Psychology Faculty

Michael B. Casey - Associate Professor of Psychology
(330) 263-2460 / mcasey@wooster.edu

B.A. Michigan State 1982; M.S., Ph.D. Virginia Tech 1993, 1995.

Michael B. Casey is an assistant professor of psychology at The College of Wooster and a member of the faculty since 2000. He is an expert in early developmental processes, particularly the effects of prenatal sensory and motor experience on lateralization and nervous system development. He also specializes in how children use toys and the role of individual development in evolution.

Casey received his B.A. from Michigan State University (1982). He earned a M.S. (1993) and Ph.D. (1995) in developmental psychobiology from Virginia Tech.

Throughout his career, Casey has held a number of research positions including fieldwork for the Department of the Interior at Rockefeller University's Millbrook Center. He has also taught at St. Mary's College of Maryland and Virginia Tech before joining the faculty at Wooster.

A member of the International Society for Developmental Psychobiology, the Association for Psychological Science, and the Midwestern Psychological Association, Casey has authored many articles for professional journals, including "Asymmetrical Hatching Behaviors: The Development of Postnatal Motor Laterality in Three Precocial Bird Species" in Developmental Psychobiology.

Susan Clayton - Professor of Psychology
(330) 263-2565 / sclayton@wooster.edu

B.A. Carleton 1982; M.S., Ph.D. Yale 1984, 1987.

Susan D. Clayton is The Whitmore-Williams Professor of Psychology at The College of Wooster, where she has been a member of the faculty since 1992. A social psychologist, Clayton studies the ways in which people interpret and are affected by their social world. She is particularly interested in how and why people care about nature and the environment, and has recently been studying zoo visitors’ responses to animal exhibits. Clayton also writes on issues related to gender, work, and identity, and on social justice more generally.

Clayton received her B.A. from Carleton College (1982) and her M.S. (1984) and Ph.D. (1987) are from Yale University.

With co-author Faye Crosby, Clayton wrote Justice, Gender and Affirmative Action, which received a book award from the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights. More recently, she co-edited Identity and the Natural Environment with Susan Opotow.

Clayton is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, and a member of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, and the International Society for Justice Research. She will be president of the Society for Population and Environmental Psychology, Division 34 of the American Psychological Association (APA), for 2007-2008.

» Professor Clayton's Faculty Page

Amber L. Garcia - Assistant Professor of Psychology
(330) 263-2629 / agarcia@wooster.edu

B.A. St. Mary’s, California 1996; M.A. Claremont 2000; Ph.D. Purdue 2005.

Amber Garcia is an assistant professor of psychology at The College of Wooster, where she joined the faculty in 2006. Her areas of expertise include social psychology (with an emphasis on multicultural ideology), prejudice and discrimination, intergroup emotions, and impression formation.

Before joining Wooster’s faculty, Garcia was a visiting professor of psychology at Agnes Scott College. Her work, with D. Miller, E. Smith, and D. Mackie, “Thanks for the compliment? Emotional Reactions to remarks directed at the group vs. individual level,” was published by Group Processes and Intergroup Relations.

Garcia is a member of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology and the American Psychological Association.

Gary Gillund - Associate Professor of Psychology
(330) 263-2370 / ggillund@wooster.edu

B.S. North Dakota State 1977; Ph.D. Indiana 1982.

Gary Gillund is an associate professor of psychology at The College of Wooster, where he joined the faculty in 1989. He received his B.S from North Dakota State University (1977) and his Ph.D. from Indiana University (1982).

Gillund has published numerous psychological articles on memory, learning, aging, and human development, including "Episodic Memory and Knowledge Interactions Across Adulthood" which appeared in Language, Memory, and Aging.

Gillund is a member of several professional organizations, including the Psychonomic Society and the American Psychological Society.

Mary E. Kaplar - Visiting Assistant Professor in Psychology
(330) 263-2694 / mkaplar@wooster.edu

B.S. John Carroll 2000; M.A. Bowling Green 2002; Ph.D., Bowling Green State University, 2006.

Mary Kaplar is a visiting assistant professor of psychology at The College of Wooster, where she joined the faculty in 2006. Her research interests include clinical/health psychology, social psychology, specifically altruistic white lying with romantic relationships and relationship satisfaction, and the interface of health psychology and spirituality.

Kaplar received her B.S. from John Carroll University (2000) and her M.A. (2002) and Ph.D. (2006) from Bowling Green State University.

Kaplar has published a variety of scholarly articles, including  “The effect of religious and spiritual interventions on the biological, psychological, and spiritual outcomes of oncology patients: A meta-analytic review,” (published in The Journal of Psychosocial Oncology), “The enigma of altruistic lying: Perspective differences in what motivates and justifies lie-telling within romantic relationships” (published in Personal Relationships), and “Using motivational interviewing as a supplement to obesity treatment” (published in Health Psychology).

Kaplar is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Society of Behavioral Medicine, and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.

John Neuhoff - Director of Research and Grants Associate Professor of Psychology
(330) 263-2475 / jneuhoff@wooster.edu

B.A. Baldwin Wallace 1991; M.A., Ph.D. Kent State 1994, 1996.

John G. Neuhoff is the Director of Research and Grants and an associate professor of psychology at The College of Wooster and a member of the faculty since 2000. He uses psychophysical, behavioral, and physiological methods to examine the neural and perceptual basis of auditory perception, cognition and action.

Neuhoff received his B.A. from Baldwin-Wallace College (1991) where he won the Prokasy Award for excellence in psychology. He earned his M.A. (1994) and Ph.D. (1996) from Kent State University where he received the graduate student award for excellence in teaching.

The author or co-author of more than 20 scholarly articles in various journals including Nature, Science, and The Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, Neuhoff has received research grants from the National Science Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Neuhoff is member of the Editorial Board of the journal Perception & Psychophysics and a psychology division counselor for the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR). His edited book, Ecological Psychoacoustics, was published in 2004.

William B. Scott - Associate Professor of Psychology
(330) 263-2464 / wscott@wooster.edu

B.A. Franklin and Marshall 1970; M.A. Simon Fraser 1972; Ph.D. McGill 1979.

William B. Scott is an associate professor of psychology and former chair of the department at The College of Wooster, where he joined the faculty in 1984. An expert on a variety of anxiety disorders, Scott has done extensive research on the fear of flying and is considered a national source on the subject.

A regular contributor to scholarly journals, Scott has published a variety of articles, including “Using MIDI to Record Behavioral Events” for Behavioral Methods and Instrumentation.

Scott’s teaching experience includes abnormal psychology, cognitive psychology, motivation, behavior therapy and behavior modification, and psychological statistics and research methods.

In addition to his teaching duties at Wooster, Scott is a licensed clinical psychologist and an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine as well as the staff psychologist at University Hospitals of Cleveland.

Amy Jo Stavnezer - Assistant Professor of Psychology
(330) 263-2215 / ajstavnezer@wooster.edu

B.S. Allegheny 1994; M.S., Ph.D. Connecticut 1998, 2000.

Amy Jo Stavnezer is an assistant professor of psychology at The College of Wooster, where she joined the faculty in 2002. She specializes in animal behavior, learning, memory, and neuroscience. She has also explored the genetic and hormonal influences on sex differences in rodent learning and memory.

Stavnezer received her B.S. from Allegheny College (1994), and her M.S. (1998) and Ph.D. (2000) from the University of Connecticut.

Among her published works are “Integration of computer technology into an introductory level neuroscience laboratory,” in Teaching of Psychology, “Differential learning strategies in spatial and nonspatial versions of the Morris water maze in the C57BL/6J inbred mouse strain,” in Behavioural Brain Research, and “Spatial ability of XY sex-reversed female mice,” in Behavioural Brain Research.

 Before coming to Wooster, Stavnezer taught at Skidmore College. She is a member of the American Psychological Society, the Society for Neuroscience, Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience, and Women in Neuroscience.

Claudia Thompson - Associate Professor of Psychology
(330) 263-2461 / crt@wooster.edu

B.A. Delaware 1975; Ph.D. Brown 1981.

Claudia Thompson is an associate professor of psychology at The College of Wooster and a member of the faculty since 1982. Her research interests focus on animal learning and cognition, primate behavior, comparative psychology of cognition and memory, neuroscience, and the history of psychology.

A graduate of the University of Delaware, where she earned a B.A. (1975), summa cum laude with honors in psychology, Thompson went on to earn her Ph.D. (1981) in experimental psychology from Brown University.

A member of the Association for Psychological Science, Thompson contributes to scholarly publications and participates in professional meetings, conferences, and colloquia.

Her teaching experience includes courses in introductory psychology, developmental psychology, applied psychology, physiological psychology, learning and behavior, comparative psychology, the history of psychology, and gender and science.

Before coming to Wooster, Thompson was a research scientist and a member of the technical staff of Bell Laboratories Human Engineering Department.

Virginia B. Wickline - Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology
(330) 263-2632 / vwickline@wooster.edu

B.A. Anderson 1998; M.A., Ph.D. Emory 2002, 2006.

Virginia (Ginger) B. Wickline is the Walter D. Foss Assistant Visiting Professor of Psychology at The College of Wooster, where she joined the faculty in 2006. Her areas of expertise include nonverbal communication, cross-cultural psychology, clinical psychology, and the cultural adjustment of international students.

Wickline received her B.A. from Anderson University (1994) and completed a pre-graduate seminar at Notre Dame before earning her M.A. (2002) and Ph.D. (2006) from Emory University.

Prior to coming to Wooster, Wickline completed her clinical internship at Penn State University. A former Dean’s Teaching Fellow and Community Partnerships Fellow at Emory, she secured a three-year Community Outreach Partnership Centers (COPC) grant in 2004 from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which allowed the university to partner with low-income, African American families in Atlanta around the issues of housing, education, and parental involvement in education.

In 2005, Wickline was one of five recipients of Emory’s Humanitarian Award for her work with the COPC grant. She is also the 2003 recipient of the Omicron Delta Kappa Diversity Initiatives Merit Award for the Emory Circle.