Alicia McCormick is an educator, administrator, foster-care advocate, researcher, and advisory leader whose career has been shaped by a commitment to improving the lives of children, families, students, and communities. With more than 13 years of professional experience, she brings together expertise in higher education, developmental trauma, foster and kinship care, disability advocacy, accreditation, program administration, and trauma-informed practice. Her professional journey reflects a distinctive combination of institutional leadership and firsthand community experience, allowing her to approach complex challenges with both an operational perspective and a deep understanding of the people affected by organizational decisions. Alicia is particularly passionate about opportunities within pediatric care and foster care, where her professional knowledge and personal experience can contribute to thoughtful, sustainable change.
Alicia has built a significant portion of her career at Biola University, progressing through increasingly responsible leadership positions within Communication Sciences and Disorders and the university’s health-related academic programs. She began as Administrative Coordinator for the Communication Sciences and Disorders Department, coordinating academic and faculty schedules, supporting undergraduate and graduate programs, assisting with operations of the Biola Speech and Language Clinic, managing clinical-practicum agreements, and helping oversee program and clinic budgets. This foundation gave Alicia broad exposure to the interconnected academic, clinical, financial, and administrative responsibilities required to support successful higher-education programs.
Her expanding capabilities led to her advancement to Manager of Accreditation and Licensure for Biola University’s Communication Sciences and Disorders Department. In that capacity, Alicia assumed responsibility for accreditation activities involving the Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology program, including work associated with ASHA and the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. She also managed student certification, licensure, and credentialing processes, administered contracts supporting clinical practicums and externships, and oversaw departmental budget responsibilities. Her work required close attention to standards and regulatory expectations while coordinating among students, faculty members, administrators, clinical partners, and other stakeholders. Through these responsibilities, Alicia developed substantial experience navigating environments where compliance, educational quality, organizational execution, and stakeholder needs must remain aligned.
In 2026, Alicia continued her leadership progression at Biola University by moving into the role of Director of Health Division Graduate Programs. The position represents a natural evolution of a career spent supporting graduate education, health-related disciplines, accreditation, and effective academic administration. Her experience gives her insight into how programs develop from both an institutional and human perspective, from the policies and operational systems behind them to the experiences of students and communities they ultimately serve. Her leadership philosophy is grounded in collaboration and patience; she recognizes that meaningful organizational change can take time and believes progress depends on people who are prepared to contribute constructively as members of a team while recognizing the right moments to act.
Beyond higher education, foster care has become a defining dimension of Alicia’s professional and personal life. She has served as a foster parent since 2019, including as an Emergency Shelter Home specializing in newborns from birth to approximately four months of age. This firsthand experience complements her academic research and teaching, giving her an unusually multidimensional perspective on attachment, developmental trauma, family reunification, caregiver support, and the realities confronting foster and adoptive families. At Saddleback College, Alicia serves as a trainer for the Foster and Kinship Continuing Education Program, providing continuing education to current and prospective foster and adoptive families while also making herself available as a mentor to caregivers seeking guidance. Her teaching has addressed subjects including substance-exposed infants, attachment in infancy, fostering as a single parent, and caregiver well-being for special-needs parents.
Alicia’s commitment to foster care is reinforced by an extensive academic foundation. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Communicative Sciences and Disorders with a minor in Biblical Studies from Biola University and a Master of Arts in Christian Studies with an emphasis in Christian Leadership from Grand Canyon University. She subsequently completed a PhD in Educational Studies at Biola University, focusing her dissertation on factors influencing reunification in foster care in Southern California. Continuing her pursuit of specialized knowledge, Alicia is studying toward a Master of Science in Developmental Trauma at Texas Christian University, with graduation expected in 2028. She has also completed TBRI Parenting and TBRI Classroom 101 training, further strengthening the trauma-informed framework she brings to her work with children, families, caregivers, educators, and organizations.
Her expertise extends into disability and special-needs advocacy. Alicia has contributed as a behavior specialist in environments serving foster children, children with autism, and families affected by disability, including Royal Family Kids Camp, Biola University’s Social Skills Camp, and Joni and Friends Family Retreat. Through Access Ministries at Wilshire Avenue Community Church, she has helped advance accessibility for special-needs and foster/adoptive families, including work involving disability and foster/adopt ministry, buddy systems for children with special needs, and greater awareness and acceptance of individuals with disabilities and foster/adoptive families. These experiences have helped shape Alicia’s ability to consider organizational challenges through the lens of inclusion, accessibility, trauma awareness, and family experience.
Alicia is also an experienced educator and presenter who has translated her knowledge into practical learning for diverse audiences. Her presentations have covered trauma-informed speech pathology, trauma-informed higher education, the intersection of trauma and disability, behavioral support, and strategies for professionals and caregivers responding to challenging behavior. She has delivered education and training in university, professional conference, healthcare, church, camp, and community environments. Her presentation at the California Speech-Language-Hearing Association Conference on trauma-informed speech pathology is representative of her ability to connect concepts across disciplines and bring trauma-informed perspectives into professional practice. Although she remains selective about travel, Alicia is open to additional public-speaking opportunities through which she can share her experience and contribute to important conversations around children, families, disability, education, and foster care.
Writing and research provide another avenue for Alicia to expand that impact. Her doctoral dissertation explored factors influencing foster-care reunification in Southern California, connecting scholarly inquiry with an issue she understands through lived experience. Her book, Get Too Attached: Collective Wisdom on Fostering Babies, is planned for Fall 2026 and reflects her commitment to sharing practical insight about fostering infants. She also has an article, Getting Too Attached: How the Local Church Can Get Involved in Foster Care, planned for publication in Outreach Magazine in Winter 2026. Through research, writing, teaching, and speaking, Alicia seeks to help others understand not only the systems surrounding vulnerable children and families, but also the relationships, empathy, and informed action necessary to strengthen those systems.
Her developing governance experience further complements this background. Alicia serves on the TraumaWise Advisory Board and the Rady Children’s Health Orange County Patient and Family Advisory Committee. These roles provide opportunities to contribute her perspective to conversations involving trauma-informed practice, pediatric and family experiences, and organizational decision-making. She understands that effective advisory service requires listening carefully, collaborating with people who bring different perspectives, and remaining committed even when meaningful change is incremental. Alicia’s combination of professional administration, higher-education leadership, research expertise, caregiver experience, and community engagement enables her to bring both institutional and family-centered perspectives to the table.
At the heart of Alicia’s work is a desire to give back to her community. Her interest in board and advisory opportunities is not simply an extension of her résumé; it reflects a belief that experience becomes more valuable when it can be used in service of others. She brings an appreciation for teamwork and recognizes that sustainable progress often requires patience, persistence, and the willingness to identify when an opportunity for meaningful action has arrived. Her interests in writing and music, together with her longstanding passion for children, further reflect a life centered on communication, creativity, relationships, and service.
As Alicia continues developing her leadership and governance experience, she offers organizations a perspective that crosses traditional professional boundaries. She understands higher education and academic operations, accreditation and licensure, foster and kinship care, pediatric and family advocacy, disability inclusion, developmental trauma, and community education. More importantly, she understands how these areas intersect in the lives of real people. For organizations seeking an advisory or board contributor who can connect institutional priorities with the experiences of children, caregivers, students, and families, Alicia brings a thoughtful combination of professional discipline, academic inquiry, lived experience, and service-oriented leadership.
Character:
Alicia demonstrates character through a sustained commitment to children, families, students, and communities, supported by years of foster parenting, advocacy, education, and service. She approaches leadership with patience, empathy, collaboration, and an understanding that lasting change often requires both persistence and the humility to work effectively alongside others.
Knowledge:
Combining advanced academic study with extensive practical experience across higher education, foster and kinship care, developmental trauma, disability, accreditation, licensure, and program administration. Her research, teaching, caregiving, and leadership experiences allow her to connect scholarly knowledge with practical realities affecting organizations and the people they serve.
Strategic:
Alicia understands how organizational systems, policies, compliance requirements, stakeholder relationships, and human needs interact, enabling her to consider challenges from multiple perspectives. Her progression into graduate-program leadership, coupled with governance and advisory experience, demonstrates an ability to contribute thoughtfully to long-term initiatives while remaining attentive to implementation and stakeholder impact.
Communication:
An experienced educator, trainer, presenter, researcher, and emerging author who can translate specialized concepts into accessible and useful information for varied audiences. Her work with students, faculty, professionals, caregivers, families, and community organizations equips her to listen carefully, communicate with empathy, and foster productive conversations around complex and sensitive issues.
