[1] Zapf spent sixteen years as a professor of psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice prior to joining Palo Alto University as the Vice President of Business Innovation and Strategic Advancement.
[4] Upon completion of her doctoral program, Zapf worked at the University of Alabama as an Assistant Professor in the Psychology Department until 2002.
She concurrently began and maintains faculty affiliate status at Simon Fraser University in their Mental Health, Law and Policy Institute.
[4] After leaving the University of Alabama, Zapf held various positions at John Jay College of Criminal Justice at The City University of New York, including Director of Clinical Training, Director of the Forensic Psychology Research Institute, Associate Professor and Professor in the Department of Psychology.
[2] She has examined the issue in a number of articles,[6][7][8][9][10][11] evaluating the current research and instruments used for competency assessment.