Psychology Faculty Teaching and Research Specialization
Faculty:
Department Chair: Cheryl Stuntz, Ph.D. – University of Virginia (2005)
Teaching: Sport and Exercise Psychology; Personality Psychology; Positive Psychology w/ Lab
Research: Psychosocial development through sport participation; social relationships in sport and physical activity; social factors influencing aggression and unsportsmanlike play
Cathy Crosby, Ph.D. – Univ. of Virginia (1994); J.D. – Univ. of Maryland (1987)
Teaching: Introductory Psychology; Community Psychology; Psychology and Law; Evolution of the American Family (FYP); Constitutional Law and the Family (FYS)
Research: Examining psychological assumptions that underlie legal decision making, especially those regarding families and juries
Megan Carpenter, Ph.D. – University of Hawaii (2015)
Teaching: Introductory Psychology; Psychology of Human Sexuality; Psychology of Gender
Research: Human sexual strategies – particularly in populations with a skewed sex ratio, gender norms and expectations, sexual fluidity, queer identities and experiences
William DeCoteau, Ph.D. – University of Utah (2001)
Teaching: Introductory Psychology; Brain and Behavior; Animal Behavior w/ Lab; Human Neuropsychology; Behavioral Neuroscience
Research: Use of rodent models to study the neurobiology of motor and spatial behavior, memory, and human disease conditions
Ana Y. Estevez, Ph.D. – Wayne State University (1999); Joint appointment with Biology
Teaching: Introduction to Neuroscience; Advanced Neuroscience; Drugs and the Brain; Cellular Mechanisms of Memory; Current Topics in Neuroscience
Research: Calcium signaling, ion channel physiology, oxidative stress; cellular signaling pathways that could be potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of stroke, addiction or pain
Adam Fox, Ph.D. – West Virginia University (2013)
Teaching: Introductory Psychology; Research Methods w/ Lab; Learning w/ Lab; Applied Behavior Analysis Seminar
Research: Human and non-human laboratory models of choice, punishment, rule-governance, and temporal learning; Rodent models of neuropsychological disorders; applied animal behavior research (mostly horses)
Loraina Ghiraldi, Ph.D. – SUNY at Albany, NY (1987)
Teaching: Introductory Psychology; Research Methods w/ Lab; Hormones and Behavior w/ Lab
Research: Hormones and cognitive function in humans; stress and coping in college students; hormonal and environmental influences on sexual, aggressive, and maternal behaviors in rodents; effects of environmental and social enrichment on hormonally-mediated behaviors in rodents
Brian Giesler, Ph.D. – University of Texas at Austin (1993)
Teaching: Introductory Psychology; Motivation and Emotion; Determinants of Well-Being; Research Methods w/Lab
Research: Quality of life in cancer survivorship, Impact of religiosity and spirituality on health, How goal adoption processes affect goal attainment, Impact of consensus information
Shu Jiang, Ph.D. – University of Connecticut (2023)
Teaching: Introductory Psychology; Cultural Psychology
Research: Culture and language, computational language analysis, dynamic person perception, sociocultural contexts and well-being
Elizabeth MacDougall, LVT – Marist College (1998); Canton College of Technology (2005)
Vivarium Director; Licensed Veterinary Technician; Instructor.
Teaching: Laboratory Animals: Techniques, Ethics & Care
Laura Mills-Smith, Ph.D. – Virginia Tech (2016)
Teaching: Introductory Psychology; Developmental Psychology
Research: Language acquisition and development and the social context in which it occurs; gestures, attentional cues, and joint attention; parent-child interactions; multisensory perceptual development
Mark Oakes, Ph.D. – University of Washington (2005)
Teaching: Introductory Psychology; Social Psychology w/Lab; Research Methods w/Lab; Stereotypes
Research: Unconscious and conscious forms of identity, attitudes, and self-esteem; stereotypes and prejudice; self-referential memory; forgetting and attention; juror decision-making processes
Serge Onyper, Ph.D. – Syracuse University (2007)
Teaching: Introductory Psychology; Memory and Cognition w/Lab; Research Methods w/Lab
Research: Human memory and cognition, with a focus on both basic and applied cognition; sleep, behavioral neuroscience
Conrad Stuntz, M.Ed. – University of Virginia (2001)
Teaching: Introductory Psychology Laboratory
Pamela Valley Thacher, Ph.D. – University of Connecticut (1995)
Teaching: Introductory Psychology; Clinical Psychology; Abnormal Psychology; Psychopathology of Adolescence; The Natural Environment and the Human Psyche (FYP); The Science of Sleep (FYS); Special topics course: Stress & Anxiety, taught in the Ogdensburg Correctional Facility (NYS prison system)
Research: Effects of sleep deprivation on health and academic functioning; sleep and the environment; effects of sleep loss on cognition and on mental illness (anxiety, hoarding, ADHD); psychological effects of shunning and estrangement.
Elyssa Twedt, Ph.D. – University of Virginia (2013)
Teaching: Introductory Psychology; Research Methods w/ Lab; Sensation & Perception w/ Lab; Cognitive Science
Research: Spatial cognition including how people perceive, remember, and navigate through real and virtual environments; how physical spaces influence well-being.
Emeritus Faculty:
Thomas Cunningham, Ph.D., Emeritus Faculty Member – Oklahoma State University (1967); Post doc – Ohio State University
Teaching: Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Seminar
Research: Aspects of the reading process; memory
Thomas Greene, Ph.D. – Colorado State University (1982)
Teaching: Introductory Psychology; Environmental Psychology w/Lab; Industrial/Organizational Psychology; Human Factors; Architectural Psychology; London Spaces, UK Places
Research: Landscape aesthetics; cognitive mapping and environmental cognition; benefits of leisure and recreation; campus planning; behavioral geography
Jim Wallace, Ph.D. – Kent State University (1974)
Teaching: Seminar in Critical Thinking
Research: Children’s understanding of chance, proportions, and probability; risk-taking in early adolescence