Associate Professor of Psychology Loraina Ghiraldi says her most rewarding experiences have come from “collaborations with motivated students on independent research projects.  I have been very fortunate to have worked with truly outstanding psychology, biology and neuroscience majors,” she adds. “In the process, we learn from each other.”

With her B.A. from Russell Sage and her doctorate from SUNY Albany, Ghiraldi says her research area is behavioral endocrinology.  “I have investigated the effects of hormones on maternal, aggressive and sexual behaviors in animal models,” she explains.  “I’ve become interested in the effects of environmental and social enrichment on hormonally mediated behaviors.” As chair of St. Lawrence’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, she says “the physical and psychological well-being of the rodents we house in our animal facility is very important to me.”  She and her students often present at professional conferences their research on behaviors in mice.   

“I enjoy engaging in the work of trying to make a positive impact on my students as a teacher, a mentor and an academic advisor,” Ghiraldi says. “I also enjoy the intellectually stimulating camaraderie I experience with my faculty colleagues – while team-teaching, sponsoring student research projects, tackling committee work, and engaging in other collaborative endeavors.”

Outside of her work, Ghiraldi is an aficionado of ballroom dancing. “While earning my Ph.D., I was a graduate student by day, but a ballroom dance teacher by night, at an Arthur Murray Dance Studio,” she says. “For 25 years, ballroom dancing (Latin, swing, smooth) has been a serious hobby.” She also enjoys traveling, museums, theater and “listening (and dancing, of course) to live music.”