Becky Alperin
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Chatham College
MSSA from Case Western Reserve University
Research/Clinical interests: Eating disorders, especially in children; body image; women’s issues/women’s identity development; Child therapy; play therapy; adjustment disorders; community mental health
Thesis Title/topic: Relationship Closeness, Self-Esteem, and Ego Identity: An Exploration of Self-In-Relation Theory.
Dissertation Title/Topic: Parents, Peers, Media, and Body Image: Predictors of Eating Attitudes and Behaviors in Young Children.
When she's not babysitting, Becky enjoys playing guitar and piano. She is also interested in political action/advocacy. A morning person is one thing Becky is NOT.
Jen (Jenks) Anderson
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Ohio University
Research/Clinical interests: parenting; parent-child relationships; family environment as it relates to psychological well-being and mental illness of youth; violence prevention, especially related to parenting and family environment
Thesis Title/Topic: Children’s Perceptions of Parental Involvement in Their Extracurricular Activities: Development of a New Scale (looked at children’s perceptions of parental “support” and “pressure” in the extracurricular realm; examined how support and pressure are related to children’s enjoyment and stress experienced during their activities).
Dissertation Title/Topic: Parental Support and Pressure: Relationships with Children’s Experience of Extracurricular Activities (continued to examine support and pressure relationships with child affective experience of activities; also looked at relationships between support/pressure and child self-esteem and child perceptions of general parent behavior-beyond the extracurricular realm).
Jen enjoys crafty and creative endeavors. She likes to fool around with painting and projects that involve glue and modge podge. She enjoys nature and outdoor activities such as biking and hiking, despite the fact that she does not have a very good relationship with the sun.
Gayle (Wuttke) MacBride
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Eastern Michigan University
Research/Clinical Interests: Forensic issues; psychopathy; mental health recovery; and SPMI adults
Thesis Title/Topic: The Co-occurrence of Psychopathy and Axis I Psychological Disorders in Two Forensic Settings.
Dissertation Title/Topic: Mental Health Recovery and Psychopathy in a Juvenile Detention Center.
If she weren’t pursuing a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, Gail would likely become a great chef or a photographer or perhaps both so that she could take pictures of her wonderful food concoctions!
Rhea Partyka
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Sociology from Cleveland State University.
Research/Clinical Interests: Forensics; correctional psychology; psychotherapy research; humanistic psychotherapy
Thesis Title/Topic: Stress and Coping in Female Prison Inmates.
Dissertation Title/Topic: Coping on Death Row: Perspectives of Inmates and Officers.
Rhea enjoys traveling and photography. She also takes pleasure in yoga and Tai Chi when she is not studying astrophysics theory.
Suzanne Smith
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Research/Clinical Interests: Adult and pediatric neuropsychology; laterality; traumatic brain injury; stroke; fMRI and cerebral organization
Thesis Title/Topic: Handedness, Handwriting Posture, and Familial Sinistrality.
Dissertation Title/Topic: Laterality and Cognitive Belief-Updating (investigating the idea that the frequency with which we change or update our beliefs depends on our cerebral lateralization. This study has implications for considering laterality in clinical work, particularly with individuals who experience difficulty shifting their beliefs, such as those who perseverate and those who make frequent cognitive distortions.
Suzanne enjoys painting, shopping, beading, watching movies, and traveling. Despite having spent her entire graduate career living in Toledo, Ohio, her sports alliances remain with the St. Louis Cardinals and the University of Illinois basketball and football teams.
Mona M. Amer
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a minor in English and Comparative Literature from the American University in Cairo, Egypt
Research/Clinical Interests: Acculturation, multicultural and cross-cultural issues; Rasch analysis and rating scale development; therapy process and outcome; community needs assessment; couples and family; substance abuse and dependence; psychological testing; Islamic psychology
Thesis Title/Topic: Evaluation of Measures of Acculturation and Mental Health for Second Generation and Early Immigrant Arab Americans.
Dissertation Title/Topic: Influences of acculturation and religiosity on mental health and family functioning among Arab Americans.
Melissa Klein
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Spanish from Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI
Research/Clinical Interests: Serious and persistent mental illness; working in therapy with SPMI clients; recovery from mental illness;
psychotherapy process and outcomes research; program implementation and evaluation.
Thesis Title/Topic: The Promotion of Recovery Among Offenders with serious Mental Illness: An Analysis of Costs and Benefits of a Forensic Diversion Program.
Dissertation Title/Topic: Implementing the process of recovery for persons with serious mental illness/the recovery paradigm in the delivery of pubic mental health services.
To relax and relieve stress, Melissa enjoys expressing herself through music, especially by playing the piano or practicing yoga while listening to instrumental music.
Roberta Hitt
Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Eastern Michigan University
Research/Clinical Interests: Adolescent – parent relationships (specifically mother-daughter); family, couples
Thesis Title/Topic: An Exploration of the Mother and Daughter Relationship and Adolescent Outcomes.
Dissertation Title/Topic: Group Treatment of Depressed Adolescent Females and Their Mothers.
Roberta is a “non-traditional” student who is a mother of two girls. She is a long-distance commuter and when she isn’t driving to and
from the University of Toledo she enjoys gardening.
Heidi Bechtoldt Baldacci
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Scranton (Scranton, PA)
Research/Clinical Interests: Children’s exposure to violence, psychological trauma, social information processing, peer relations, and aggression.
Thesis Title/Topic: Relationships Among Self-Reported Exposure to Violence, Attitudes Towards Violence, and Empathy in Elementary School Children.
Dissertation Title/Topic: Exposure to violence, social information processing skills, and proviolence attitudes in an incarcerated adolescent population.
Heidi and her husband love to cook, attend baseball games, and spend time at the Toledo metroparks biking, playing tennis, tossing around a Frisbee, or simply enjoying an afternoon picnic in the sun.
Kathryn Gayetsky
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Youngstown State University
Research/Clinical Interests: Cross-cultural psychology; magical/unusual thinking; women’s studies
Thesis Title/Topic: Handedness, Magical Ideation, and Fantasy Proneness: A Relationship.
Kathy enjoys yoga and online RPG’s when she is not reading/learning about ancient Celtic traditions/religions/practices. She is also interested in other cultures and worldviews and likes to explore these when she can.
Jenny Baumgardner
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Maryland Baltimore County
Research/Clinical Interests: Mother-infant relationship development; autism/asperger’s developmental psychopathology; aspects of therapist-child client relationship that are helpful to the child’s improved mental health; the logic behind psychosis
Thesis Title/Topic: The Impact of Maternal Stimulation and Synchrony on 20-month-old Infant-Mother Play.
Jared Skillings
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Cedarville University (near Dayton, OH)
Research/Clinical Interests: Developing a measure of children’s perceptions of parental discipline; measuring the psychosocial correlates of parental discipline; epistemology with research methods and statistics (assessing the ability to know through psychological research).
Thesis Title/Topic: Skillings’ Multidimensional Assessment of Caregiver Discipline (SMACD): Assessing the Internal Structure of a New Measurement Scale.
Jared and his wife are avid tennis players. They enjoy teaching beginners as well as participating in occasional tournaments.
Associate of Arts in Computer Information Systems Analysis and Design from Madison Area Technical College
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Loyola University Chicago
Research/Clinical Interests: Child/adolescent anxiety, depression, abuse and trauma; effects of parenting on child/adolescent outcomes
Thesis Title/Topic: Perceptions of Past Parenting, Emotional Intelligence, and Anticipated Future Parenting (examined relationships between experiences of parental warmth, rejection, and overprotection on emotional intelligence and anticipated style of future parenting).
Tracie enjoys physical exertion as a means of relaxation and stress relief. She likes to bike, play tennis, golf, and scuba dive. She also has a passion for Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and Chicago deep-dish pizza.
Jen Gunderson
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and English with a minor in Spanish Language and Culture from the University of Wisconsin-Superior
Research/Clinical Interests: Body image problems; body dysmorphic disorder; eating disorders (particularly in adolescents and young adults); internalizing disorders (anxiety, depression, PTSD) in children; effects of media violence on children.
Thesis Title/Topic: Associations Between Women’s Body Image and Their Interpersonal Relationships.
Jen likes to watch movies, do yoga, walk, hike, and hang out or chat with friends (particularly when procrastinating on school work). She is a vegetarian and a feminist who is pretty much a sucker for any people, environment, or animal rights group.
Aaron Breedlove
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Research/Clinical Interests: Personality factors surrounding mental health recovery, particularly resiliency (what makes people keep working/trying after they have failed.
Thesis Title/Topic: Effectance Motivation, Impact on Interpersonal Behaviors.
Dissertation Title/Topic: Mental health recovery and resilience.
Aaron enjoys playing guitar when he is not worrying about the fact that his feet are shrinking. He has visited over 50 countries.
Danette Gibbs
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Spanish from Harding University
Research/Clinical Interests: Acculturation issues and working with Latino populations.
Thesis Title/Topic: Intrafamilial Differences in Acculturation as a Predictor of Family Functioning and Mental Health.
Danette enjoys visiting the coffee machine upstairs and drinking anything that contains caffeine. She also likes to spend time and lots of money at car repair shops. When her car is actually working, she enjoys traveling and spending time with friends.
Erin Guell
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Research/Clinical Interests: Domestic violence; women’s issues; therapy
Thesis Title/Topic: Perceptions of Domestic Abuse.
Erin loves shopping, music, and movies. She also enjoys traveling.
Sarah Hildebrand
Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Syracuse University
Research/Clinical Interests: Social skills treatment in children and adolescents, including anxious, rejected, neglected, and Asperger’s Disorder.
Thesis Title/Topic: Asperger’s Disorder and Social Reinforcement.
Sarah loves to spend time at the student recreation center taking yoga, kickboxing, self-defense, and aerobics classes to relieve stress.
Christine M. Larson
Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from St. Vincent College
Research/Clinical Interests: The roles of hope and empowerment in recovery; recovery from severe and persistent mental illness; the self and its development; anxiety disorders, trichotillomania and other habit disorders; over and under achievement
Thesis Title/Topic: Evaluating a Leadership/Empowerment Program for Persons with Severe and Persistent Mental Illness.
Christine has a kitten named Chomsky and enjoys barbecues and coffee shops.
Emily Breighner
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Lycoming College
Research/Clinical Interests: Adult and child psychopathology, anxiety and affective disorders, ADHD, chronic and
persistent mental illness
Emily is an avid swimmer and a fan of the New York Yankees. She also enjoys relaxing by going hiking at the
Metroparks in Toledo.
Margaret Chan
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology – Applied Behavior Analysis from the State University of New York at Binghamton
Research/Clinical Interests: Child psychopathology, learning disabilities, resiliency, personality development and
family influences
Margaret enjoys drawing, playing the piano, rollerblading, swimming, dancing, hiking, and trying out new
restaurants.
Erin Farrer
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Michigan
Research/Clinical Interests: Forensic psychology and personality disorders
Erin is a huge Michigan football fan. She also loves to play all kinds of sports, including softball, volleyball, golf, basketball…whatever! She also enjoys playing the guitar, singing, and breakdancing.
Adriana Faur
Bachelor of Science in Psychology at Ohio State University
Masters of Art in Clinical Psychology at Cleveland State University
Research/Clinical Interests: Trauma and growth, PTSD as related to immigration and acculturation, adult and child psychopathology
Thesis Title/Topic: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Posttraumatic Growth Factors in Romanians as a Result of Communism Related Trauma
Adriana describes herself as recovering chess addict. She also enjoys learning new languages, traveling, hiking, watching foreign flicks, and painting…right now she’s working on painting her new house. She has a particular affinity for sanding hardwood floors while watching old reruns of “This Old House.”
Meghan Guthrie
Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience Psychology from Baldwin-Wallace College
Research/Clinical Interests: Pediatric psychology and working with children
Meghan likes to work-out and participate in various water activities.
Jim Hoelzle
Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Illinois
Research/Clinical Interests: Child/adolescent depression and anxiety; pediatric psychology
Jim enjoys going running, playing golf, camping, and spending time outdoors. He also likes to visit the Farmers’ Market and talk with the locals.
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