Faculty

John McCarthy (Chair) earned a B.S. from Boston College and a Ph.D. from Catholic University. He is a Clinical Psychologist who teaches courses in human development, abnormal psychology, personality theory, and psychotherapy. His areas of interest are personality theory, chaos theory and its application to psychology, sports and aggression, and relation between syntax and cognition. (Bannow Science Center 462)

Dorothea Braginsky received her B.A. at Queens College and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut. She teaches social psychology, psychology and the law, and directs the senior internship program. Her area of interest is surplus populations - the mentally ill, the unemployed, and children.

Elizabeth Gardner (Betsy) received her B.A. from Middlebury College (VT) and M.A. and Ph.D. from McGill University (Montreal). She co-teaches (with Larri Mazon, Director of Multicultural Relations) PY 291 Cognition, Race, Culture, and Identity and PY 350 Psychology of Race and Ethnicity. She also teaches Cognitive Psychology, Aging, and co-teaches Homelessness: Causes and Consequences. She is in charge of the Student Diversity Grants program and co-leads Arrupe Volunteer trips to Duran, Ecuador. Her research interests include stereotypes and bias, explicit and implicit attitude change, diversity education, supportive housing, and pedagogy.

Shannon Harding received her B.A. from the College of the Holy Cross, M.S. from the University of Connecticut, and Ph.D. from NYU / Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She is a behavioral neuroscientist who teaches courses in General Psychology, Biological Bases of Behavior, Drugs and Behavior, Hormones and Behavior, and a Biopsychology laboratory course.  Her research interests include the role of steroid hormones in reproductive behavior, maternal behavior, and learning and memory using animal models.

Timothy J. Heitzman earned a B.S. degree from LaSalle University, a M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Loyola College in Baltimore, and a Ph.D. in School Psychology from the University of Rhode Island. Following his doctoral work, he received training and clinical supervision in neuropsychology, rehabilitation and pediatric psychology at major institutions, including Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore; Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, NYC; and Children's Hospital, Boston / Harvard Medical School. His primary research interests involve developmental neuropsychology and neurodevelopmental disorders, including Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorders, developmental delay, learning disorders, brain injury and children with generally challenging social and behavioral problems.

Linda Henkel earned her B.A. from Friends World College, M.A. and Ph.D from State University of New York at Stony Brook in Cognitive Psychology, and was awarded a two year postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton University. Her research interests include memory errors and distortions, age-related changes in neural functioning and its impact on memory; how people integrate information from various witnessess and render a decision in criminal cases. Her teaching interests are Cognitive Psychology, False memories, Cognitive sciences, Research design and analysis.

Judy Primavera earned her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College and her Ph.D. from Yale University. She teaches courses in developmental psychology and psychosocial problems of childhood. Her research interests include school readiness, child and family literacy, technology access for low-income families, the promotion of wellness in high-risk children and families, and social policy issues related to children and their families.

Susan Rakowitz received her B.A. from Yale University, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. She teaches General Psychology, Research Methods, and Developmental Psychology. Her research interests include unconscious or automatic processing, and the processing of false information.

Ronald Salafia received a B.S. in Physics from Loyola College (Baltimore) and a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Fordham University. His interests (and the courses he teaches) focus on the areas of Statistics, Biological Bases of Behavior, Conditioning, Learning and Applied Behavior Analysis, and Human Factors Engineering.