Faculty Bios
Dr. Jane Graves Smith
Phone: 503.493.6537
Email: jsmith@cu-portland.edu
Office: George R. White Library & Learning Center (TBD)
Teaching Emphases: Marriage and Family, Parenting, Introductory Psychology, and Internship Supervision.
Dr. Jane Smith presently serves as Professor of Psychology and Chair of the Social Science Department. Prior to beginning in 1992, Jane served as a counselor in the CU Counseling Center. After a few years she was invited to teach psychology courses on an adjunct basis. In 1996, Jane, with input from community professionals and academics, moved the current psychology major from vision to reality and she has been blessed to watch the program continue to grow in academic rigor and practical application from its very conception.
In 2005, Jane completed her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership: Curriculum and Instruction at Portland State University. With a year spent at a Title I school in Vancouver, Washington collecting data, her dissertation was completed and titled Parental Involvement in a Low-Income School: A Case Study.
Over the many years of work at Concordia University, Jane worked hard to balance her academic life with life at home. She has been happily married to husband and Concordia University Vice Provost, Dr Glenn Smith, for the past 28 years and together they have raised two children, Carlee, a married high school English teacher in Utah, and Dylan, a student here at Concordia.
Dr. Erin Mueller
Phone: 503.493.6206
Email: emueller@cu-portland.edu
Office: George R. White Library & Learning Center (TBD)
Teaching Emphases: Lifespan Development, Introductory Psychology, Adult Development, Research Methods, and Senior Thesis Supervision.
Dr. Erin Mueller, Associate Professor of Psychology, joined the faculty at Concordia University in 2007. She received her Ph.D. from Brigham Young University in 1997, and then she completed a clinical residency and research fellowship at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). Prior to coming to Concordia, she served as an Assistant Professor in the Child Development Rehabilitation Center at OHSU. She is a licensed psychologist in the State of Oregon and most recently, she was a Senior Research Associate at a Portland based research firm. She also worked as a private practitioner completing cognitive assessments at a K-8 Christian school.
Erin is a native Iowan, but has lived in the Portland area for 12 years. Her husband pastors a local church, and they have two children, ages 7 and 4. In addition to teaching, Erin's service passions are global justice issues, including poverty, hunger, and HIV/AIDS. As part of this ministry, she has traveled to Mhlosheni, Swaziland twice, and she will lead another team back to Swaziland in June, 2009.
Dr. Kevin Simpson
Phone: 503.493.6206
Email: ksimpson@cu-portland.edu
Office: George R. White Library & Learning Center (TBD)
Teaching Emphases: Sport and Exercise Psychology, Human Sexuality, Introductory Psychology, Neuropsychology, courses in Social, Personality, and Abnormal Psychology, and Senior Thesis Supervision.
Dr. Kevin Simpson has served as Professor of Psychology in the Social Science Department since 2000. Prior to arriving in Portland, he taught in the wilds of rural Utah immediately after completing graduate school in counseling psychology at the University of Denver. His background and training in psychotherapy also required a full year clinical internship at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He holds memberships in the American Psychological Association and Division 2 of the APA, the Teaching of Psychology.
In addition to his teaching duties in social and personality psychology, Dr. Simpson has served as a sport psychology consultant to the Concordia University men's soccer team.
His most recent publications have been in the areas of genius and creativity, the use of classic and modern propaganda in the teaching of social psychology, and the application of visualization and imagery principles in sport psychology to outdoor pursuits. His other professional interest areas include college student development, eating disordered behavior in sport, HIV/AIDS outreach, and international education. Dr. Simpson has also presented at international conferences for teachers of psychology, national conferences of the American Psychological Association, and various regional and local conferences in college student psychotherapy.
Recently, Dr. Simpson served as a guest faculty in a summer college preparatory program at Yale University where he taught a seminar entitled "Beautiful Minds": Psychology revealed through exceptional lives. This seminar has also been regularly presented at Concordia and offered as part of a faculty-in-residence experience in a study abroad program in London, England. But his true passions in life include his wife, Stefanie, and two children, Grace and Eli, and the ongoing successes of Manchester United football club.