Dr. Vaughn DeCoster is originally from Southern California, transplanted early in his childhood to Northwest Arkansas when his parents decided to escape Los Angeles to become poultry farmers. He attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology (cum laude), May 1990. From the Ozarks, he then traveled to the bayous of South Louisiana and attended Tulane School of Social Work, earning a Master of Social Work with a clinical emphasis, December 1991, then Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge where he earned the Doctorate of Philosophy in sociology with an emphasis in social psychology and medical sociology. Throughout his graduate studies and to the present, he has remained strongly committed to the social work profession by being clinically active, making a conscious effort to remain "in-touch" with practicing colleagues, involved with the local/state chapters of the National Association of Social Workers, and by emphasizing the applied dimensions of his scholarship.

Clinically, Dr. DeCoster has over thirteen years of practice experience, predominately in hospital based settings (for-profit and teaching based institutions) providing therapy to individuals, families, and groups. In Baton Rouge, he had the unique opportunity to work in a free-standing diabetes clinic conducting a range of mental health services for people with diabetes and their families. Dr. DeCoster maintains licensure in the state of Tennessee and national accreditation (ACSW), provides clinical licensure supervision to graduate practitioners, and maintains a limited private practice, primarily with individuals with diabetes. His practice is based on cognitive and psychoanalytic theories.

Dr. DeCosters research utilizes a mixed methodological approach across four areas of interest: gerontology, diabetes, emotion, and health care social work. Fundamentally, he is interested in the psychosocial dimensions of diabetes, how we manage our emotion (e.g. control/shape our feelings and those of other people), as well as how gender/ethnicity frames social interactions. His past research has separately explored these areas through studies identifying how physicians then social workers address patient emotion, the psychosocial challenges of diabetes, diabetic coping strategies, and evidence based psychosocial interventions for those with diabetes. His current research investigates evidence supported, community-based, interventions that address the psychosocial challenges of type 2 diabetes among minority elders. Dr. DeCoster has multiple publications in scientific journals, public periodicals, and over fifty presentations at local, state, and national conferences.

In the Spring of 2004 Dr. DeCoster was selected as a Hartford Faculty Scholar, winning a two-year grant of $100,000 to study ways of empowering elderly African Americans with diabetes (for the complete story http://pigtrail.uark.edu/news/JUN04/diabetes.html).

Since August of 1998, Dr. DeCoster has held the position of Assistant Professor of Social Work at the University of Tennessee - College of Social Work (Memphis) where he has taught Human Behavior in the Social Environment, Social Work Research, Clinical Practice Evaluation, and Clinical Practice with Individuals. He previously held an appointment as an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Humanities at Our Lady of the Lake College (Baton Rouge), January 1996 through May 1998, where he taught undergraduate courses on Current Social Problems, Introduction to Sociology, Health Care Ethics, Dying and Death, Introduction to Computers, and developed a team-taught course on gender and ethnicity. Dr. DeCoster describes his teaching as highly pragmatic, driven by the "real world" practice needs of social workers, and incorporating the latest technology and informational resources into the classroom.

Dr. DeCoster is married to Marla Gordon DeCoster, a native Arkansan and also a practicing clinical social worker. The two of them live with their soon to be three year-old son, Nevin. He is an avid runner, scuba diver, enjoys historical texts on the Second World War era, and is a dedicated Star Trek fan (Enterprise). Dr. DeCoster also has an "addiction-like" interest in aviation, maintains instrument proficiency, and pilots a 1966 Piper Cherokee, often flying missions for Angel Flight.