Philosophy, Clinical Psychology, Duquesne University

Courses Taught

• Critical Social Psychology
• Interpersonal Relations
• Institutional Practicum (undergraduate and graduate)
• Foundations to Community Psychology (undergraduate and graduate)
• Characterological and Psychotic in Film
• Zombies and Psychological Life
• Music and Psychology Life 
• Ecopsychology, Posthumanism, Cyborgs, and the Anthropocene

Background

Robert G. McInerney, Ph.D., joined the Point Park University faculty in 2006 and is a professor of psychology. He received his M.A. in Existential/Phenomenological Theory and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Duquesne University and did both his pre- and post-doctoral training as a psychotherapist at Carnegie Mellon Counseling and Psychological Services. Dr. McInerney received certification in human science research from the Center for Interpretive and Qualitative Research at Duquesne University in 2008. His interests are in hermeneutic phenomenology, social constructionism, critical and liberation social psychology, community psychology and feminist epistemology.

Dr. McInerney is the coordinator of the undergraduate psychology program and founded and advises Point Park's Confluence Psychology Alliance. 

Additionally, Dr. McInerney is the internship placement coordinator and supervisor for Bridge to the Mountains, Inside Our Minds, Pittsburgh Action Against Rape, Integrative Community Therapy and the Abolitionist Law Center/Courtwatch. He is a board member for Bridge Outreach and on the Community Education Committee of Pittsburgh’s Housing Advisory Board.

Dr. McInerney founded the Mobile Thriving Respite in solidarity with the street community.

The thriving respite takes place at the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, Second Avenue Commons Shelter, and Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community. In 2022, the Mobile Thriving Respite partnered with the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, having respites at the Allegheny Commons, Northside Park. 

In 2019, he was awarded the Social Impact Micro Grant from the Center for Inclusive Excellence and the Department of Community Engagement. In 2020, he was awarded a grant from The Awesome Pittsburgh Foundation for the Mobile Thriving Respite. 

Currently, Dr. McInerney is working with Dr. Autumn Redcross and psychology students on an ethnographic analyses of court procedure at Mental Health Court in Pittsburgh. The project is intended to raise consciousness about potential ignorance regarding the mental health of defendants and ultimately to ameliorate policy and procedure. Learn more about the project here.

Curriculum Vitae

 

Professional Certifications

• Certification in Interpretive and Qualitative Research: Center for Interpretive and Qualitative Research, Duquesne University

Selected Publications

• McInerney, R.G., (2023). Community Psychology (chapter). In the APA Handbook of Humanistic and Existential Psychology. With co-authors Dr. Autumn Redcross (adjunct professor), Hannah Felix (Ph.D. in Critical Psychology candidate), Tatyana Johnson (M.A. in Community Psychology candidate), and Sam Merhaut (Ph.D. in Critical Psychology candidate). Learn more about this collaboration in this story.
• McInerney, R. (2022). Book Review: Markers of Psychosocial Maturation: A Dialectically-Informed Approach, written by Mufid James Hannush. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 53(1), 103-108.
• McInerney, R.G., (2019). The Mobile Thriving Respite with and for the Street Community of Pittsburgh. The Journal of Humanistic Psychology with Point Park University students Kelsey Long, MA and Rachel Stough (doctoral candidate). 
• McInerney, R. G., Kainaroi, C., & Northup, J. (2019). Presenting an existential foundation for community-based research using Richard Brautigan’s In Watermelon Sugar.The Humanistic Psychologist.  
• McInerney, R.G. (2019). Student Activism in a Neoliberal University: A hermeneutic phenomenological analysis. Journal of Humanistic Psychology. With Justin Karter and Brent Dean Robbin
• McInerney, R.G. (2015). A Phenomenological Account of the Shooting Spree. Janus Head, (13) 2, 45-60.
• McInerney, R.G. and Goss, R. (2015). Threshold Researchers in the Community: Toward a Queering Practice as a Hermeneutic of Love. Journal of Humanistic Psychology.
• McInerney, R.G. (2015). A hermeneutics of love for community based, participatory action research. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, (1), 1-23.
• McInerney, R.G. (2013). Neurophenomenological Praxis: Its Applications to Learning and Pedagogy (Chapter) in Neurophenomenology: Its Applications to Psychology. Springer Publishers.
• McInerney, R.G. (2013). Neurophenomenology. The Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology.
• McInerney, R.G. (2013). A Brief Phenomenological Account of the Shooting Spree. The New Existentialists.
• McInerney, R.G. (2012). On the Movement and Interrelation of Youth and Diversity. The New Existentialists.
• McInerney, R. (2011). Book review: A Transcontinental Journey Brings Transcendental Understanding. Existential Psychology East-West. Edited by Louis Hoffman, Mark Yang, Francis J. Kaklauskas & Albert Chan, Colorado Springs: University of the Rockies Press. Janus Head: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature.
• McInerney, R.G. (2010). Oz Never Did Give Nothing to the … Scarecrow: Neurophenomenology and Critical Pedagogy. Phenomenology and Practice, 4 (1), 68-87.

Selected Presentations

• McInerney, R.G. A Hermeneutics of Love for Community Research: Suffering and Acting on the Trembling Ground of Humility, The Society of Humanistic Psychology, APA Division 32 Annual Conference, Pacifica Graduate Institute: Community in Difference: Cultivating a Home for Love and Justice in an Indifferent World, Feb. 28 - March 3, 2013.
• McInerney, R.G. Agency and the Neurophenomenological Self: Anecdotes of Privacy, Sociality, Habit and Distinction. Presented at the 2012, American Psychological Association Convention, Aug. 2-5, 2012, Orlando, Fla.
• McInerney, R.G. Visual Representations of Childhood Mental Disorder: A Critical Discourse and Semiotic Analysis of Media Images. Presented at the 2011, American Psychological Association Convention, Aug. 4-7, 2011, Washington, D.C.
• McInerney, R.G. The Discursive Construction of Childhood Consciousness: Improperly Mooded, Out of Control, Split, and Monstrous. Presented at the 119th, 2011 American Psychological Association, Hospitality Suite, The Society for Humanistic Psychology, Aug. 4-7, 2011.
• McInerney, R.G. Aspiration and Inspiration: The Psychological Life of Being a Student, presented at In the World...On the Edge 2011 Annual Conference of The Society for Humanistic Psychology, Division 32 of the American Psychological Association, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. April 15-17, 2011.
• McInerney, R.G. Herman Hesse's Siddhartha and Humanistic Psychology. Presented at In the World...On the Edge 2011 Annual Conference of The Society for Humanistic Psychology, Division 32 of the American Psychological Association, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. April 15-17, 2011.

Research Interests

• Hermeneutic phenomenology
• Social constructionism
• Post-structural psychology
• Community psychology
• Neurophenomenology

In the News

• "Psychology Students Engage in Advocacy-Driven Research with Abolitionist Law Center Court Watch," Wellsboro Gazette, May 25, 2023. 
• "A Point Park program is helping the homeless thrive instead of just survive," (third segment down) WESA-FM, Jan. 28, 2020.
• "Research Spotlight: Dr. Robert McInerney and the Mobile Thriving Respite," The Society for Qualitative Inquiry in Psychology newsletter, Fall 2019.
• "Social Experiment: Family Gives Up Electronics for 48 Hours," KDKA-TV, Feb. 8, 2017.
• "School communities should be inspiring the dignity of learning," Voices of Point Park series in the Pittsburgh Business Times, Sept. 13, 2013.

Point Park Features

• "Get Career-Ready with: Devon McGee '25, Transfer Psychology Major and Sports, Arts, Entertainment & Music Business Minor," Point Park University website, Feb. 9, 2024. 
• "Through the Department of Psychology's Mobile Thriving Respite, Students Build Meaningful Connections with Pittsburgh's Street Community," Point Park University website, Dec. 12, 2023.
• "Psychology Faculty and Students Publish Research in APA Handbook of Humanistic and Existential Psychology," Point Park University website, July 18, 2023.
• "Psychology Students Engage in Advocacy-Driven Research with Abolitionist Law Center Court Watch," Point Park University website, May 2, 2023.
• "Mobile Thriving Respite Connects Theory to Practice for Psychology Students," Point Park University website, Nov. 9, 2021.
• "Teaching a Humanistic Style of Psychology: Faculty Q&A with Professor Robert McInerney, Ph.D.," Point Park University website, June 1, 2020.
• "Surviving to Thriving: Psychology Students Helping to Improve Lives of Street Community Members," Point Park University website, Oct. 29, 2019.
• "Psychology Professor Recognized for Receiving Carmi Harari Mid-Career Award," Point Park University website, April 16, 2018.
• "Students Network with Psychologists, Learn About New Research in Humanistic Psychology," Point Park University website, April 11, 2017.
• "Confluence Psychology Alliance Marks 10 Years Collecting Coats for City's Homeless," Point Park University website, Feb. 4, 2017.
• "Alumna Taylor Goska Discovered Dual Passions for Psychology and Dance at Point Park," Point Park University website, July 13, 2016.
• "Clinical-Community Psychology Grad Classes Help Alum Become a More Empathic Supervisor," Point Park University website, June 2, 2016.
• "Art Show Organized by Students and OSN Brings Homelessness to the Forefront," Point Park University website, April 28, 2016.
• "Clinical-Community Psych Grad Classes Help Alum in Outreach Role with The Humane Society," Point Park University website, Feb. 4, 2016.
• "Confluence Psychology Alliance Spreads Awareness about Homelessness in Pittsburgh," Point Park University website, Dec. 3, 2015.
• "Psychology Transfer Student Gains Various Data, Contracts Experience Interning for GNC," Point Park University website, Sept. 2, 2015.
• "Psychology Students and Faculty Present Research at Conference in Chicago," Point Park University website, April 10, 2015.
• "Professor to Offer M.A. in Clinical-Community Psychology Demo Class," Point Park University website, May 16, 2014.
• "Confluence Psychology Alliance Student Group Visits Pittsburgh Action Against Rape," Point Park University website, Oct. 21, 2013.
• "Professors Present on Hermeneutics of Love at Psychology Conference," Point Park University website, March 25, 2013.
• "Point Park to Offer Master's Degree in Clinical-Community Psychology," Point Park University website, Oct. 10, 2012.
• "Psychology Department Hosts National Conference, Builds Programs," The Point, Spring 2012 issue.
• "National Psychology Conference Allows Students to Showcase Their Original Research and Meet Scholars," Point Park University website, April 26, 2012.