Dr. Karen Talentino

One of the reasons that I accepted the position as Vice President for Academic Affairs at Saint Michael’s last year is because I am a proponent of an undergraduate education which emphasizes a strong foundation in the liberal arts and sciences. At Saint Michael’s, students have the opportunity to choose from a broad range of majors, including pre-professional ones, but all majors are offered within the context of a liberal studies curriculum. The discipline of psychology is an important component of such a curriculum. Some might even say that it is a perfect model of a liberal studies discipline because it incorporates knowledge and methodologies from the natural sciences, the humanities and the social sciences. Psychologists contribute to the current understanding of human behavior, mental processes and emotional experiences, and apply that knowledge to fields of study such as human development, health, media and sports.

It is not surprising that so many students find this discipline interesting – it appeals to those who are intrigued by the brain and how it functions, animal behavior, perception, learning, interpersonal relationships and other social interactions, personality, mental health - the list could go on and on. The psychology faculty at Saint Michael’s represent expertise in many of these disciplinary sub-fields, and provide students with tremendous opportunities to study and carry out research. It is my hope that we will be able to expand those opportunities even further in the near future, to include a program in neuroscience which will involve faculty from a number of departments, including psychology, biology, and philosophy.

Given the broad applications of psychology, it is hard to imagine any field of study in which a student could not benefit from taking at least one psychology course.