Department of Psychology

Kate Nicolai, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Courses: Introduction to Psychology, Abnormal Behavior, Personality, Psychological Assessment, Psychology of Sexual Behavior, Psychology and Law, Practicum in Psychology

Research interests: Ethical issues in teaching, Sexual attitudes and behavior, Developmental models of supervision and instruction

Phone: (816) 501-4688
e-mail: Katherine.Nicolai@rockhurst.edu

William Sturgill, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Courses: Honors Introductory Psychology, Statistics for Behavioral and Social Sciences, Experimental Methods, Psychology of Perception, Cognition, Psychology of Language, Cognitive Neuroscience, History and Systems in Psychology

Research Interests: Broadly, perception, cognition, and how the brain enables higher cognitive functions.  Current research projects are on visual preception of words, and on color diagnosticity theory, a theory of object perception.  I am reading a lot in cognitive neuroscience, and it is affecting the direction of my courses, my research, and my theorizing. 

Other interests: golf

Phone: (816) 501-4037
e-mail: William.Sturgill@rockhurst.edu

Risa J. Stein, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Courses: Introduction to Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Research Methods, Theories of Counseling, Health Psychology

Research Interests:

• Health Psychology Topics: Obesity and eating disorders, smoking prevention and cessation chronic pain management
• Developmental Topics: Physical self-concept, juvenile delinquency and sex offenders
• Numerous published manuscripts, book chapters and presentation

Other Interests: Family, Travel and Martial Arts

Phone: (816) 501-4691
e-mail: Risa.Stein@rockhurst.edu

Jennifer A. Oliver, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Courses: Research Methods, Educational Psychology, Psychology and Education of the Exceptional Child, Adolescent Psychology, Adult Development and Aging, Statistics, Psychology Seminar

Research Interests: Cognitive development and Children's private speech

Phone: (816) 501-4531
e-mail: Jennifer.Oliver@rockhurst.edu

Steven W. Brown, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Courses: Statistics for Behavioral Sciences, Experimental Methods in Psychology, Psychology of Learning, Behavioral Neuroscience, Psychology of Motivation, Evolutionary Psychology and Clinical Inquiry

Research Interests: Assessment of Student Learning, Assessing the Effectiveness of Instructional Technology, Cognitive Representation in Young Children, Cognitive Representation in Animals

Phone: (816) 501-4039
e-mail: Steven.Brown@rockhurst.edu
Faculty Web Page

Renee L. Michael, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Courses: Introduction to Psychology, Research Methods, Developmental Psychology, Lifespan: Development and Adaptation (for Occupational Therapy students), Social Psychology, Psychology of Gender, Cross-Culture Psychology (Senior Seminar)

Research Interests: Children's learning styles, Gender Issues, Cultural Issues and Diversity

Phone: (816) 501-4038
e-mail: Renee.Michael@rockhurst.edu

Paul Scott, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Courses: Introduction to Psych, Introduction to Behavioral Statistics, Developmental Psych, Child Development, Cognitive Development

Research Interests: Changes in young children's thinking as they move from preschool to grade school and factors that influence effective learning in college students.

Other Interests:

• Travel with my wife, Alana
• Playing with my dog, Dakota
• Playing basketball
• Supporting midtown Kansas City

Phone: (816) 501-4192
e-mail: Paul.Scott@rockhurst.edu

Saz Madison, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Courses: Introduction to Psych, Abnormal Psychology, Counseling & Psychotherapy

Phone: (816) 501-3480
e-mail: Saz.Madison@rockhurst.edu