Faculty

Jaime L. Anderson, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Psychology

jla068@shsu.edu

Research interests include the conceptualization, assessment, and diagnosis of personality disorders, with particular focus on the use of dimensional trait models in understanding personality psychopathology. Dr. Anderson is the director of the Assessment of Personality Psychopathology Lab.

Curriculum Vita

Accepting/Reviewing applications for Fall 2024 doctoral admissions: NO

Marcus Boccaccini, Ph.D.

Distinguished Professor of Psychology
Associate Director of Clinical Training

boccaccini@shsu.edu

Research interests include adversarial allegiance in expert witness opinions, agreement among forensic evaluators, field reliability and validity of procedures used in forensic assessment.

Curriculum Vita

Accepting/Reviewing applications for Fall 2024 doctoral admissions: YES

Kiana Cano, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Psychology

kec112@shsu.edu

Research interests include borderline personality disorder etiology, personality disorder taxonomy, and the assessment of personality pathology in youth.

Curriculum Vita

Accepting/Reviewing applications for Fall 2024 doctoral admissions: YES

Mary Alice Conroy, Ph.D.

Distinguished Professor of Psychology
Director of the Psychological Services Center

MAConroy@shsu.edu

Research interests include forensic clinical psychology, risk assessment, civil commitment evaluations.

Curriculum Vita

Accepting/Reviewing applications for Fall 2024 doctoral admissions: NO

Charlotte Esplin, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Psychology

cre032@shsu.edu

B.S., Brigham Young University; M.S., Brigham Young University; Ph.D., Brigham Young University. Research interests include couples, sexuality, perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, and eating disorders.

Accepting/Reviewing applications for Fall 2024 doctoral admissions: YES

Craig Henderson, Ph.D.

Professor of Psychology
Director of Clinical Training

ceh003@shsu.edu

Research interests include family psychology, juvenile substance abuse treatment, college student alcohol use, exercise-based interventions, advanced data analytic methodology.

Curriculum Vita

Accepting/Reviewing applications for Fall 2024 doctoral admissions: YES

Ryan Marek, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Psychology

rxm147@shsu.edu

Research centers around health psychology and assessment psychology, with a particular focus in presurgical psychological assessment and how psychopathology predicts various medical outcomes.

Curriculum Vita

Accepting/Reviewing applications for Fall 2024 doctoral admissions: YES

Chelsea Ratcliff, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Psychology

chelsea.ratcliff@shsu.edu

Dr. Ratcliff is Director of the Integrative Health Lab.

Research interests include health psychology; behavioral-and-mindfulness-based interventions; and understanding the relations among stress, physical health, psychosocial adjustment, and quality of life.

Curriculum Vita

Accepting/Reviewing applications for Fall 2024 doctoral admissions: YES

Jared R. Ruchensky, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Psychology

jrr107@shsu.edu

Research interests include personality disorders (particularly psychopathy), the Alternative Model for Personality Disorders, forensic psychology, and psychological assessment of constructs relevant to forensic/correctional settings.

Curriculum Vita

Lab Website

Accepting/Reviewing applications for Fall 2024 doctoral admissions: NO

Mary Elizabeth (M.E.) Wood, Ph.D., ABPP

Assistant Professor of Psychology

mew0952@shsu.edu

Research interests include forensic assessment, psychometrics (especially of forensic assessment instruments), and the identification, assessment, and treatment of individuals with intellectual disability in criminal legal settings.

Accepting/Reviewing applications for Fall 2024 doctoral admissions: YES

Hillary Langley, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Psychology and Associate Chair

hxl022@shsu.edu

Research interests include developmental psychology and children’s mental health; children’s eyewitness testimony and the impact of stress and anxiety on children’s memory for traumatic experiences; the protective effects of prosocial behaviors and emotions (e.g., empathy, gratitude) on children’s psychological well-being; and, the implementation of parental training programs focused on teaching parents how to effectively talk with their children about past stressful or traumatic experiences as well as children’s past behavioral transgressions.

Curriculum Vita

Accepting/Reviewing applications for Fall 2024 doctoral admissions: NO

Daniella Cash, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Psychology

dkc025@shsu.edu

Research interests include a focus on social and cognitive psychology as it pertains to the legal system. This includes eyewitness testimony, jury decision-making, deception detection, and factors involving the recognition and perception of criminal events (e.g., instances of child grooming or sexual assault).

Curriculum Vita

Accepting/Reviewing applications for Fall 2024 doctoral admissions: NO

Jorge G. Varela, Ph.D.

Professor of Psychology
Department Chair

jgv002@shsu.edu

Research interests include cultural and linguistic (Spanish) diversity issues in forensic psychology, particularly forensic assessment. I also maintain professional interests in law enforcement psychology as well as military psychology.

Curriculum Vita

Accepting/Reviewing applications for Fall 2024 doctoral admissions: NO