Wanda LaBar

Office: 105 Elliott Hall
Title: Clerical Assistant III
Phone: (570) 662-4771
Email: wlabar@mansfield.edu

In addition to providing support for the PsychologyProgram at Mansfield University, Wanda acts as administrative support for the Honors Program and administers the testing for ASE, CLEP and MAT exams.

Francis W. Craig

Office: 236 South Hall
Title: Professor
Phone: (570) 662-4774
Email: fcraig@mansfield.edu
Website: http://faculty.mansfield.edu/fcraig

Activites and Interests:

• Cardiovascular Behavioral Medicine
• Psychophysiology of Stress
• Social Support/Health Relationships

Degrees:

• B.A. Univ. of Richmond
• M.A. Loyola of Maryland
• Ph.D. Univ. of Tennessee

Personal Statement:

• My academic interests and training are primarily in the area of cardiovascular psychophysiology. Specifically I am interested in how socially supportive environments and behaviors affect the functioning of the heart. In recent and current research I am primarily focused on social support giving and receiving by men to men. My students and I are also looking at the role of personal conditions (such of sense of well-being and rumination) on daytime and nocturnal blood pressure.
• Research I have conducted has been published in journals such as Integrative Physiological and Behavioral Sciences, Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, Clinical Autonomic Research, International Journal of Men's Health, and International Journal of Psychophysiology. I am an active member of the American Psychological Association and the Society of Behavioral Medicine.
• I am also active with the Tioga County Partnership for Community Health. In 2000 I completed an 18-month countywide assessment of the health of Tioga County. This experience and a strong background in exercise science has kindled new interests in community health, most keenly an interest in smoking cessation programs.
• At MU I teach a variety of courses such as: Introduction to General Psychology, Psychology of Stress, Physiological Psychology, Health Psychology, and Research Methods. I am currently working to develop a comprehensive laboratory manual for health psychology that will incorporate a heavy online problem-solving component. Finally I have an ongoing interest in statistics, male health issues and sport psychology.
• On the personal side, I am a regular swimmer and runner (not so much biking these days). I enjoy athletics of all kinds and am a passionate college football fan. In terms of music, I enjoy pop, country, pre-20th century classical, new age ambient and techno trance stuff.

Karen Crisp

Office: 207 South Hall
Title: Instructor
Phone: (570) 662-4391
Email: kcrisp@mansfield.edu

Activites and Interests:

• Assessment and Treatment of Children and Youth
• Expert Witness Testimony
• Faculty Senate
• Red & Black Committee for employee morale

Degrees:

• B. S. Mansfield University
• M. A. Mansfield University

Personal Statement:

I completed an NIMH fellowship to earn my Masters in Clinical/Community Psychology. I have worked in a variety of clinical settings including inpatient substance abuse rehab, community mental health centers, university counseling center, and residential youth care. I served as the clinical supervisor for an inpatient youth diagnostic program for 20 years and during that time I testified as an expert witness hundreds of times in courtroom across Pennsylvania. In addition to my clinical experiences, I began teaching in the Psychology Department on a part time basis in 1987 and I have been full time on campus since 2011.

The list of courses I have instructed is quite lengthy since I have been doing it for so long but I am always excited, enthusiastic, and innovative about teaching. Most frequently, I am teaching Psychological Assessment, Counseling of Youth, Child Psychological Disorders, and Child & Adolescent Development. I also teach Psychological Disorders, Death & Dying, and other courses as needed. I am most proud of the Counseling of Youth course that teaches students through experiential learning how to have a positive impact with at-risk youth.

When not teaching you will find me doing adventurous things like traveling to other countries, kayaking and fishing on Lake Ontario, tackling an adventure ropes course, and managing three energetic terrier dogs.

Brian Loher, Department Chair

Office: 152 South Hall
Title: Professor
Phone: (570) 662-4777
Email: bloher@mansfield.edu
Website: http://faculty.mansfield.edu/bloher/home.html

Activities and Interests:

• Human Resource Concentration Advisor
• Industrial-Organizational Psychology
• Music

Degrees:

• B.A. - Indiana, Bloomington
• M.A. - Michigan State
• Ph.D. - Michigan State

Personal Statement:

• My professional training was in industrial-organizational psychology. I have been at Mansfield since the fall of 1990 and teach our Introductory Psychology, Orientation to Psychology, Human Resource Management, Labor Relations, and Compensation and Benefits courses. My teaching style is a mixture of lecture and discussion, using examples from business, sports, television, politics, history, etc.
• I am co-author of multiple book chapters and articles that have appeared in Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, Journal of Business and Psychology, and Journal of Managerial Issues. I have acted as an ad-hoc reviewer for national conferences and several professional journals, including Journal of Applied Psychology and the Journal of Managerial Issues. I was the leader for our most recent department program review.
• I am very active in the local community as an amateur trumpet player, performing with St. James' Brass, Spare Parts, X-Ray Big Band, the "Almost World Famous" Wellsboro Town Band, St. James Brass, and various local pit orchestras (19 musicals and counting!). My main non-work role is that of "Dad." I also try to keep our old house from falling down, springing leaks, etc.

Nicolle Mayo

Office: 205 South Hall
Title: Associate Professor
Phone: (570) 662-4779
E-mail: nmayo@mansfield.edu

Activities and Interests:

• Family interactions and older adult well-being
• Marriage and Family Therapy
• Pre-marital education and counseling
• Psychology Club Advisor

Degrees:

• B.A. Western Oregon
• M.A. University of San Diego
• Ph.D. Texas Tech University

I received my Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy from Texas Tech University in the summer of 2013. Additionally, I have clinical practice in San Diego, CA and Lubbock, TX. I have worked with issues concerning anxiety, depression, marital, family and work related conflict all the way to severe psychiatric disorders.

Apart from my clinical experience, I conduct qualitative research, particularly around older adult well being and family interaction patterns. I have recently focused on older adults' perceptions of ageism, internalized ageism, and how family interactions reduce or promote internalized ageism among older adults. I am also involved with the Tioga Partnership for Community Health to assess community well being, part of an initiative to provide better support for dysfunctional families, and an advocate in the eldercare workgroup.

I teach a variety of courses at Mansfield that include, Research Methods, Introduction to Psychology, Advanced Counseling Skills, Marriage and Family Counseling, Family Relations, Psychological Assessment, and Psychological Disorders. I operate from a family systems perspective. I am a strong advocate for using pre-marital education and counseling as a preventative measure against relational deterioration.

Outside the classroom, I love hiking, biking, kayaking, running, camping and all outdoors activities. I love to travel. I hate shopping, but love picking up antiques, redecorating, and rearranging the house (especially when Mr. Mayo is not home). Nutrition is an interest of mine, though you would not be able to tell by my huge sweet tooth.

Gretchen Sechrist

Office: 211 South Hall

Title: Professor
Phone: (570) 662-4778
Email: gsechris@mansfield.edu
Website: N/A

Activities and Interests:

• Social Psychology
• Stereotypes, Prejudice, Discrimination
• Psi Chi Advisor
• President's Commission on the Status of Women

Degrees:

• Ph.D. - University of Maryland
• M.A. - University of Maryland
• B.A - Bucknell University

Personal Statement:

• I obtained my Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Maryland. I joined the faculty at Mansfield University in the Fall of 2009. Prior to coming to MU, I completed a NIH-funded postdoctoral fellowship at The Pennsylvania State University and was an Assistant Professor at the University at Buffalo, SUNY. My undergraduate work was completed at Bucknell University, where I majored in both Psychology and Philosophy.
• My research interests are in the general domains of stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination, and their applications in everyday life. I have two primary lines of research. The first addresses the development, maintenance, and change of stereotypes and prejudice from the perceiver's perspective; that is, the person who holds prejudicial or stereotyped beliefs. This line of research focuses on the influence of social consensus information (information about the beliefs held by other people) on individuals' intergroup attitudes and behaviors. My other line of work explores issues of prejudice and discrimination from the target's perspective; that is, the perspective of a person who is the target of a perceiver's prejudicial or stereotyped beliefs. Specifically, my research concerns how people come to decide that they or others have been targets of prejudice or discrimination, the consequences of being a target of discrimination or recognizing others' experience with discrimination, and how people cope with the experience of being a target of prejudice.
• Research I have conducted has been published in several journals, including the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Basic and Applied Social Psychology, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, and Sex Roles. I also am an active member of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.
• I teach a variety of courses at MU, including: Introduction to General Psychology, Social Psychology & Advanced Social Psychology Lab, Research Methods, Stereotyping and Prejudice, and Introduction to Leadership Studies.
• On a personal note, I am an avid sports fan and enjoy athletics of all kinds. I am especially passionate about college football and college basketball.

Karri Verno

Office: 206 South Hall
Title: Professor
Phone: (570) 662-4773
Email: kverno@mansfield.edu

Activities and Interests:

• Life span developmental psychology
• Forensic psychology

Degrees:

• B.A. - Waynesburg College
• M.A. - West Virginia University
• Ph.D. - West Virginia University

Personal Statement:

• I received my Ph.D. from West Virginia University in Life-Span Developmental Psychology in 2005. I chose to study life-span development because I am truly interested in how psychological processes-particularly cognition-unfold over the course of an individual's life. Broadly, I am interested in memory across the lifespan and I have specific interests in how memory development relates to psychology and law. In particular, I study suggestibility, which refers to an individual's tendency to accept misinformation during a questioning procedure. This has important implications in the legal system, as many innocent individuals have been wrongfully convicted of crimes based on faulty eyewitness testimony (see www.innocenceproject.org for more information).
• Since coming to Mansfield, I have supervised many students independent study research projects, including an investigation of psychological factors (such as shyness, desire to please others, trust) and how they relate to suggestibility in college- age students (Penovse & Verno, 2008). Another research project examined how a person's gender interacts with an interviewer's gender to influence the overall accuracy of eyewitness testimony (Farley, Verno, & Scullin, 2007). This research project showed that male interviewers elicit a lot of action- oriented details from eye witnesses while female interviewers are more likely than male interviewers to elicit details about what people look like. I also have interests in jury decision making and racial bias against minority defendants. I have completed research projects in these areas, with some unexpected results (Simpson & Verno, 2007). Mock jurors in our sample showed less bias against minority defendant than the White defendants. I look forward to continuing these lines of research with my students here at Mansfield University.