(not pictured: Keely Deidrick)

Faculty 2008-2009

 

Name	Office	Ext	Email
Breault, Michele	MC206B	x4266	mbreault@truman.edu
Conner, David	MC206A	x4075	dbconner@truman.edu
Costa, Sal	BH247	x4646	scosta@truman.edu
Deidrick, Kathleen	KB225D		deidrickkm@truman.edu
Hatala, Mark	MC206E	x7529	mhatala@truman.edu
Heckert, Teresa	MC206K	x7530	theckert@truman.edu
Misale, Judi	MC206F	x4313	jmisale@truman.edu
Palmer, Sherri	MC206H	x4320	spalmer@truman.edu
Palmer, Terry	MC228	x4314	tpalmer@truman.edu
Shaffer, Fred	MC229	x4643	fshaffer@truman.edu
Smith, Karen	MC207B	x6033	ksmith@truman.edu
Tichenor, James	MC216	x4660	jticheno@truman.edu
Tigner, Robert	MC207C	x4055	rtigner@truman.edu
Vittengl, Jeffrey	MC207A	x6041	vittengl@truman.edu
Department Office	MC214	x7106

 

Michele Breault mbreault@truman.edu  Ext. 4266
Dr. Breault has been at Truman since 1980. She holds a bachelor’s degree from University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and her master’s and doctorate from the University of Maryland. She loves to teach and teaches a variety of classes including general, experimental, personality and social psychology. She is a member of the American Psychological Society and the Midwestern Psychological Association. Her current research interests are romantic relationships and gender differences in achievement.

 

David Conner bdconner@truman.edu  Ext. 4075
Dr. Conner has been at Truman since 1992. He earned his master’s and doctorate in experimental psychology Texas Christian University. His bachelor’s in psychology is from the University of Oklahoma, where he graduated summa cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. His teaching interests include experimental, developmental, child and cognitive psychology. His most recent research is on children’s cognitive development and informal interactions between parents and children; the teaching and learning process at all levels; general cognitive processing such as short-term memory; and a language preservation project on a Native American language. He is a member of the American Psychological Society, Society for Research in Child Development, Sigma Xi, Psi Chi, Phi Kappa Phi, the American Psychological Association (Division 2), and the Council on Teaching of Undergraduate Psychology.

 

Sal Costa  scosta@truman.edu  Ext. 4646
Sal Costa has been at Truman since 1975. He holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State University), plus numerous other graduate hours and study. He has also attended Southern Illinois University, Monterey Institute of Technology, and seminars at Louisiana State University, Tulane, and St. Louis University. His interest lies in research on the use of hypnosis in memory and recall for testing and motivation. He is a member of the National Board of Directors for the Association to Advance Ethical Hypnosis, Hypnosis Association of America, the American Association of Criminal Psychology, the Hartje Association on Forensic Hypnosis, the Foundation on Research on the Nature of Man, the Southern Association on Parapsychology, the International Congress on Hypnosis, and Published Research in Hypnosis. Professor Costa presented at the 2002 Hypnosis Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, the 2003 Hypnosis Conference in Boston, Massachusetts, and the 2004 Hypnosis Conference in Detroit, Michigan. Professor Costa also served on the Masters Thesis Committee for the 2003-2004 school years. He supervised hypnosis publication in Using Hypnosis to Enhance Athletic Performance, and attended the Mid-Atlantic Greek Council Association Conference in February of 2004. He also attended a conference on mental issues and pharmacology at the Missouri Institute of Mental Health in St. Louis this past year. He is also planning on presenting on Hypnosis in a conference in Baton Rouge, LA in October.  His extracurricular activities include serving as an advisor for the Judiciary Board for fraternities and sororities, Order of Omega, Alpha Sigma Alpha, Alpha Gamma Delta Sorority, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Sigma Sigma Sigma Sorority, Psychology Club, Fantasy Club, Sailing Club, Outdoors Unlimited; and being a member of the University Food Services Committee, Alcohol Intervention Task Force, and Greek Challenge for Excellence Committee. He is also a Residential College Fellow for Missouri Hall and has served as coordinator of Flood Relief for Truman State, the Alcohol Awareness Committee, the search committees for the Dean of Students and the Assistant to the Dean of Students, and as a Truman Week Committee member and professor for nine years. Professor Costa serves on the advisory board at the vocational technical school, on the community relations committee for the city of Kirksville, and is the supervisor for hypnosis research dealing with ADHD.

 

Kathleen “Keely” McCann Deidrick deidrickkm@truman.edu
Dr. Deidrick received her bachelor’s degree at Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State University) and her doctoral degree in clinical child psychology at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Dr. Deidrick completed two years of post-doctoral fellowship in Pediatric Neuropsychology at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She also completed a two-year National Institutes of Health T-32 research fellowship at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Dr. Deidrick was a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Psychology at the University of Missouri from 2006 until she joined the Psychology Department at Truman State University. She teaches experimental psychology, introductory psychology, and physiological psychology. Dr. Deidrick’s interests in psychology are in the area of pediatric rehabilitation psychology and pediatric neuropsychology. Her past research and clinical work has investigated behavioral and emotional functioning and family adjustment for children with neurodevelopmental disablities (e.g., traumatic brain injury, autism, fetal alcohol syndrome). 

Mark Hatala mhatala@truman.edu Ext. 7529 
Dr. Hatala has been at Truman since 1994. He received a bachelor's in psychology and history from Miami University of Ohio, and earned both his master's and doctorate in experimental psychology from Ohio University.  In addition to being a professor, he has been a machinist, an opera usher, a bus driver, a DJ, a mall Santa, a publisher, a fry cook, a lead singer in a punk band, a market researcher, a financial planner, and a baseball umpire.  Dr. Hatala's current research interests include marketing to seniors, Web-based research design, entrepreneurialism and green businesses, and improving the quality of life of the aged. He is a member of the American Association of University Professors, the Midwestern Psychological Association, and the Gerontological Society of America.  He has been rejected from MENSA numerous times.   

 

Teresa Heckert theckert@truman.edu  Ext. 7530 
Dr. Heckert has been at Truman since 1994. She completed her master’s and doctorate in industrial and organizational psychology at Bowling Green State University and her B.A. in psychology at Lebanon Valley College. Her current research focuses on stress and burnout. Dr. Heckert is a member of the American Psychological Society, the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, the Midwestern Psychological Association, and the Society for the Teaching of Psychology.

 

 

Judi Misale  jmisale@truman.edu  Ext. 4313 
Dr. Misale joined the faculty at Truman in 1992. She previously taught at the University of California-Santa Barbara. She received her bachelor’s, summa cum laude, from California State University, Northridge, and her masters and doctorate degrees in social psychology from the University of California-Santa Barbara. She teaches social, general, and applied psychology. She supervises undergraduate researchers, and participates in the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program. Her primary research interests include gender, health, and diversity issues. She is a member of the American Psychological Society, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, the Council of Teachers of Undergraduate Psychology, Psi Chi, Phi Kappa Phi, Omicron Delta Kappa, and Sigma Xi. She appeared in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers in 1998, 2000, and 2002.

 

 

Sherri Addis Palmer  spalmer@truman.edu Ext. 4320
Dr. Palmer has been at Truman since 1992. She has a doctorate in developmental psychology from the University of California-Riverside. She earned a bachelor’s in psychology, summa cum laude, from San Diego State, where she won a national award for her undergraduate research. Her teaching interests include child development, adult development, attachment theory, and research methods. Her research focuses on parental effects on infant socioemotional development. She is a member of Phi Kappa Phi, APA, and belongs to the Society for research in Child Development.

 

Terry Palmer  tpalmer@truman.edu  Ext. 4314 
Dr. Palmer has been at Truman since 1992. He received his doctorate in psychology from the University of California-Riverside and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics from Henderson State University, Arkansas. His research interests include perception, attention, memory, and language.

 

Fredric Shaffer fshaffer@truman.edu Ext. 4643 url: http://www2.truman.edu/shaffer/start.htm
Dr. Shaffer has been at Truman since 1975. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Claremont Men’s College and a master’s and doctorate from Oklahoma State University. He is certified in the specialty of biofeedback by the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America. He serves on the editorial boards of Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, and Biofeedback. His teaching interests include experimental and physiological psychology. He supervises an undergraduate research team that explores how to apply psychophysiology to everyday life. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback. He is an initiated brother of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. Dr. Shaffer served as Psychology convener from Fall 1996-Spring 1999.

 

Karen Smith ksmith@truman.edu  Ext. 6033 
Dr. Smith joined the Truman faculty in 1999. Dr. Smith received her doctorate and master’s degrees in psychology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Hanover College, Indiana. Her research interests are in issues of human cognition, perception, and performance, including human visual attention, selective attention, pre-attentive processing, memory, and contingency learning. She is a member of the Midwestern Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, the Council for Teachers of Undergraduate Psychology, and Sigma Xi

 

James Tichenor  jticheno@truman.edu Ext. 4660
Dr. Tichenor has been at Truman since 1969. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, a master’s from Western Michigan University, and a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a Missouri certified school psychological examiner, a certified psychological health service provider, and a Missouri licensed psychologist. Dr. Tichenor has involved himself in numerous continuing education activities, the most recent of which include: Differentiating Anxiety and Depression in Children; Evaluating Minimal Competency in Parents; and Serving College Students with Learning Disabilities. His teaching interests encompass diverse applied areas within psychology to include the use of empirical methods in the assessment and treatment of behavior disorders. Particular emphasis is placed on a broadly interpreted behavioral approach to understanding human behavior. Of particular interest are courses in behavior modification, psychological testing, child psychopathology, and clinical psychology. His current applied research focuses on the development of alternative treatment approaches for children with behavioral difficulties, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and parent training. He is a member of American Psychological Association,  Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, National Association of School Psychologists, and the Missouri Psychological Association.

 

Robert Tigner  rtigner@truman.edu Ext. 4055
Dr. Tigner has been at Truman since 1996 and currently serves as the Department Chair. He earned his bachelor’s degree, cum laude, from Hanover College and his master’s and doctorate in cognitive/experimental psychology from Ohio State University. He has done research in human factors, aviation psychology, and psychophysiological measures of attention and memory. His current research interests include inhibitory mechanisms of attention, intelligence, and memory. He has taught general psychology, experimental psychology, psychology of learning, history and systems of psychology, and psychological research. An active supporter of Greek life, Dr. Tigner has presented at both regional and national Greek leadership conferences, and served on the steering committee for Beta Theta Pi's Men of Principle initiative. He was named Beta Theta Pi's Advisor of the Year in 2005 and the regional Outstanding Friend of Beta in 2006. Dr. Tigner is a member of the Midwestern Psychological Association. He is the advisor for Truman’s chapter of Beta Theta Pi and is a member of Omicron Delta Kappa and Psi Chi.

 

Jeffrey Vittengl vittengl@truman.edu Ext. 6041
Dr. Vittengl earned his PhD in clinical psychology at the University of Iowa. He teaches abnormal, behavior modification, clinical, experimental, personality, and psychological research courses at Truman State University. Dr. Vittengl’s research interests include assessment and psychometrics, social-interpersonal functioning in anxiety and depression, and treatment of depression. He also directs the annual Student Interview Project, a component of Truman State University’s Assessment Program. Dr. Vittengl is a member of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Midwestern Psychological Association, and Sigma Xi.