Catherine Craver Lemley, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology and Department Chair
lemleyce@etown.edu | 717-361-1330 | 260D Esbenshade

B.S., Columbus State University, 1983 Summa Cum Laude
M.A., Northeastern University, 1985
Ph.D., Northeastern University, 1988

Dr. Lemley teaches General Psychology, Introduction to Neuroscience, Sensation and Perception, Human Cognition, and Research in Perception. She also teaches honors sections of General Psychology and Introduction to Neuroscience. Her area of expertise is in visual perception. 

Dr. Lemley’s research focuses on the relation between visual mental imagery and visual perception with an emphasis on how what you imagine can interfere with what you actually perceive. Dr. Lemley and her students have been investigating the way in which cognitive processes, namely mental imagery, can moderate the mere exposure effect, which occurs when very brief exposures to stimuli increase the degree to which a person likes such stimuli. Recently, Dr. Lemley was awarded National Sciences Foundation Award to further study "Mental Imagery and the Mere Exposure Effect."

Dr. Lemley was also awarded funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Education for two projects she is conducting with students, faculty and staff in the biology and occupational therapy departments and Center for Student Success at E-town. These projects also involve faculty at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center and the Kessler Medical Rehabilitation center in New Jersey. Dr. Lemley has mentored a number of students who have won regional and national awards for their research projects. In the past nine years, she has collaborated with 60 students on at least 40 different professional research presentations.

Courses: General Psychology, Honors General Psychology, Neuroscience, Honors Neuroscience, Sensation and Perception, Human Cognition, Research in Perception

Paul Dennis, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
dennispm@etown.edu | 717-361-1328

B.A., Bowdoin College, 1964
M.A., New School for Social Research 1966
Ph.D., New School for Social Research 1973

Dr. Dennis' research interests include the popularization of psychology. His published articles include a paper on an intelligence test developed by Thomas A. Edison, the popularization of the subconscious and the power of suggestion before World War I, and Eleanor Roosevelt's contribution to the popularization of child psychology during the 1940's. Dr. Dennis also held an APA approved clinical internship at Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown, CT, 1975-76.

Courses:  General Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Counseling Psychology, History and Systems of Psychology, Field Study

Jean Pretz, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychology
pretzj@etown.edu | 717-361-1267 | View Website

B.A., Wittenberg University, 1997
Ph.D., Yale University, 2004

Dr. Pretz is a cognitive psychologist with research interests in intuition and expertise, implicit cognition, andcognitive processes in creativity. Dr. Pretz received her Ph.D. from Yale University in 2004. There, she worked with Robert Sternberg on her dissertation, Solving life's problems: When to analyze and when to trust your intuition. She received her B.A. from Wittenberg University in 1997, where she double-majored in psychology and music. After college, she spent a year as a Fulbright scholar studying psychology of religion in the former East Germany, living in Luterstadt-Wittenberg and studying at Martin-Luther-Universitaet Halle-Wittenberg.

Courses: General Psychology, Introduction to Neuroscience, Intelligence and Creativity, Research in Cognition

John Teske, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
teskeja@etown.edu | 717-361-1332 | View website

B.A., Indiana University, 1974
M.A., Clark University, 1978
Ph.D., Clark University, 1981

Dr. Teske is our specialist in personality and social psychology. He has conducted research on nonverbal behavior, environmental psychology, and social cognition. He also has interests in evolutionary psychology, philosophical psychology, and the science-religion dialogue. He recently served as President of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science. He was recently named as one of the 50 most-cited authors of Blackwell Publications.

Dr. Teske was featured in the in the video series, “Matter and Beyond,” which focuses on workers in science and religion. The 30 minute segment can be viewed through this link.

Courses: General Psychology, Psyche and Film, Social Psychology, Neuromythology, Theories of Personality

T. Evan Smith, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology
smitht@etown.edu | 717-361-1320

B.S., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
M.S., University of California- Santa Cruz, 2001
Ph.D., University of California- Santa Cruz, 2005

Dr. Smith's research examines gender development from a perspective informed by developmental and social psychology as well as feminist theories. Much of Dr. Smith's work has centered on demonstrating the contextual and multidimensional nature of gender in adolescence and early adulthood. A recent study demonstrated the crucial role of peer acceptance in determining how adolescents' gender conformity influences their self-concept.

Courses:  Introduction to Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Psychology of Women, Research in Developmental

Michael D. Roy, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology
roym@etown.edu | 717-361-1331 | View Website

B.A., Bates College, 1991

M.A., University of California, San Diego, 1999
Ph.D., University of California, San Diego, 2003

I am interested in people's perception of environmental statistics and how they affect judgments and decisions. One line of research examines bias in memory for how long things have taken in the past and how that relates to predictions of when tasks will be finished. Specifically, when and how prediction of duration is likely to be incorrect. A second line of research examines people's perceptions of their own abilities. Previous research indicates that people often overestimate their ability on a number of different tasks, with a majority believing themselves to be above average. I am interested in whether or not people are truly biased in their self-perceptions.

Recently, Dr. Roy joined Dr. Karendra Devroop (former assistant professor of music) and students from the departments of psychology and music on a trip to South Africa. While there, we established an instrumental music program at a disadvantaged school using donated instruments from across four states. The donated instruments were repaired and shipped to South Africa in December together with equipment and supplies necessary to start a fully functional concert band. In addition, we conducted research on the role of music on the lives of the students and on the impact of the intervention.

Courses: General Psychology,  Statistics and Research Methods I,  Statistics and Research Methods II,  Research in Social Psychology