Faculty & Staff

FACULTY

Allard, Eric; Associate Professor and Chair 
Anderson Ellen: Assistant Professor                                                                                                                                           Baker, Blair; Assistant Professor
Frato, Patrick; Associate Lecturer
Goncy, Elizabeth; Associate Professor
Horvath, Michael; Professor
Hurley, Robert; Assistant Professor
Jackson, Tawana; Assistant Lecturer
Judge, Katherine; Professor
M^cLennan, Conor; Professor
Naser, Shereen; Associate Professor
Nordlund, Matthew; Assistant Lecturer
Pethtel, Olivia; Associate Lecturer
Reardon, Kathleen; Assistant Professor
Slifkin, Andrew; Associate Professor
Smith, Albert; Professor
Vail, Kenneth; Associate Professor
Yaroslavsky, Ilya; Associate Professor

STAFF

Barb Durfey; Administrative Secretary
Claude Brown; Administrative Coordinator

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Eric Allard

e.s.allard@csuohio.edu-Julka Hall 162

Dr. Allard investigates the behaviors and mental processes that impact healthy emotional functioning across adulthood and old age. Of particular interest are age differences in the strategies and abilities individuals utilize to manage their emotional states. Dr. Allard's lab uses various tasks and methods, which include assessing the role of visual attention (via eye tracking) and psychophysiological activity (via heart rate and skin conductance measures) on successful emotion regulation throughout the adult lifespan. Students interested in working in Dr. Allard's lab are invited to contact him.

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Ellen Anderson

e.c.anderson44@csuohio.edu Julka Hall 144

 

Blair Baker

b.a.baker64@csuohio.edu Julka Hall 145

Dr. Blair Baker's research aims to establish racially centered prevention and intervention practices that reduce the plight of racial stress (e.g., exposure to racial discrimination) among Black students in K-12 settings. Her lab specifically investigates a) educators' intervention approaches to racism among students and b) experiences of racial battle fatigue among Black students in secondary education settings. Dr. Baker is willing to meet with graduate and undergraduate students who are interested in joining her lab.

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Patrick Frato

p.frato@csuohio.edu Julka Hall 150

Mr. Frato is a school psychologist whose research interests include grade level retention, systems change, response to intervention, and reading interventions. Due to his teaching commitments, he is not seeking student assistance and is not available to supervise student research.

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Elizabeth Goncy

e.goncy@csuohio.edu Julka Hall 136

Dr. Goncy investigates how relationships (e.g., romantic, peer, parent-child) impact behavior during adolescence and young adulthood with specific focus on dating abuse, aggression, victimization, and substance use. She studies a) the etiology of aggression, and resulting victimization, and substance use and the identification of risk and protective factors and consequences, b) mental health issues related to dating abuse, substance use, and aggression, and c) relationship factors during these developmental periods. She is willing to meet with highly motivated undergraduate and graduate students to discuss research opportunities in her lab.

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Michael Horvath

m.horvath59@csuohio.edu Julka Hall 152

Dr. Horvath investigates (1) how people seek balance between their work and non-work lives, including, but not limited to, the role of religion; (2) how people look for jobs—the strategies they use, their motivation for searching, and what attracts them to particular organizations; and (3) the causes and effects of forgiveness for workplace offenses. Availability of research opportunities with Dr. Horvath varies over projects and semesters; he is happy to talk with potential student collaborators.

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Robert Hurley

r.s.hurley@csuohio.edu Julka Hall 155

Dr. Hurley's research area is cognitive neuroscience. He uses techniques such as eye tracking, electroencephalography (EEG), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to better understand how the human brain processes language, recognizes objects, and links the two together. His research program involves testing typical younger and older adults as well as individuals with disorders of language (aphasia) and object recognition (agnosia). Undergraduates and other individuals seeking research experience are welcome to contact Dr. Hurley.

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Tawana Jackson

t.m.jackson24@csuohio.edu Julka Hall 151

Dr. Jackson's primary focus is teaching. She has a BA in Psychology from Bowling Green State University, an MA in Counseling Psychology from Ball State University and a PsyD in Clinical Psychology from Wright State University. In addition to her passion for teaching, Dr. Jackson is dedicated to social justice issues and has great interest in research and service which impact those from marginalized and underserved communities.   As a practitioner, Dr. Jackson is enthusiastic about expressive psychotherapies, play therapy and culturally relevant treatment modalities. Due to her teaching commitments, she is not currently seeking student research assistants.

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Kathie Judge

k.judge46@csuohio.edu Julka Hall 172

Dr. Judge's research focuses on developing, implementing, and evaluating cognitive rehabilitative, psychosocial skills training, and care-coordination models for individuals with cognitive impairment, their family caregivers, and health care providers. These intervention protocols are designed to positively impact a wide range of well-being, strain, coping, and functional outcomes. Additionally, Dr. Judge's research seeks to understand the illness experience associated with cognitive impairment, including individuals living with dementia, stroke, and/or traumatic brain injury. Students interested in working with Dr. Judge are invited to contact her.

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Conor M^cLennan

c.mclennan@csuohio.edu | Podcast Julka Hall 148

Dr. M^cLennan is a cognitive psychologist who directs the Language Research Laboratory. His research interests include language perception, bilingualism, cognitive aging, and other topics in perception, language, and cognition. The goals of his research program include understanding how various populations of listeners represent and process spoken language, understanding the role of bilingualism on cognitive processes such as inhibition, and considering how language research can be applied in interesting ways to address practical problems in other areas. Any student interested in possible research opportunities is encouraged to contact Dr. M^cLennan directly.

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Shereen Naser

s.naser@csuohio.edu | Podcast Julka Hall 146

Shereen Naser, PhD creates transformative frameworks and programs for schools that challenge dominant narratives in Psychology and prioritize human dignity and collective healing toward systemic change. She’s an Associate Professor of Psychology at Cleveland State University. Her research focuses on how marginalized students, especially LGBTQ+ and Arab youth, experience school settings. Using resource mapping and participatory program development and implementation models, Dr. Naser facilitates initiatives and interventions that support the social, emotional, behavioral, and academic needs of marginalized youth at the individual and whole school level. Shereen is part of the THRiVE Research Collaborative and director of the Cleveland Child and Adolescent Research in Education (CARE) Lab.

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Matthew Nordlund

m.nordlund@csuohio.edu Julka Hall 157

Dr. Nordlund received his BA from Hamline University in 2002 and his Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from The University of Akron in 2009.  He has since taught psychology at a number of schools, including The University of Akron, Kent State, Stark State, Ashland University and Cleveland State University. His primary research interests include the effect of priming on self-perceptions of personality and obstacles to the accurate measurement of personality. Dr. Nordlund is currently not seeking students for research supervision.

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Olivia Pethtel

o.pethtel@csuohio.edu Julka Hall 134

Dr. Pethtel's primary focus is teaching. Beyond her passion for teaching courses within her specialization of Developmental Psychology, she is enthusiastic about teaching a wide variety of Psychology courses, including Lifespan Development, Abnormal Psychology, Introduction to Psychology, Research Methods, and Psychology of Women and Gender. She has taught these courses and more at Bowling Green State University, Youngstown State University, and Saint Francis University. Dr. Pethtel has published research in the areas of adult development and aging in relation to well-being, decision-making, and culture. Outside of her professional work, she also enjoys playing music and disc golf. Dr. Pethtel is willing to supervise students on independent research projects that are geared toward students' research interests. She is also willing to serve as a committee member on student thesis and honors projects. 

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Kathleen Reardon

k.w.reardon@csuohio.edu Julka Hall 153

As a researcher at the intersection of clinical and personality sciences, Dr. Reardon aims to understand how we can leverage personality to promote healthy socio-emotional development. Her research interests include individual differences, psychopathology, and psychological assessment viewed through a developmental psychopathology perspective. She focuses on both adaptive and maladaptive outcomes, using an approach that accounts for multiple levels of analysis, including biomarkers, individual differences, and environmental influences such as relationships, early life experiences, life stress, and socioeconomic status. Her work has examined how personality is associated with a range of developmental outcomes, including aggression, risk-taking, substance use, social functioning, and personality pathology. Students with interests in personality, psychopathology, developmental clinical science, or psychological assessment are invited to contact Dr. Reardon

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Andrew Slifkin

a.slifkin@csuohio.edu Julka Hall 135

Andrew Slifkin is Professor of Psychology at Cleveland State University. His research focuses on the control of goal-directed movement and the principles that enable people to achieve accurate and adaptable motor behavior despite the variability inherent in the motor system. His work examines visuomotor control, speed–accuracy tradeoffs, force production, movement timing, and motor-output variability, using both traditional statistical approaches and non-linear methods to better understand human movement. His research has included studies of healthy younger and older adults, individuals with Parkinson's disease, and rodent models. 

 

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Albert Fred Smith

a.f.smith@csuohio.edu Julka Hall 137

Dr. Smith conducts two disparate lines of research. In one, in the area of health survey methodology, he collaborates with nutritionists and statisticians to improve methodology for dietary data collection and to understand situational and respondent characteristics that are associated with errors in dietary reports. In the other, he investigates word perception and the stimulus factors that influence it. Students interested in research in cognition are invited to contact Dr. Smith to discuss research opportunities.

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Kenneth Vail

k.e.vail@csuohio.edu Julka Hall 171

Dr. Vail's research is focused on existential psychology, including the consequences of humans' awareness of their own mortality, autonomy, and choice freedom, and the influence of these existential concerns on cultural activity (e.g., politics, religion), personal growth, and both physical health (e.g., nutrition, carcinogenic behavior) and mental health (e.g., meaning in life, anxiety, depression). Dr. Vail is Director of the Social Psychology & Existential Attitudes Research (SPEAR) Lab, where graduate and undergraduate students can gain hands-on training in major aspects of research, including theory and research questions; research design and preparation; participant recruitment; conducting experiments and collecting data; preparing data for analysis; and the analysis and interpretation of data patterns. Students interested in research careers are encouraged to contact Dr. Vail about training opportunities.

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Ilya Yaroslavsky

i.yaroslavsky@csuohio.edu Julka Hall 154

Dr. Yaroslavsky studies the roles of autonomic nervous system and attention processes in emotion regulation and the transmission of depression risk. He seeks to understand how people's efforts to change how they feel are influenced by physiological states, attentional resources, and interpersonal environments. He aims to explore these relationships in adults, adolescents, and within families (both inside and outside the laboratory). Interested students who wish to obtain research experience and intend to pursue graduate training in clinical psychology are invited to contact Dr. Yaroslavsky about research opportunities.

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STAFF

Barb Durfey

 b.durfey@csuohio.edu | Julka Hall 160

Ms. Barb supports the Department of Psychology with administrative needs including course registration, thesis approvals, degree completion, graduate admissions, access control, department reception, and more. Current students are welcome to stop by her office any time during work hours with questions or concerns.

 

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Claude Brown

C.I.Brown@csuohio.edu | Julka Hall 159

Claude supports the Department of Psychology with administrative needs including contracts, scheduling classes, purchasing/reimbursement, travel funding, budget monitoring, department website updates, social media, and event planning. Current students are welcome to stop by their office any time during work hours with questions or concerns.

 

 

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