Dr.
Robert Lavallee has been promoted to Professor Emeritus and is
retiring after 37 years at Saint Michael's College. Before he began
teaching at the college he was a research psychologist and a captain
in the U.S. Army. Lavallee was the second person hired in the psychology department and was instrumental in developing
the major. His tenure as chair of the department saw growth in the
number of faculty and the number of students declaring psychology as
a major. In his early years he was also head of the counseling
program, a forerunner of the graduate program in psychology. His
areas of teaching included: test and measurement, perception,
history of psychology, psychological statistics and research
methodology, which he also taught at the graduate level. Students
often commented on how much they loved the stories he would tell and
how ready he was to meet with them if they so desired. He exhibited
a genuine love for students and the energy they brought to the
classroom. Besides his teaching, Bob was a consulting psychologist
in psychological testing for the army, the Vermont Department of
Special Education and the Catholic Diocese of Burlington. He lives
with his wife, Rita, in a house he built himself in Enosburg Falls.
Dr.
Sharon Lamb was awarded a $20,000 sabbatical grant by the
Association for Moral Education, in conjunction with the Gift of
Time Foundation. The award is intended “to provide extended
sabbatical time for mid-career scholars to conduct research in moral
education/psychology/philosophy,” according to their Web site,
www.amenetwork.org.
Professor Lamb will be using her sabbatical to create a sexual
ethics curriculum for high schoolers.
She plans to construct a class in
moral education, using philosophy, psychology and health, that
encourages conversation about “how you treat people when you grow
into your sexuality,” a course “teaching character and raising moral
development.”
Dr.
David Boynton was awarded tenure in May 2007. His
area of interest is cognitive psychology, and he
specializes in judgment, decision making and intuitive thought
processes. His research has included projects that involve
superstitious behavior, gambling behavior and the misperception of
statistical information. Boynton has also published in the history
of psychology, and is currently exploring the cognitive correlates
of superstitious or "magical" thinking.
Boynton, D. M., and Smith, L. D. (2006).
Bringing history to life: Simulating landmark experiments in
psychology. History of Psychology, 9(2), 113-143. Paper
published for the American Psychological Association.
Boynton, D. M. (2006).
The gambler’s fallacy effect. In N. J. Salkind (Ed.), The
Encyclopedia of Measurement and Statistics.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Article contributed to the Sage Press
encyclopedia of measurement and statistics.
Brown, Lyn Mikel;
Lamb, Sharon. (August, 2006).
Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers’ Schemes
(St.
Martin’s Press). Co-authored and published book.
Carrico, R.L. and Berthier N.E. (January, 2008).
Vision and precision reaching in 15-month-old infants. Infant
Behavior and Development.
Kim,
M.Y. and Whitney, C.A.. (2007).
Influence of Attachment Style on Same-Culture and Cross-Culture
Friendships. Poster
presented at presented at the annual meeting of the Association of
Psychological Science, Washington D.C.
Kirshenbaum, Ari P.; Bickel, Warren K.;
Boynton,
David
M. (August 2006).
Simulated opioid withdrawal engenders risk-prone choice: A
comparison of intravenous and intranasal-using populations.
Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 83(2), pp. 130-136. Co-authored
paper on opioid withdrawal.
Kuntz S. and Kaplan, C. (Winter, 2007).
You can't be old before you are young: Aging and pedagogy.
Feminist Teacher.
Lamb, S.
(September, 2006).
Sex, Therapy, and Kids: Addressing Their Concerns through Talk and
Play
(W.W. Norton). Published book.
Miller, R. (2004).
Facing Human Suffering: Psychology and Psychotherapy as Moral
Engagement. Published book. Read a
review by Daryl Paulson, Ph.D., President/CEO of BioScience
Laboratories.
Millwood, M. (in press).
Demand-withdrawal communication in couples: an attachment
perspective. Journal of Couple and Relationship.
Murphy, M., Kirshenbaum, A., and
VanderKaay, M. M. (April 2007).
Psychophysiological Measurement of Human Sexual
Attraction Based Upon Fertility Status Detected Through Odor Changes
Across the Female Life Span. Poster presented at the 1st
Annual NorthEastern Evolutionary Psychology Society Meeting, New
Paltz, NY.
VanderKaay, M. M.,
and Patterson, S. M. (March, 2007).
Differential effects of nicotine and nicotine
abstinence on stress-induced cardiovascular reactivity among
nicotine dependent and non-nicotine dependent cigarette smokers.
Poster presented at the 28th Annual Scientific Meeting of
the Society for Behavioral Medicine,
Washington, DC.
Whitney, C.A.; Murphy, M.; Newth, A. (2007).
Hooking Up Among College Students: Sexual Motivations and Emotional
Loneliness. Poster
presented at the annual meeting of the Association of Psychological
Science, New York, NY.
Return to main page