Faculty & Staff
Current faculty and staff are listed here. To walk down memory lane, view our retired faculty.
Kent D. Bodily, Ph.D.
Auburn University, 2008Assistant Professor
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Kent Bodily earned a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Utah State University, and received his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Auburn University in 2008. His teaching interests include Research Methods, Sensation & Perception, Animal Learning, Behavior Modification, Physiological Psychology, and History & Systems. His research focuses on developing and employing desktop-computer virtual environments (VE) in which human participants can be tested on procedures that are analogous to those used for testing non-humans. The VE methodology has allowed him to make direct, systematic replications of non-human research, and test the generality of research findings across species. His primary areas of research include Problem Solving, Homing (a.k.a. Dead Reckoning or Path Integration), and Spatial Learning.
Research and Scholarly Interests
- Virtual environments
- Problem solving
- Spatial learning
Courses
- Research Methods
- Sensation & Perception
- Animal Learning
- Behavior Modification
- Physiological Psychology
- History & Systems
Ty W. Boyer, Ph.D.
University of Maryland, 2005Assistant Professor
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Ty Boyer earned a BS in Psychology from the Barrett Honors College at Arizona State University in 2000, and an MA and PhD in Developmental Psychology from the University of Maryland in 2002 and 2005. He then spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow in the University of Chicago Department of Psychology, followed by several years as a research associate in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University. His general areas of research are perceptual and cognitive development, with more specific focus on how people gather information from their surrounding, oftentimes social, contexts, contrast these percepts with preexisting representations, and form expectations that guide actions, and how these processes change with neural maturation and experience. He has conducted studies on the development of interpersonal action understanding, numerical and probabilistic reasoning, and decision-making processes and risk-taking tendencies. The age groups analyzed in this research program vary significantly with the question guiding the work; some of the research is conducted with infants, some with young children, elementary school aged children, adolescents, and some is done with adults. His teaching interests are primarily in research methods, child psychology, infancy, cognition, and developmental cognitive neuroscience.
Research and Scholarly Interests
- Cognitive development
- Action perception & representation
- Proportional & probabilistic reasoning
- Spatial cognitive processes
Courses
- Child development
- Research Methods
Jessica Brooks, Ph.D.
University of Gerogia, 2013Assistant Professor
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Jessica Brooks received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Minnesota Duluth, her Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from North Dakota State University, and her doctorate in Counseling Psychology from the University of Georgia. She completed an APA-accredited internship at the University of Utah Counseling Center. Dr. Brooks has teaching and scholarly interests in multicultural psychology, health psychology, clinical supervision, psychological assessment, and systems of psychotherapy. She has clinical experiences in university counseling centers, psychiatric hospitals, and community mental health clinics in rural and urban settings. Clinical interests include mood and anxiety-related disorders, LGBTQ issues, childhood trauma, substance use issues, and relational difficulties. Dr. Brooks’ research interests broadly focus on the intersections of diversity factors (e.g., race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status), mental health, health disparities, and addiction. The Alcohol, Mental and Physical (AMP) Health Lab conducts research dedicated to the inclusive study of biological, psychological, and social contributions to the spectrum of alcohol use behaviors, including social drinking, binge use, dependence, and relapse from a biopsychosocial perspective. Focused areas of study include the measurement of implicit cognition as it relates to alcohol use and emotional activation, as well as understanding the influences of social interaction and personality factors on decision-making in naturalistic drinking settings. Use of innovative methodology for the study of psychological phenomena is emphasized in the AMP Health Lab, which currently includes use of computerized tasks to assess implicit cognition and mood-induction via guided imagery, in addition to self-report measures. Future research will include social observation of alcohol-related behaviors in a naturalistic bar laboratory and assessment of stress response via psychophysiological data collection. On a personal note, she is an avid sports fan. When she isn’t working enjoys yoga, hiking, reading a good book, and road trips.
Research and Scholarly Interests
- Substance use and Addiction (focus on alcohol-related behaviors)
- Health Psychology (impact of diversity on health disparities)
- Psychological Well-Being (emphasis on mindfulness and mental health outcomes)
Courses
- TBA
- TBA
Amy A. Hackney, Ph.D.
St. Louis University, 2003Associate Professor
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Amy Hackney earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Indiana University and her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Saint Louis University. She began her career at Georgia Southern University in the fall of 2003. Dr. Hackney’s primary research interests include stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination, and the implications of implicit social cognition for legal decision making. She is also interested in adult attachment and psychopathy. In general, she is interested in the intersection of social cognition with the legal system with the goal of experimentally identifying factors that lead to biased legal outcomes to inform interventions and public policy. Her recent research focuses on racial profiling, juror biases in sexual assault cases, and the relationships between attachment and psychopathy in criminal populations. She teaches both undergraduate and graduate students in courses such as research methods, social psychology, and psychology and law.
Research and Scholarly Interests
- Social Cognition
- Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination
- Legal Decision Making
- Attachment
- Psychopathy
Courses
- Research Methods
- Social Psychology
- Psychology and Law
- Advanced Social Psychology
- Research Experience
- Directed Research
- Directed Study
- Development of Original Research
- Advanced Directed Study
Nicholas S. Holtzman, Ph.D.
Washington University in St. Louis, 2011Assistant Professor
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Nick Holtzman earned a B.A. in psychology from Loyola University New Orleans and earned a Ph.D. in social/personality psychology from Washington University in St. Louis. He joined the faculty of Georgia Southern University in Fall 2013. His research and teaching interests revolve around social and personality psychology; he is also interested in the development of novel methods (e.g., automated text analysis) and in the application of multivariate statistics. His research program aims to discover the etiological pathways and behavioral manifestations of socially aversive traits such as the Dark Triad of personality—Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy.
Research and Scholarly Interests
- The Dark Triad (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy)
- Reproductive Strategies
- Automated text analysis for studying individual differences
Courses
- Research Methods
- Personality Psychology
Jeff Klibert, Ph.D.
Oklahoma State University, 2008Assistant Professor
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Jeff Klibert earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Southern Mississippi, master’s degree in clinical psychology from the University of South Alabama, and a doctorate in counseling psychology from Oklahoma State University. His teaching interests include personality, test and measures, personality assessment, clinical supervision, diversity issues in psychology, and psychometric theory. His clinical interests include adolescence, suicide prevention, crisis counseling, supervision, and schema therapy. In terms of research, he is particularly interested in vulnerability factors to suicidal behavior in adolescents and young adults, characterlogical difficulties (i.e., procrastination, perfectionism, and rumination), maladaptive schemas, and adolescent development.
Research and Scholarly Interests
- Vulnerability factors in suicidal behavior
- Characterological difficulties
- Maladaptive schemas
- adolescent development
Courses
- Personality
- Tests and Measures
- Personality Assessment
- Diversity Issues in Psychotherapy
Larry Locker, Ph.D.
University of Kansas, 2005Associate Professor
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Lawrence Locker, Jr. earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Fort Hays State University and a doctoral degree in cognitive psychology from the University of Kansas. He joined the faculty at Georgia Southern University in the Fall of 2005. His teaching interests include introductory psychology and undergraduate and graduate courses in cognitive psychology and statistical methods. His research training is in the area of written language language perception. More recent research interests have included memory and applied cognition. He enjoys writing music and studying music history in his spare time.
Research and Scholarly Interests
- Cognitive Psychology
- Language Processing
- Written Word Perception
Courses
- Introduction to Psychology
- Cognitive Psychology
- Statistics in Psychology
- Directed Research
- Directed Study
Taunia Locker, MS
Fort Hays State UniversityVisiting Instructor
Email Ms. Locker Taunia Locker, MS, is Licensed Professional Counselor and Certified Professional Counseling Supervisor in Georgia. She earned her Master's of Science in Clinical Psychology at Fort Hays State University. Her therapy follows strict Cognitive Behavioral, Dialectical Behavioral and Motivational Interviewing therapy models; and is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers. She has worked as a therapist in prison, rural, and inner-city areas; specializing in treating those with severe mental illness with co-occurring substance abuse in community mental health programs. In that capacity, she has taught and supervised students in Counseling, Social Work and Psychology programs. Prior to moving to Georgia, she was employed at the University of Kansas Mental Health Research and Training division. There, she assisted as consultant, trainer, and researcher in a national as part of a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Association (SAMHSA) grant research team exploring barriers to implementation of Evidence Based Practices in rural community heath centers.
Research and Scholarly Interests
- Self-determination in recovery of those with severe mental illness
- Effective supervision practices
- Meaningful use of data in assessing program and supervision effectiveness
Courses
- Abnormal Psychology
- Theories of Psychotherapy
- Personality Psychology
- Psychological Statistics
- Motivational Interviewing
- Data-driven Supervision
- Directed Study
Amy Luna, Ph.D.
Oklahoma State University, 2009Director, Psychology Clinic
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Dr. Amy Luna earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Drury University, a master's degree in community counseling from Oklahoma State University, and a Ph.D. in educational psychology, with an option in counseling psychology, from Oklahoma State University. She joined the GSU staff in the fall of 2010 as Director of the Psychology Clinic. Her clinical interests include Dialectical Behavior Therapy, behaviorism, geriatric psychology, and severe mental illness. Dr. Luna has worked with clinical populations in rural and urban areas, specifically working with adolescents and adults in a multitude of settings including a substance use clinic, an outpatient counseling clinic, an inpatient geriatric unit, a veterans hospital, and a state hospital. In her spare time, she enjoys reading and spending time with her family.
Karen Z. Naufel, Ph.D.
University of Arkansas, 2007Associate Professor
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Karen Naufel received her Ph.D. from the University of Arkansas in May 2007 in Experimental Psychology. Her research interests span across health, social, motivational, and cognitive psychology. Mainly, she investigates motivational strategies to help people engage in healthy behaviors or follow healthcare providers' advice. She also investigates how expectations for unpleasant events influence coping. She has additional interests in how people cope with and adapt to unpleasant events, medical decision making processes, goal-setting processes, emotional adaptation, and positive psychology. She teaches undergraduate and graduate research methods courses. She also has teaching interests in health psychology, motivation and emotion, and social psychology.
Research and Scholarly Interests
- Health psychology
- Motivation & emotion
- Emotional Adaptation
- Coping with Unpleasant Events
Courses
- Research Methods
- Health Psychology
- Motivation & Emotion
- Social Psychology
- Research Experience
- Directed Research
- Directed Study
- Development of Original Research
- Advanced Directed Study
Michael E. Nielsen, Ph.D.
Northern Illinois University, 1993Professor and Chair
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Michael Nielsen has taught at Georgia Southern University since 1993. He received a B.A. in music and psychology from Southern Utah University in 1986 and a Ph.D. in social-organizational psychology from Northern Illinois University in 1992. Most of Dr. Nielsen's studies concern religious conflicts, but he has also studied altered states of consciousness, philosophical aspects of psychology, and peace psychology. His current research interests center on themes of how people construe group boundaries in religion, in a context of religiously-influenced polygamy, and in more general contexts. He regularly offers courses in Psychology of Religion, Social Psychology, History of Psychology, Statistics, and Research Methods. Dr. Nielsen is co-editor of Archive for the Psychology of Religion, the journal of the International Association for the Psychology of Religion. He also serves on the editorial boards of Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion and Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, and the advisory board of Pakistan Journal of Psychology. He is author of an award-winning website on the Psychology of Religion, has delivered an invited lectures on that subject in Ukraine and Turkey, and has received awards for service from the American Psychological Association and Georgia Southern University. When not at his desk, he enjoys being at home with his family, reading, and volleyball.
Research and Scholarly Interests
- Social psychology
- Psychology of religion
Courses
- Statistics for Psychology
- Research Methods
- Psychology of Religion
- History and Systems
- Research Experience
- Social Psychology
- Personality Psychology
- Directed Research
- Directed Study
- Development of Original Research
- Research Design
- Advanced Personality
- Advanced Directed Study
Dr. Nielsen's Psychology of Religion Webpage
James L. Pugh, Ph.D.
Georgia State University, 1984Assistant Professor
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Dr. Pugh began working in mental health in 1970, and he has been involved in clinical psychology ever since. His first job, during his undergraduate years, was as a psychiatric technician at a state mental hospital. He left that job to obtain a Master's degree in psychology, completed in 1977. After that Dr. Pugh returned briefly to full time clinical work, then he began work toward a doctoral degree in Counseling Psychology which he received in 1984. During the time that he was working on the Ph.D. he continued to work in a psychiatric hospital part time. His post-doctoral internship was completed at a comprehensive pain clinic in Atlanta. He also has worked in a university counseling center, a community mental health center, and an employee assistance program, as well as private practice. He has a total of 15 years of experience with full time teaching of both undergraduate and graduate courses. His primary research interest is stress coping practices.
Research and Scholarly Interests
- Clinical Psychology
- Psychotherapy
- Stress
Courses
- Tests and Measurements
- Abnormal Psychology
- Research Experience
- Development of Original Research
- Psychopathology
- Psychotherapy Skills
- Group Psychotherapy
- Advanced Directed Study
- Practicum
Rebecca Ryan, Ph.D.
West Virginia University, 2006Associate Professor
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Rebecca Ryan received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Concord University and her Ph.D. in Life-Span Developmental Psychology from West Virginia University. Her graduate research investigated forensic interview techniques appropriate for children and interrogative suggestibility in adolescents and young adults. Current research interests also include areas within psychology and law; specifically investigating the jury decision making process. Additional research interests pertain to social development and adjustment. Dr. Ryan also has an interest in the use and examination of Service Learning. She incorporates this teaching method into many of her courses and is currently studying subsequent effects on cognitive and social outcomes. Dr. Ryan’s teaching interests are in the area of developmental psychology, particularly memory and psychology and law.
Research and Scholarly Interests
- Developmental Psychology
- Psychology and Law
- Forensic Interviewing
- Teaching of Psychology
Courses
- Research Methods
- Lifespan Developmental Psychology
- Psychology of Aging
- Social Psychology
- Senior Seminar
George W. Shaver, Psy.D.
George Fox UniversityDirector, Regents Center for Learning Disorders
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George is a licensed clinical psychologist who works for the Regent's Center for Learning Disorders at Georgia Southern University. He received his Doctor of Psychology degree from George Fox University. He completed a predoctoral clinical internship at Eastern Virginia Medical School, and he subsequently completed a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical neuropsychology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. George also holds a Master of Divinity degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from the University of Tennessee. His research interests include the effects of effort and motivation in cognitive testing. As an adjunct professor, George teaches courses related to clinical neuropsychology and supervises clinical psychology practicum students.
K. Bryant Smalley, Psy.D.
Assistant Professor
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Dr. K. Bryant Smalley received a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Psychology from Georgia Southern University before attending Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, where he earned a Master of Science in Clinical Psychology and a Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.). Dr. Smalley’s research interests include gender, multicultural psychology, and behavioral health. Specifically, he is interested in eating disordered behavior, objectification, adherence to gender role norms, and influence of gender roles on risk-taking behavior. Dr. Smalley has clinical experience in rural and urban community mental health centers as well as university counseling centers. His approach to therapy is grounded in humanistic principles, while integrating aspects of existential, cognitive-behavioral, and multicultural theories.
Research and Scholarly Interests
- Gender
- Multicultural Psychology
- Behavioral Health
Courses
- Ethics and Professional Issues
- Foundations of Psychotherapy
- Human Sexuality
- Introduction to Psychology
- Psychology of Adjustment
- Psychopathology
- Psychotherapy Skills
Janice N. Steirn, Ph.D.
University of Georgia, 1985Associate Professor
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Janice Steirn received her undergraduate degree in Psychology at West Virginia University, where she discovered the area of Animal Learning. Dr. Steirn pursued her graduate degrees at The University of Georgia, graduating in 1985. In graduate school she became interested in a subfield of Animal Learning, Animal Cognition. For the past 20 years, her research has focused on the study of problem solving, memory, and cognitive coding strategies in non-humans. Recently her research has included the study of humans and cognitive processes as well as the involvement of classical conditioning on health-related behaviors. Dr. Steirn welcomes students with interests in any of her areas of research.
Research and Scholarly Interests
- Memory and cognitive processes in non-humans and humans
- Classical conditioning in health-related behaviors
Courses
- Introduction to Psychology
- Behavior Modification
- Psychological Statistics
- Research Methods
- Research Experience
- Principles of (Animal) Learning
- History and Systems
- Seminar in Teaching Psychology
- Directed Research
- Directed Study
- Experimental Animal Learning and Cognition
- Research Design
- Development of Original Research
- Advanced Animal Learning and Cognition
- Advanced Directed Study
- Thesis
Bradley R. Sturz, Ph.D.
Auburn University, 2007
Assistant Professor
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Brad Sturz earned his bachelor’s, Master’s, and Ph.D all from Auburn University. After receiving his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology in 2007, he completed a Post-Doctoral teaching/research position at Villanova University. Since that time, he has been in a tenure-track position at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah. During his time at Armstrong, he presented 32 papers and/or posters at conferences, published 18 peer-review papers, and was awarded the American Psychological Association's (APA’s) Division 6 (Behavioral Neuroscience & Comparative Psychology) Brenda A. Milner Award (Young Investigator Award) for 2010. In his free time, he serves as a reviewer for 15 journals and drinks copious amounts of coffee.
His teaching interests include Introduction to Psychology, Research Methods, Statistics, and Evolutionary Psychology. His research interests are broad within the realm of learning, memory, and cognition, and his recent research focuses on spatial learning, memory, and cognition. In short, he is interested in determining the basic mechanisms underlying orientation and navigation for the purposes of informing research and theory on how humans (and other mobile organisms) process, store, and utilize spatial information.
Research and Scholarly Interests
- Spatial Pattern Learning
- Landmark-based Navigation
- Orientation via Enclosure Size/Shape
Courses
- Introduction to Psychology
- Psychological Statistics
- Research Methods
- Evolutionary Psychology
Daniel G. Webster, Ph.D.
University of Florida, 1983Associate Professor
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Dan Webster completed his undergraduate education at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Florida under Donald Dewsbury (Comparative Psychology), and worked extensively with Merle Meyer (Physiological Psychology). Dan spent a lot of time in graduate school watching various species of rodents mate; one of his publications provides the first description of mating behavior in the round-tailed muskrat. He also watched various species lie on their backs in a state of immobility commonly called "animal hypnosis." His Masters thesis was on immobility in lizards, and his Doctoral Dissertation was on mate selection in mice. While in graduate school Dan taught comparative and introductory psychology and supervised undergraduate researchers. He then taught at Delta State University for eight years prior to coming to Georgia Southern. At Georgia Southern Dan continued to work on research with undergraduate and graduate students, training students to modify graphic images (e.g. photos, faces) to produce stimuli, to use the polygraph to monitor autonomic responses (e.g. for biofeedback or to monitor responses to stimuli). Although he retains an interest in animal behavior and psychophysiology, Dr. Webster’s current interests are in the areas of Evolutionary Psychology, human emotions, and personality assessment. He has developed a 3-D computer program (SOSA) for personality assessment, and is currently working on applications of SOSA to his areas of research interest. Although SOSA was designed as a tool for assessment of schemas, the flexibility of the program allows for a wide range of applications (e.g. investigation of cognitive processes such as decision making). Click the link below for more information on SOSA.
Research and Scholarly Interests
- Biopsychology
- Brainstem mechanisms of behavior
- Immobility
- Psychophysiology of emotions
Courses
- Introduction to Psychology
- Research Methods
- Research Experience
- Directed Research
- Directed Study
- Sensation and Perception
- Physiological Psychology
- Research for Applied Psychology
- Development of Original Research
- Advanced Directed Study
Janie H. Wilson, Ph.D.
University of South Carolina, 1994Professor
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Janie Wilson received her Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of South Carolina in 1994. Since that time, she has been teaching and conducting research at Georgia Southern University. Dr. Wilson currently conducts research in two areas: teaching and ego-depletion. Research on teaching and learning focuses on the importance of building rapport with students, including student perceptions of teachers based on early contacts with students, RateMyProfessor.com, and perceived teacher age. She conducts correlational and experimental studies on student evaluations of rapport as related to students’ attitudes, motivation, and even grades. Completed projects include building rapport through touch such as a handshake, electronic communication such as email, and first-day-of-class activities numerous. Most recently, she worked with Dr. Ryan and Pugh to develop and validate the Professor-Student Rapport Scale. In her ego-depletion research, Dr. Wilson examines various potential buffers for ego-depletion. Recent projects include positive interpretations of a task as buffering and the role of personal perception of risk. An additional project tied to ego-depletion involves responding to an aggressive encounter to examine the role of social interactions in ego-depletion. Dr. Wilson is always interested in working with undergraduate and graduate students to conduct, present, and publish research.
Research and Scholarly Interests
- Ego-depletion
- Physiological measures of stress
- Professor immediacy
Courses
- Introduction to Psychology
- Statistics for Psychology
- Research Methods
- Research Experience
- Directed Research
- Directed Study
- Physiological Psychology
- Development of Original Research
- Advanced Directed Study
Thresa Yancey, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
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Dr. C. Thresa Yancey received her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the University of Alabama and her Master of Art and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Nebraska. Dr. Yancey’s research interests include outcomes following sexual abuse (including resiliency), empirically supported treatments, and the effect of labels on perceptions. Her clinical interests include child maltreatment, family therapy, and child psychopathology. Dr. Yancey has worked with clinical populations in rural and urban areas, with families with a history of maltreatment, in medical settings, and in university populations. Her approach is generally cognitive behavioral and employs the use of empirically supported treatments when applicable.
Research and Scholarly Interests
- Child Maltreatment
- Empirically Supported Treatments
- Labeling
Courses
- Introduction to Psychology
- Human Sexuality
- Cognitive Assessment
- Child & Family Therapy
- Psychotherapy Skills
- Abnormal Psychology
Janet Walker, BS
Georgia Southern University
Academic Advisor, Psychology Department
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Marcella Stewart
Administrative Secretary, Psychology Department
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Pam Davis
Administrative Secretary, Psychology Clinic
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Department of Psychology Policies and Procedures -- 2010 - 2011 revision
Georgia Southern University Faculty Handbook
Create or edit an annual activities report (This link takes you to the CLASS forms page, which allows you to connect to the annual report.)