A Message from Department Head Christopher Mayhorn

Dear Psychology Family (Faculty, Staff, and Students),

I wanted to take this opportunity to update you on how our department is growing! We are currently the largest undergraduate major in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences with 1000+ students. Likewise, our graduate program continues to be the largest in the College with 130+ graduate students working within our five PhD concentrations in lifespan development, school psychology, applied social psychology, industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology, and human factors and applied cognition (HFAC). To provide the best education to our students and continue our groundbreaking research that addresses the needs of the people of NC and beyond, I am happy to share that we are hiring five new faculty members. In January, Dr. Michelle Baker-Russell left her position at UNCG to join our team as a teaching assistant professor where she has daily contact with our students teaching courses such as introduction to psychology and introduction to psychological research. Within I/O, we will welcome Dr. Ian Hughes to campus where he will study employee well-being in the workplace and HFAC will welcome Dr. Colleen Patton so that she can continue her work on human-automation interaction and decision- making. Dr. Aura Mishra will join the lifespan development program where she will use advanced behavioral genetics methods to study factors that influence childhood exposure to adversity. Lastly, we are in the process of hiring a new faculty member in applied social psychology (stay tuned for more details).

As we continue to grow and strive for excellence (whether in school or in our jobs), it is important that we take a moment to appreciate who we are and what we have collectively achieved. To be invited to join our Pack, each and every one of you has demonstrated a commitment to educational excellence and service! Whether we are discussing Dr. Anne McLaughlin’s important work funded by NASA or the efforts of the Psychoeducational Clinic led by Dr. Natalie Murr and the school psychology graduate
students to serve the learning needs of pre-K through college students, each member of our psychology family is contributing to our communities. To this end, I urge you to continue to support one another and tell us of your continuing great works!

Christopher B. Mayhorn
Department Head of Psychology