Professor with expertise in social and health psychology joins Thiel College faculty

GREENVILLE, Pa.-- Thiel College announces the addition of Assistant Professor of Psychology Kristel Gallagher, Ph.D. Gallagher most recently was an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Keystone College in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Prior to that, she was a teaching fellow at Kent State University. She earned her Ph.D. (2012) and M.A. (2009) in experimental social and health psychology from Kent State. She received her B.A. in psychology from Waynesburg University in 2007.

“We are delighted to have Dr. Gallagher join the Psychology Department. Her expertise in social and health psychology will be an exciting and unique addition to the specialties of the current faculty to help broaden the breadth of our program offerings. Her subject matter for students is relevant not only to our majors and minors, but those in other disciplines,” said Professor of Psychology and Chair of the Psychology Department Laura Pickens, Ph.D. ’06. “Dr. Gallagher will be teaching courses such as general psychology, social psychology, and health psychology. She will also be developing courses in research methods and statistics for the social sciences, along with an experimental social psychology lab course for psychology majors.”

In the last year, Gallagher earned an Action Teaching Award honorable mention from the Social Psychology Network for “The Humans of Northeast Pennsylvania Project” (2014). Her article “Retrieval cues on tests – A strategy for helping students recall information?” was published in Essays from E-xcellence in Teaching (Vol. 13) by the Society for the Teaching of Psychology. She received the Excellence in Teaching Award from the Midwestern Association of Graduate Students and an award from Happenings Magazine as the reader-voted “Best Professor in Northeast PA.”

A native of Cobourg, Ontario, she graduated from St. Mary’s Catholic Secondary School in 2003.