Primary Faculty
T. Evan Smith, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychology
smitht@etown.edu | 717-361-1320 | 260B Esbenshade
- B.S., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1998
- Ph.D., University of California, Santa Cruz, 2005
- Courses: Adult Development and Aging (CBL), Psychology of Women and Gender, Introduction to Psychology, Seminar in Developmental Psychology, and Diversity, Identity and Social Justice (First-year seminar).
Dr. Smith is a developmental psychologist with expertise in adolescence and emerging adulthood. His primary research interests are identity development, LGBTQ identities and experiences, and the nature of prejudice. Dr. Smith is currently conducting research that aims to better understand the experiences of LGBTQ youth in Central Pennsylvania through the use of Photovoice methodology.
Dr. Smith is also the director of the Women and Gender Studies program which offers an interdisciplinary minor.
Jean Pretz, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
pretzj@etown.edu | 717-361-1267 | 260F Esbenshade
- B.A., Wittenberg University, 1997
- Ph.D., Yale University, 2004
- Courses: Introduction to Neuroscience, Intelligence and Creativity, Seminar in Cognition, Introduction to Psychology
Dr. Pretz is a cognitive psychologist with research interests in creativity, its relationship to academic achievement, and the relationship between intuition and expertise. Dr. Pretz received her Ph.D. from Yale University in 2004. There, she worked with Robert Sternberg on her dissertation on intuition in everyday problem solving. She received her B.A. from Wittenberg University, where she double-majored in psychology and music. After college, she spent a year as a Fulbright scholar studying psychology of religion in the former East Germany, living in Lutherstadt-Wittenberg and studying at Martin-Luther-Universitaet Halle-Wittenberg.
Elizabeth Dalton, Ph.D.
Program Director, Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology
Associate Professor of Psychology
daltone@etown.edu | 717-361-1332 | 260D Esbenshade
- B.A., Amherst College
- M.A., University of California, Los Angeles
- Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles
- Courses: Introduction to Psychology, Health Psychology, Psychotherapy and Assessment, Counseling Psychology, Psychology of Stress, Child Psychopathology and Treatment
- M.A. in Counseling Psychology Program Website
Dr. Dalton is a licensed clinical psychologist with research interests in stress, mood, and physical health behaviors and outcomes. Dr. Dalton completed her graduate training at UCLA, where she studied how stress and depression influence health behaviors like eating, sleeping, exercise, and substance use among young adults. As part of her clinical training, Dr. Dalton has worked in community mental health centers and hospitals, and completed her clinical internship year at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Dr. Dalton works with ½ûÂþÌìÌà students on various research projects examining the effects of stress and mood on physical health. Dr. Dalton also directs the M.A. in Counseling Psychology Program.
Michael M. Roy, Ph.D.
Department Chair
Professor of Psychology
roym@etown.edu | 717-361-1331 | 260E Esbenshade
- B.A., Bates College, 1991
- M.A., University of California, San Diego, 1999
- Ph.D., University of California, San Diego, 2003
- Courses: Social Psychology, Psychological Statistics, Psychological Research Methods, Seminar in Social Psychology
The main focus of Dr. Roy’s research is on how people's perception of environmental statistics influence their judgments and decisions. His research has examined bias in memory for how long tasks have taken in the past and in prediction for how long they will take in the future. He also examined how people rate their own abilities on various tasks and how characteristics of those tasks influence their self-assessments.
Dr. Roy was part of an ½ûÂþÌìÌà group that established instrumental music programs at two schools in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. These visits led to a new line of research in the psychology of music. Specifically, he has been examining how differences in personality predict the role that music plays in people’s lives.
Jennifer Legault Wittmeyer, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology
wittmeyerj@etown.edu | 717-361-3595 | 260C Esbenshade
- B.S., Tulane University, New Orleans, 2010
- M.S., Tulane University, New Orleans, 2011
- Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 2019
- Courses: Introduction to Neuroscience, Neuroscience of Drug Abuse, Introduction to Psychology, Behavioral Neuroscience
Dr. Legault Wittmeyer is a cognitive neuroscientist with expertise in learning and memory and second language acquisition. She received her Ph.D from Penn State University under the mentorship of Dr. Ping Li, where she focused on how brain structure changes when individuals learn a second language through virtual environments versus computer-based and classroom-based methodologies. Her primary research interests include examining individual differences across virtual reality versus additional learning contexts during second language, motor, and spatial learning tasks. Furthermore, she is interested in examining the relationships between brain structure, function, and behavior through the analysis of large-scale magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data provided by various data sharing platforms.
Affiliated Faculty
Sharmin Maswood, Ph.D.
Psychology Adjunct
maswoods@etown.edu | 717-361-1383 | 260J Esbenshade
- Ph.D., Molecular Biology, Texas Woman’s University, Denton TX. (Behavioral Neuroscience Specialization)
Jaime Gibson
Psychology Adjunct
gibsonjaime@etown.edu | 717-361-1714 | 260G Esbenshade
- B.S., Barton College
- M.S., Shippensburg University
Professor Gibson has a career that spans over 20 years in mental health and academia, including working in residential, corrections, research (ophthalmology), outpatient mental health, and most recently, inpatient mental health. In addition to teaching, Professor Gibson works at the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute, an inpatient mental health facility in Harrisburg, PA. Professor Gibson's teaching interests and experience include introduction to psychology, social psychology, social deviance, gender and society, the creative mind, psychopathology, and personality and behavior traits. Professor Gibson is particularly intrigued by the psychology of humor and its underlying mechanisms.
Elizabeth Rider, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology, President of ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ
riderea@etown.edu
- B.A., Gettysburg College
- M.S., Vanderbilt University
- Ph.D., Vanderbilt University
Dr. Rider is a developmental psychologist with expertise in the study of children’s spatial abilities and the psychology of gender. She joined the Psychology department in 1988, teaching courses in developmental psychology, educational psychology, exceptional children, and the psychology of women. She has published a textbook on the psychology of women, and her textbook Life-Span Human Development (co-authored with Dr. Carol Sigelman of George Washington University) is in its 9th edition with Cengage Learning. Dr. Rider assumed an administrative role at the College in 2004. In 2016, she became the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, and then transitioned to the Provost for Academic Affairs. On November 2, 2022, Dr. Rider was named President of ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ.
Emeritus Faculty
Paul Dennis, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology, Emeritus
- B.A., Bowdoin College, 1964
- M.A., New School for Social Research, 1966
- Ph.D., New School for Social Research, 1973
- Courses: Psychopathology, Counseling Psychology, Coordinates Field Studies
Dr. Paul Dennis taught at the College for 48 years. Dr. Dennis' research interests include the popularization of psychology. His published articles include a paper on an intelligence test developed by Thomas A. Edison, the popularization of the subconscious and the power of suggestion before World War I, and Eleanor Roosevelt's contribution to the popularization of child psychology during the 1940's. Dr. Dennis also held an APA approved clinical internship at Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown, CT, 1975-76.
Catherine Craver Lemley, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology, Emeritus
lemleyce@etown.edu
- B.S., Columbus State University, 1983
Summa Cum Laude - M.A., Northeastern University, 1985
- Ph.D., Northeastern University, 1988
- Courses: Introduction to Psychology, Honors Introduction to Psychology, Introduction to Neuroscience, Honors Introduction to Neuroscience, Sensation and Perception, Cognitive Psychology, Seminar in Perception
Dr. Lemley’s area of expertise is in visual perception. Her research focuses on the relation between visual mental imagery and visual perception with an emphasis on how what you imagine can interfere with what you actually perceive. Dr. Lemley has also been investigating the way in which cognitive processes, namely mental imagery, can moderate the mere exposure effect, which occurs when very brief exposures to stimuli increase the degree to which a person likes such stimuli. Most recently Dr. Lemley has examined the roles of attention and learning in synesthesia. Synesthesia occurs when the stimulation of a sensory modality (e.g. vision) consistently elicits an involuntary concurrent perceptual experience within the same or in another modality (e.g. taste).
Dr. Lemley has been awarded funding from the National Sciences Foundation and the Pennsylvania Department of Education for three projects, most recently for fMRI research in synesthesia. She involves students in each of her lines of research and has mentored a number of students who have won regional and national awards for their research.
Dr. Lemley received the ½ûÂþÌìÌà Engaging Educator Award for the 2014-2015 academic year. This award is presented by Student Assembly annually to a faculty member that shows a true commitment to their students both in and out of the classroom.
