Betsy Goulet is a Clinical Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the UIS Child Advocacy Studies Program (CAST) in the College of Public Affairs and Administration. In her appointment with the Center for State Policy and Leadership, Dr. Goulet is the Director of the Alliance for Experiential Problem-Based Learning. For over thirty years, Dr. Goulet has worked in child protection, serving as the founding director of the Sangamon County Child Advocacy Center and working as the Childrenâ¿¿s Policy Advisor to the Illinois Attorney General. She also started the State Chapter of Childrenâ¿¿s Advocacy Centers in Illinois and served as the organizationâ¿¿s first president. From 2002 â¿¿ 2008 Dr. Goulet worked for the National Childrenâ¿¿s Alliance as a Membership Specialist, conducting accreditation site reviews for Childrenâ¿¿s Advocacy Centers across the country.

Through a contract with Illinois Department of Child and Family Services, Dr. Goulet developed a new model for child protection training that emphasizes experiential learning and the use of a Residential Simulation Lab and mock courtroom on the UIS campus. She has presented nationally and internationally on the Child Protection Training Academy and has consulted with several states who are interested in replicating the model.  In the summer of 2020, the Journal of Public Child Welfare published Dr. Gouletâ¿¿s research article on the model â¿¿Moving from Procedure to Practice: a statewide child protection simulation training modelâ¿¿ co-authored with the CPTA evaluation team, Dr. Theodore P. Cross and Dr. Yu-Ling Chiu. In 2020, the Capacity Building Center for States, part of the Childrenâ¿¿s Bureau, created a new website for simulation training, featuring the UIS Training Academy.  https://capacity.childwelfare.gov/states/focus-areas/workforce/simulationtraining/

Dr. Goulet also serves as the principal investigator for a federal SAMHSA grant in partnership with the University of Missouri St. Louis. The FORECAST grant trains CAST faculty and community professionals from around the country in trauma-informed practices using simulation and Problem-Based Learning.