Jump to: Staff, Full-Time Faculty
Department Chair
Yoav Arieh, chair and associate professor, has a PhD in Cognitive Psychology from Bar Ilan University. His research interests include selective attention, sensory integration/multisensory processes and auditory perception. He teaches courses in experimental psychology and quantitative methods.
Staff
Julia Coyne, assistant director for Child Clinical and School Psychology Training, received a PhD in School Psychology from Loyola University Chicago. She holds New Jersey and national certification in school psychology. Her research interests include post-injury cognitive rehabilitation in learning, supporting learning in multi-tiered systems, crisis intervention and prevention, and international school psychology. She teaches the School Psychology Externship class and oversees psychoeducational assessment services and training at the Psychological Services Clinic. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship in pediatric rehabilitation research at the Kessler Foundation in West Orange, N.J., where she conducted funded research.
Shawn Lockwood is a program assistant in the Department of Psychology.
Sanaz Saminejad is a program assistant in the Department of Psychology. She received an MA in Family Child Studies from Montclair State University.
Full-Time Faculty
Paul Amrhein, professor, received a PhD from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. His research interests include language use in natural contexts (conversations, therapeutic interventions) and how bilingualism contrasts with monolingualism with regard to memory access and production of knowledge representations across the lifespan. He teaches courses in research methodology and statistics.
Meredyth Appelbaum, assistant professor, received a PhD in Cognitive Psychology from Stanford University. Her research examines the methods people use to coordinate in face-to-face conversation and how this coordination facilitates mutual understanding. She teaches courses including Introduction to Statistics, Psychology Research Methods, and Psycholinguistics (Psychology of Language).
Kevin Askew, assistant professor, received a PhD from the University of South Florida. His research interests include “cyberloafing” and personal computer use at work; and the intersection of psychology and technology. He teaches courses including Quantitative and Statistical Methods, Interventions for Successful Organizations, and Personnel Psychology.
Jennifer Bragger, professor, has a PhD in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Temple University. Her research interests include leadership development, the job interview, faith at work, work-family conflict, and stereotypes at work. She teaches courses including Leadership Theory and Development, Performance Management, Personnel Psychology, Organizational Psychology, and the cooperative learning course in Leadership Development.
Saundra Collins, professor, received a PhD from the University of Maryland.
Jason J. Dickinson is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology and director of the Robert D. McCormick Center for Child Advocacy and Policy. He received a PhD in Legal Psychology from Florida International University. His research interests include children’s eyewitness testimony, forensic interviewing, and investigative decision-making. His research has been supported by several grants from the National Science Foundation and he regularly consults with the legal community to help translate research into public policy. He teaches courses on forensic psychology, forensic interviewing, statistics and human sexuality.
Anthony D’Urso, associate professor, received a PsyD from Rutgers University. His research interests include best practices in forensic psychology, child psychopathology, and victimization/PTSD in children. He teaches courses including Practicum in Assessment I. He co-founded Finding Words – New Jersey, the second certified forensic interviewing academy in the United States by the National Child Protection Training Center. For more than a decade, he served as chair of the Child Fatality and Near Fatality Review Board and as a member of the New Jersey Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect.
Jeremy Fox, assistant professor, received a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University at Albany, State University of New York. His research interests include the developmental psychopathology of anxiety and depression, temperament and emotion regulation, screening and early intervention of childhood anxiety, and school-based mental health and dissemination issues. He is a licensed clinical psychologist who teaches courses in abnormal psychology, clinical assessment, ethics and evidence-based therapy.
Milton A. Fuentes, professor, received a PsyD in Clinical Psychology from the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University. He completed a pre-doctoral fellowship in clinical and community psychology at Yale University and post-doctoral training in epidemiology at Columbia University. He is a founding member and former president of the Latino Psychological Association of New Jersey and the 2012 President of the National Latina/o Psychological Association. His research interests are in the areas of Latina/o and multicultural psychology, child/family psychology, pedagogy, and motivational interviewing. He serves as a consultant to several programs, including the Puerto Rican Family Institute and the Violence Prevention Office of the American Psychological Association, where he directs the ACT Mid-Atlantic Regional Center. He is licensed to practice psychology in New Jersey and New York. He teaches courses including Introduction to Psychology and Systems of Psychotherapy.
Sally Grapin, assistant professor, received a PhD from the University of Florida. Her research interests include assessment, prevention and intervention practices for students with reading and other learning disabilities. She teaches courses including Practicum in Assessment I, Practicum in Assessment II, Practicum in School Psychology, and Therapeutic Interventions in the Schools.
Christopher King, assistant professor, received a JD and a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Drexel University. His research and clinical interests include general forensic mental health evaluation, assessment and treatment services for justice-involved individuals and persons with severe mental illness, and law and public policy concerning oft-institutionalized populations. He teaches courses in forensic psychology and developmental psychopathology for family-child forensic evaluations.
Mark Kitzie, clinical specialist, received a PsyD from Rutgers/GSAPP and is a licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist. His research interests include resiliency and assessment of culturally diverse children. He teaches courses on cognitive assessment, personality/clinical assessment, and clinical externship. He has several publications related to resiliency in children, the needs of bilingual children and assessment of culturally diverse children. He was the Director of Psychology at a residential facility for adolescents, maintained a private practice specializing in children and adolescents, and is currently Clinical Director at the Youth Development Clinic in Newark.
Laura Lakusta, associate professor, received a PhD in Cognitive Developmental Psychology/Cognitive Science from Johns Hopkins University. Her research interests include cognitive and language development in infants and children, specifically on the development of spatial concepts and spatial language acquisition. She has published in several peer-reviewed journals including Cognition, Language Learning and Development, and Cognitive Science and is the recipient of research funding from the National Science Foundation. She teaches courses in developmental psychology, child psychology, and research statistics. More information can be found on her website.
Sandra Lewis, professor, received a PsyD from Rutgers University/GSAPP and is currently Director of the African American Studies program at Montclair State. Her research interests include racial microaggressions and the role of culture in health, mental health, and well-being, particularly among black women. She teaches courses in introductory research and clinically-oriented courses. She has served on the New Jersey Amistad Commission since 2006.
Sarah Lowe, assistant professor, received a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her research focuses on the long-term psychological consequences of traumatic events, including natural and man-made disasters, community and interpersonal violence, and childhood abuse and neglect, and the role of multiple ecological levels – from genetics to neighborhoods – in shaping outcomes. Her work has been published in such outlets as Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Journal of Traumatic Stress, and Social Science and Medicine. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and teaches courses in abnormal psychology.
Danielle Martines, associate professor, received a PhD in School Psychology from Fordham University. She teaches courses including Professional Issues in Multicultural Psychology and Consultation Methods in Psychoeducational Settings.
Carrie Masia Warner, professor, received a PhD in Clinical Psychology from West Virginia University. Her research interests focus on how to improve child and adolescent mental health services, specifically the implementation and evaluation of evidence-based interventions for anxiety and mood disorders in schools and pediatric medical settings. She teaches courses related to clinical externship, abnormal psychology and evidence-based interventions. Masia Warner has published extensively in top journals and has had great success securing external funding. Previously, she served on the faculties of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, NYU Langone Medical Center and the Department of Psychology at William Paterson University. She also completed a post-doctoral NIMH research fellowship at Columbia University.
Josiane Menos, clinical specialist, received a PsyD in School and Clinical Psychology from Yeshiva University/Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology in New York City. She holds certification as a school psychologist in both New York and New Jersey and worked in that capacity in New York City schools for more than a decade. She teaches Behavioral Assessment, Practicum in Assessment, Cognitive Assessment, and Family Systems and Childhood Disorders. She currently provides consultation services for New Jersey school districts and conducts cognitive and behavioral assessments. As a family therapist, she provides services to institutions and families from a Multicultural Systemic perspective.
Luis Montesinos, professor, obtained an MA in Behavior Analysis and Therapy and a Doctor of Rehabilitation degree from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. His research interests are in the areas of health psychology, minority issues and disenfranchised populations. Most recently, he has been exploring the effects of writing on emotions. He teaches Introduction to Psychology and Health Psychology.
Jennifer Pardo, professor, received a PhD in Cognitive Psychology from Yale University. She is the director of the Speech Communication Laboratory. Her research centers on the production and perception of spoken language, with an emphasis on understanding variation and convergence in phonetic form. She teaches courses in cognition, perception, and psycholinguistics. Publications resulting from her research have appeared in Journal of Memory & Language, Frontiers in Psychology, and Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics.
Alan L. Pehrson, assistant professor, received a PhD in Biological Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University and completed postdoctoral fellowships with the Center for Neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh and at Lundbeck. His research interests focus on understanding how glutamate neurotransmission is regulated by neuromodulatory systems, and how these mechanisms can be used to improve the cognitive impairments associated with psychiatric disease. He teaches courses in Experimental Psychology and Physiological Psychology. Pehrson has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles in a variety of respected neuroscience journals and was a key player in the development of the antidepressant vortioxetine (Trintellix).
Ruth Propper, professor, received a PhD in Cognitive Neuropsychology from the University of Toledo. She is the director of the Cerebral Lateralization Laboratory. Her research interests include the contributions of the cerebral hemispheres to mood, cognition and perception and the mechanisms by which hemispheric activity can be altered, thereby altering emotions, cognition and perception. She teaches courses focusing on neuroscience and research methodologies.
Deborah Fish Ragin, professor, received a PhD in Psychology from Harvard University. Her research interests include health psychology with emphasis on health disparities and health policy, research methods, and data analysis. She is the author of Health Psychology: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Health, 3rd edition, by Taylor & Francis (2017). She teaches courses including Health Psychology, Introduction to Psychological Research, and Introduction to Psychology.
Jazmin Reyes-Portillo, assistant professor, received a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Rutgers University. Her research interests include: examining the use of digital health technology to reduce mental health disparities among racial/ethnic minority youth as well as examining ways to improve the implementation and dissemination of evidence-based practices in schools and community clinics. She teaches courses including Abnormal Psychology and Professional Issues in Multicultural Psychology. Reyes-Portillo has been successful obtaining external funding and has published in journals in such as Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Cognitive and Behavioral Practice.
Joshua Sandry, assistant professor, received a PhD from New Mexico State University. His research interests include understanding how attention and memory interact to create new long-term memory representations in both healthy and neurological populations. He teaches courses including Experimental Psychology, Introduction to Statistical Methods in Psychology, Perception, Physiological Psychology, Human Learning and Memory, and Cognition. Sandry’s lab is called the Cognition and Neurocognitive Disorders Research Lab.
Ofelia Rodriguez-Srednicki, associate professor, received a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Seton Hall University. Her research interests include clinical psychology, multicultural psychology, Latino/a issues, issues of diversity, bereavement, addiction, trauma, sexual abuse, and women issues. She teaches courses including Clinical Psychology and the Psychology of Women. She is a licensed psychologist and a certified School Psychologist.
Valerie Sessa, professor, received a PhD in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from New York University. Her research interests include leadership development in college students and continuous learning at the individual, group, and organizational levels. She teaches courses including Leadership Theory and Development, Groups in Organizations and Work Attitudes and Motivation. She is the author of three books: Executive selection: Strategies for success, Jossey Bass (with Jodi Taylor, 2000), Continuous learning in Organizations: Individual, group, and organizational perspectives, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. (with Manny London, 2005), Work group learning: Understanding, improving, and assessing how groups learn in organizations, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. (edited with Manny London, 2008), and has one book in progress: College Student Leadership Development: Learning from Experience, Taylor and Francis.
Daniel Simonet, assistant professor, received a PhD in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from the University of Tulsa. His research interests include dysfunctional leadership, negotiation, emotional intelligence, team dynamics, and advanced psychometrics. He teaches courses including Personnel Selection and Organizational Psychology. He is also the director of the Leadership, Emotion, and Personality (LEAP) lab.
Kenneth Sumner received a PhD from Bowling Green State University and is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology and the acting associate provost for Academic Affairs. His research interests include leadership, attitudes, and psychometrics. He supervises the Industrial and Organizational internships.
David Townsend, professor, received a PhD in Cognitive Processes from Wayne State University. His research interests include measuring eye movements during reading to examine the use of structural and semantic information during sentence comprehension. He is a University Distinguished Scholar.
Peter Vietze, professor, received a PhD in Developmental Psychology from Wayne State University. His research interests include development of competence and parenting style, parents with intellectual disabilities, and young children with autism-treatment effectiveness. He teaches courses including Behavior and Development of Infants and Experimental and Child Psychology.
John Paul Wilson, assistant professor, received a PhD in Social Psychology from the University of Toronto. His research is broadly focused on the interplay of perceiver and target identities in social perception. It also focuses on first impressions, face memory, and social judgments. He teaches courses in social psychology.
Yingying (Jennifer) Yang, assistant professor, received a PhD in developmental/cognitive psychology from the University of Alabama. Her research interests include a variety of cognitive development phenomena (such as attention, learning, memory, and problem solving with a focus in spatial processes) in typical and atypical development (such as people with intellectual or developmental disabilities). She teaches courses in statistics, research methods and developmental psychology. Yang has also been successful attracting external funding and has published in journals such as Journal of Experimental Child Psychology and Research in Developmental Disabilities.
Debra Zellner, professor, received a PhD from American University. Her research interests include how context and categorization influences hedonic ratings and preference, particularly of foods; factors that influence how much we like foods; and multimodal perception, particularly the influence of color on odor perception. She teaches courses including Introductory Psychology, Experimental Psychology, Introduction to Psychological Research and Statistics, Sensation and Perception, Psychology of Food, and Motivation.
Tina Zottoli, assistant professor, received a PhD from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY Graduate Center. Her primary research interests lie in adolescent decision making and legal competencies. She teaches courses including Forensic Psychology, Forensic Assessment and Developmental Psychopathology. She has co-authored several publications, including “The feedback related negativity (FRN) in adolescents,” Psychophysiology (with J. Grose-Fifer) and “A first look at the plea deal experiences of juveniles charged in adult court,” International Journal of Forensic Mental Health (with T. Daftary-Kapur).