As a department, we prioritize research, teaching, and service in our pursuit of advancing our understanding of human behavior, thoughts, and emotions. Our research efforts are geared towards discovering new knowledge and innovative ways to apply this knowledge to improve the lives of individuals and communities. In our teaching, we aim to provide students with a comprehensive and engaging education in psychology that prepares them for successful careers and meaningful contributions to society. Finally, we are committed to providing service to our community and to society as a whole by using our expertise to help individuals and organizations address psychological issues and improve mental health.
For Penn State students Alyssa Nigel and Luna Nunez-Peralta, the College of the Liberal Arts’ First-Generation Pathways Fellowship has allowed them to explore their career interests, build professional relationships and prepare for their lives after graduation.
As the inaugural cohort members wrap up their three-semester fellowship experience, both took time to reflect on how the program has helped them navigate college and plan for their futures as first-generation students.
When Nia Smith became one of the first peer success coaches in the Liberal Arts Chaiken Center for Student Success, there was no established blueprint for the role.
Smith and her fellow coaches were helping create it.
“I remember meetings where we all sat in an undesigned space brainstorming what our jobs would look like,” Smith said. “It was empowering and let me know I have what it takes to replicate this process when the time comes.”
For Smith, who graduated from Penn State in spring 2024 with bachelor’s degrees in psychology and women’s studies with a minor in child maltreatment and advocacy studies, becoming a peer success coach also represented a shift in her own Penn State experience. As a Chaiken Scholar, she benefitted from a community designed to provide students with academic guidance, resources and opportunities for personal and professional development. As a peer success coach, she became one of the students providing that support to others.
When Sonia Lloyd first came to Penn State, she didn’t expect psychology, art and marketing to become part of the same career path. But as she explored new classes, joined organizations and gained professional experience, she began to see how her interests could work together.
Now, Lloyd, a fourth-year student double majoring in psychology and art, is preparing to graduate a semester early in December. She has also found a career path that brings those interests together: marketing.
Alicia Drais-Parrillo, teaching professor of psychology, and Jason Laine, associate teaching professor of Italian, have been named the inaugural Liberal Arts Teaching Professors in Penn State’s College of the Liberal Arts.
The new named professorship was created by the college to reward the outstanding contributions of teaching, research and clinical faculty members. All full-time, active non-tenure-line faculty — including those with and without terminal degrees — who have reached the third rank of their promotion ladder are eligible for consideration. Faculty were nominated by their department heads and assessed by a committee appointed by the dean’s office.
This summer, a group of Penn State students explored cross-cultural psychology firsthand through “San José, Costa Rica: Psychology and Culture,” one of 14 faculty-led education abroad programs housed in the College of the Liberal Arts this summer.
Over the course of three weeks, Alicia Drais-Parrillo, teaching professor of psychology, and Cathleen Hunt, teaching professor of psychology, guided students through experiences that deepened their understanding of cultural influences on human behavior, including volunteering, community engagement and classroom learning.
Being a Paterno Fellow in the College of the Liberal Arts has played a major role in shaping Rand Tayseer Alkhunaizi’s college experience, creating a sense of community and the type of academic challenge she was looking for when she first arrived at Penn State.
The international student from Saudi Arabia, a double-major in psychology and sociology, said she initially didn’t know much about the Paterno Fellows Program, but her freshman year adviser introduced her to the program’s rewarding environment. Through her involvement as a Paterno Fellow, she was later admitted to the Schreyer Honors College — one of the University’s few pathways for students not initially in Schreyer to demonstrate their potential and earn their way into the honors college.