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CSUB Psychology Faculty
(click on picture to access each faculty member's page)




Barbara Espinosa

Barbara Espinosa


Department Secretary
Marianne Abramson

Marianne Abramson, Ph.D.

Lecturer

Dr. Abramson’s research focuses on the psychology of language, specifically the processes associated with reading and spoken word recognition. She is currently working on studies about the role of auditory imagery in silent reading and the memory representations activated during reading and speech recognition. Recent publications include a study of vowel- and consonant-length effects in visual word recognition.
Steve Bacon

Steve Bacon, Ph.D.

Professor, Chair of Department of Psychology

Dr. Bacon’s research interests include Positive Psychology and the Evaluation of Psychotherapy. Currently he is working on a project to develop and validate the Scale of Functional Ability Ratings. In addition, he is investigating the relationship between psychological symptoms and impairment. Finally, he has a project in which he is classifying human strengths in terms of the virtues of focus versus balance.
Tanya Boone

Tanya Boone, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Dr. Boone’s research focuses on parent-adolescent relationships and how communication between parents and adolescents influences adolescent sexual behaviors and drug/alcohol use. Her current research projects include examination of mother-adolescent communication about health topics including sexuality, drugs/alcohol, and nutrition and exercise. She is also conducting a study examining the sources from which late adolescents and young adults have received information about sex and sexuality.
Jess F. Deegan II

Jess F. Deegan II, Ph.D.

Professor; Interim Associate Vice President

The emphasis in Dr. Deegan’s lab is color vision. He uses both psychophysical and electrophysiological methods in an effort to understand color vision in both humans and animals. He encourages graduate students who have a well defined physiological investigation of neuronal processes to contact me to discuss possible collaboration.  Finally, there are a number of studies that he would like to have completed, which are related to the visual systems of rats/mice that a motivated graduate student might find interesting.
Anne Duran

Anne Duran, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Dr. Duran’s research interests include person perception, person memory, and decision making (including the underlying cognitive processes).  Her favorite areas of research are theories of prejudice and the relationship between prejudice and discrimination. Currently, she is working on a study examining our expectations for others about whom we have a little information. In addition, one of her current projects addresses the cognitive organization of prejudice. Finally, she is examining the effects of perceived differences of morals for in-group and out-group.
Allison Evans, Ph.D.

Allison Evans, Ph.D.

Lecturer

Dr. Evans joined the faculty in Fall 1999. Her duties have included teaching, academic advising, coordinating the applied experiences, advising the psychology club in AV, and conducting orientations. Her areas of interest include social psychology and socio-cultural-medical issues.
Karen Hartlep

Karen Hartlep, Ph.D.

Professor

Dr. Hartlep has focused on topics related to cognitive development from infancy through adolescence. Specifically, she has been interested in research on children’s literature, children and TV effects, language development, and social referencing, particularly in infancy.
T. Ken Ishida

Ken Ishida, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Dr. Ishida is a clinical psychologist interested in the interface between brain functioning and behavior. He has an interest in evolutionary psychology which uses Darwinian principles in explaining the shaping of the major characteristics of human nature. This influence manifests itself in cognitive brain sex differences,  human mating preferences, and cultural institutions such as politics and religion. Finally, Dr. Ishida believes that these themes play themselves out across the lifespan, including in later adulthood where he has training in clinical geropsychology with on emphasis on Alzheimer's disease.
Matthew Leon Pic
Matthew Leon, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Dr. Leon received his Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of California, Los Angeles. His areas of interest are experimental psychology and neuroscience.



CSUB President Horace Mitchell

Horace Mitchell, Ph.D.

President of California State University, Bakersfield
Carol D. Raupp

Carol Raupp, Ph.D.

Professor

Dr. Raupp’s research interests focus on human-animal studies—the study of peoples’ relationships with other animals. Currently she is conducting a study comparing responses to the terms “pet” and “companion animal.” She is also studying the extent to which taking a course about ethics and other animals changes peoples’ attitudes and behaviors.

Beth M. Rienzi

Beth Rienzi, Ph.D.

Professor; AVP for Faculty Affairs

Associate Vice President - Faculty Affairs.

Isabel Sumaya

Isabel Sumaya, Ph.D.

Associate Professor; Director First Year Experience Center (FYE);

The primary focus of Dr. Sumaya’s lab is the study of the indoleamine neurohormone, melatonin and its in vivo behavioral effects in animal models including Parkinsonism, Depression and Anxiety. Of special interest is the effect of melatonin on the D2 dopaminergic receptor system during extrapyramidal motor disturbances. Also studied are the circadian effects of various D2 dopaminergic agonists and antagonists which are used in clinical populations in the treatment of Schizophrenia.
Steve Suter

Steve Suter, Ph.D.

Professor

Dr. Suter’s research focuses on human visual neuroscience. He is interested in the neural basis of vision, in general using brain activity to explain visual processing in humans. In his lab, they record brain activity from surface recording electrodes while people look at stimuli on video monitors. Currently, he is examining the brain activity needed to organize a visual jumble into a coherent perception. In addition, he is conducting a study on the brain mechanisms of backward masking in which stimuli are rendered invisible by subsequent stimuli.
Luis A Vega

Luis A Vega, Ph.D.

Professor

Dr. Vega’s research focuses on social psychology, intergroup relations, social identity, and social influence. He is currently working on a project examining perceived discrimination processes including scapegoating and social identity. His current research interests are on scaling of social psychological measures.




Retired, Emeriti, and FERP Faculty


Mary J. Allen
Mary J. Allen, Ph.D.

Professor; Emerita.
David C. Cohen
David C. Cohen, Ph.D.

Professor; Emeritus.
Richard C. Noel
Richard C. Noel, Ph.D.

Professor; Emeritus.
Edwin H. Sasaki Edwin H. Sasaki, Ph.D.

Professor; FERP, Special Assistant to the Provost,
Interim Dean Humanities and Social Sciences 

Updated: 10/12
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