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Alumni Accolades

Casey Cavanagh, Ph.D., ABPP, graduate of our program in Clinical Psychology, received the Barbara A. Keeton Volunteer of the Year Award from Division 38 (Society of Health Psychology) of the American Psychological Association for her service contributions to the field.

Congratulations to Steven C. Hayes, graduate of our doctoral program in clinical psychology, for his recognition of a lifetime of outstanding contributions in the area of applied psychological research through the 2024 James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award by the Association for Psychological Science.

Jeffrey L. Goodie, PhD, ABPP, Professor and Deputy Director of Research in the Department of Family Medicine of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, received an award for Excellence in Clinical Health Psychology from the Society of Health Psychology of the American Psychological Association in 2023.

Casey E. Cavanagh, PhD, ABPP, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, received an award for Excellence in Clinical Health Psychology by an Early Career Professional from the Society of Health Psychology of the American Psychological Association in 2023.

The new Vice President for Academic Affairs at William Peace University is Lynda Syzmanski, PhD, a graduate of WVU's clinical program (July 2022).

Rachael Spalding, PhD, graduate of our clinical psychology program, received an award for Outstanding Contributions in the Field of Long Term Care for her research on attitudes towards older adult sexuality from Psychologists in Long Term Care (December 2022).

The Eberly College of Arts and Sciences honored Sarah T. Stahl (PhD, Life Span Developmental Psychology; MS and BA, Psychology) with the Rising Star Award, acknowledging her contributions to the science of psychology and showing great promise in her career (April 2022).

Stony Brook names its new Executive Vice president and Provost, Carl Lejuez , graduate of our clinical psychology program (April 2022).

Emily Selby Nelson, PsyD., is the 2021 recipient of the American Psychological Association (APA) Excellence in Rural Psychology Award, sponsored by the APA Committee on Rural Health (August 2021).

Recent alum, Maya Huggins (BA, 2021), was awarded a Diversity in Research and Education Scholarship from the Behavioral and Biomedical Sciences Program at the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center (August 2021).

The new Provost at Luther College is Lynda Szymanski, PhD , graduate of our program in clinical psychology (March 2021)

Lori Pbert, PhD, received the Jesse Gruman Award from the Society of Behavioral Medicine in 2021.

Jeffrey Goodie, PhD, ABPP, received the 2020 Harold M. Hildreth Distinguished Public Service Award from Division 18 (Public Service) of the American Psychological Association.

Carl Lejuez, PhD, has been appointed Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Connecticut (March 2020).

Lori Pbert was appointed to serve on the United States Preventive Services Task Force.  Lori obtained her doctoral degree from WVU in clinical psychology and is the director of the Center for Tobacco Treatment and Research and Training at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (April 2019).

Steve Hayes , PhD, a graduate from our clinical psychology training program, was named an American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow (January 2019).

The 2019 Jessie Gruman Award Winner of the Society of Behavioral Medicine is Jeff Goodie, PhD, ABPP.  Jeff received his doctoral degree in clinical psychology from WVU in 2001 (January 2019).

Recipient of the 2019 Organizational Behavior Management Network Lifetime Achievement Award is Darnell Lattal, who earned her PhD in clinical psychology from WVU (December 2018).

One of this year's Citizen Psychologists pf the American Psychological Association is Emily Selby-Nelson, Psy.D. , alumnus of our undergraduate program (December 2018).

Carl Lejuez
, Ph.D., has been appointed the Interim Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor at the University of Kansas (August 2018).

Chelsea Ale, Ph.D., has been appointed Chair of the Behavioral Health Department of the Mayo Clinic Health System in LaCrosse, WI (August 2018).

The Outstanding Alumni Award from the Department of Psychology in 2018 is Robert D. Kerns, Ph.D. Dr. Kerns is a Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Psychology at Yale University and has had an extensive career in leadership in the VA Connecticut Healthcare System (April 2018).

The incoming President-Elect of the American Medical Association, Patrice Harris MD, received her bachelor's degree in psychology in the Department of Psychology.  She also obtained a masters degree in Counseling and a doctoral degree in Medicine from WVU.

Hayley Harman, a 2017 WVU graduate with degrees in psychology, biology, and Spanish, received a Fulbright Scholarship and is serving as a teaching assistant at Sao Paulo State University in Brazil.

April Highlander, B.S. August 2017, has been awarded a NSF GRFP Fellowship.

Lesley Cottrell, Ph.D., graduate of WVU’s doctoral program in life span developmental psychology and Director of the Center for Excellence in Disabilities in the Health Sciences Center at West Virginia University, has been named the recipient of the 2017-2018 James and Karen Caveney Alumni Association Faculty Excellence Award.

Emily Selby-Nelson, Psy.D., alumnus of our undergraduate program, was selected to serve on the Board of Professional Affairs (BPA) of the American Psychological Association (December 2017).

Dennis Papini, Ph.D. (WVU, 1984) was appointed Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs of the University of Illinois Springfield (April 2017).

The 2017 recipient of the Outstanding Alumni Award from the Department of Psychology is Linda F. Campbell, Ph.D. She is a Professor of Counseling Psychology at the University of Georgia and Director of their Training Clinic who recently completed service on the Board of Directors of the American Psychological Association (April 2017).

Alexis (Claassen) Marzullo, MS, is the recipient of the Rising Star Award from the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. Alexis is the Environment, Health, and Safety Manager of PPG Industries in Westlake, LA (April 2017).

Jeff Goodie, Ph.D., ABPP (WVU, 2001) was elected President-Elect of the American Board of Clinical Health Psychology (ABCHP) in November, 2016.

Kurt Freeman, Ph.D. (WVU, 1999), ABPP, Director of Behavioral Pediatrics Treatment Program at the Oregon Health and Sciences University, was acknowledged by the Association for Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) with the Award for Excellence in Training in April 2016.

The Eberly College of Arts and Sciences recognized  Dana Moore, PhD (WVU, 1976), Assistant Inspector General for Management and Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs, with a Distinguished Alumni Award in April 2016.

Tom Spencer, PhD (WVU, 1992), President and CEO of Aubrey Daniels International, Inc, received an Outstanding Alumni Award from the Department of Psychology in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at WVU in April 2016.

The 2016 recipient of the APA Division 25 SEAB Dissertation Award in Basic Research was recent graduate Nathan Rice, Ph.D. (WVU, 2014) for his dissertation titled, “Reinforcing Effects of Near Wins in Extinction and Concurrent-Chains Procedures” (January 2016).

Mark P. Reilly, a 1996 Ph.D. graduate of the Behavior Analysis Program, has been elected President of the Division for Behavior Analysis (Division 25) of the American Psychological Association, the world’s largest organization for psychologists. He is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Central Michigan University, where he mentors doctoral and master’s degree students in the Department’s graduate program in experimental psychology and serves as Director of the undergraduate program (September 2015).

Cara Palmer Oosterhoff , Ph.D., a 2014 graduate of the life-span developmental doctoral program, has received an award from the National Institutes of Health Loan Repayment Program (September 2015).

Nipat Pichayayothin, Ph.D (WVU, 2014), in life-span developmental was selected by the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences for its Alumni Spotlight (June 2015).

Kimberly Foley, Ph.D., received the Impact Award for her presentation,  Trainees to Care for Children and Adolescents with Psychiatric Disorders, from the Forum for Behavioral Science in Family Medicine.

Eric Goedereis, Ph.D., a 2009 graduate of the life-span developmental area, received the 2015 Kemper Award for Teaching Excellence from Webster University (May, 2015).

Brian Ayotte, Ph.D., a 2007 graduate of the life-span developmental area, has been appointed Associate Director of the University Honors Program at University of Massachusetts—Dartmouth (May, 2015).

Lesley Cottrell, Ph.D. (WVU, 2001), received the 2015 Health Sciences Center Women in Science and Health Mid-Career Excellence Award as the mid-career woman faculty with excellence in mentorship, leadership, diversity service, research and education at the WVU Health Sciences Center. Dr. Cottrell is an Associate Professor and Vice Chair for Research in the School of Medicine department of Pediatrics and co-director of the West Virginia Prevention Research Center housed in the School of Public Health.

Lindsay Gerolimatos, Ph.D. and 2014 graduate of the clinical program area in the Department of Psychology, was selected for an APA Congressional Fellowship upon completion of her post-doctoral fellowship at the VA Boston Healthcare System (March 2015).

Sarah Stahl, Ph.D. and 2010 graduate of the life-span developmental program, received a 4-year K01 award from National Institute of Mental Health (January 2015).

Emily Keener, Ph.D., and  Clare Mehta, Ph.D., 2010 and 2008 graduates of the life-span developmental doctoral program, are the new editors of the APA Division 35 (Society for the Psychology of Women) Newsletter (January 2015).

Jeffrey L. Goodie, Ph.D., ABPP, and 2001 graduate of the clinical program area in the Department of Psychology, was recognized as the 2014 Derek Dunn Memorial Senior Scientist of the Year by the US Public Health Service.

Christine Gould, Ph.D., a 2011 graduate of the clinical program area in the Department of Psychology, received a Career Development Award (CDA-2) from the Department of Veterans Affairs for her research into treating late-life anxiety in veterans using interventions delivered via mobile technology.