Psychology Faculty

Gary Baker

Ph.D. University of Mississippi, M.S. Augusta College, B.A. University of Toledo

Dr. Gary Baker has two primary passions in his life - his family and his teaching! For over 20 years, he's been working to guide students toward successful career choices and successful lives. His own scholarly expertise lies in experimental social psychology. He enjoys interacting with students inside and outside the classroom. He likes introducing students to the study of human psychology because through this, students gain a practical knowledge of themselves and others that serve them well throughout their lives. He feels that the students who are most successful in college are those who seek an "education", not just a degree. In addition to teaching psychology, Dr. Baker has worked for nine years at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the Medical College of Georgia conducting research on addictions and Post Traumatic Distress Disorder (PTSD). He's currently developing a new Psychology of Law course for Champlain!

Ann Clark

M.S.W. Smith College

Before teaching at Champlain, Ann Clark has taught at places such as the University of Vermont and Trinity College. Even while teaching, she also worked simultaneously as a psychiatric social worker, with a particular expertise in the area of child sexual abuse. Today her work and scholarly interests are focused on international adoption and attachment. Students new to her classes will be delighted to see how she effectively intertwines her work experience with the course-work and the amount of real-life situations that are part of the class-room work together. She has a reputation amongst our students as "Champlain's happiest Professor". Students who do the best in her classes are conscientious and professional about their work but also enjoy the experience of learning. You might come across her in your Developmental Psychology classes!

Beth Goss

M.S. in Community Mental Health and B.A. in Social Work, Trinity College

Beth Goss, a Licenced Mental Health Counselor with decades of experience, loves sharing the world of mental health with Champlain students. When not teaching, Goss oversees five Community Based Programs and 35 staff in her role as Program Director at the Howard Center, a major local agency serving the community. She has previously taught at Southern New Hampshire University's Graduate Program on Community Mental Health. Students tell us that they really appreciate the real life knowledge that she brings from the field to the classroom, based on her own work with families. She claims that the students who are the most curious are the ones that do the best in her classes. In her free time, she loves to run and she also does Zumba. You might very well meet her in an Abnormal Psychology class!

Bjarne M. Holmes

Program Director for Psychology
Ph.D. University of Massachusetts Amherst, B.S.S. Lund University Sweden

Dr. Bjarne Holmes has taught in three different countries and educational systems over the last 15 years. He's come to the conclusion that teaching is primarily about providing an opportunity for students to learn to think and to learn to follow their passions in life. He believes that the students who do best in the psychology program are those who have personal life experiences that they bring with them to the classroom - experiences that they now are ready to better understand and which have helped form a passion for bettering themselves, their communities, and the world they live in. Before joining Champlain, Dr. Holmes directed the Family and Personal Relationships Laboratory (please link to www.attachmentresearch.org) at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. Prior to that he was an Instructor at Harvard Medical School in their Psychiatry Department and also taught at UMass Amherst, Smith College, and in Sweden. Dr. Holmes' scholarship is focused on romantic relationships, attachment, and parenting - in which he has over twenty published peer-reviewed papers or book chapters and also served as Associate Editor to the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. You can read more about his work here: http://bjarne.holmes.socialpsychology.org/. He writes a blog for Psychology Today called "Love by the Numbers." He also founded and produces the award-winning podcast series Relationship Matters, now being recorded at Champlain College. In his free time Dr. Holmes is an avid rock climber and mountaineer, having taken part in expeditions to such places as Greenland, Kyrgyzstan, and Himalaya. In the winter you'll find him skiing or dog-sledding with his two wolf-type dogs, Loki and Freja, which tend to hang out in his office and may even join you in class from time to time.

Fred Koch

M.S.W. Adelphia University

Fred Koch has a deep concern for social justice issues which shines through in his teaching. Among the impressive things he has done was working as a full time consultant to the governor of Vermont in designing and implementing a statewide work-training-education program for single parents receiving public welfare (for more info see: http://dcf.vermont.gov/esd/reach_up). He's always been dedicated to the welfare of families, spending much of his efforts working in the community to strengthen opportunities for pregnant teens and children with mental health problems. Teaching at Champlain for him is an opportunity to work with enthusiastic youth and he takes an interdisciplinary approach in the classroom. When not teaching or working in the community, he is passionate about the Vermont outdoors, with sailing, skiing, fly fishing, and long walks with his dogs amongst his passions. He also writes a bit of poetry. You may meet him in a Positive Psychology course.

Erin Meenan

M.A. University of Vermont; B.A. Hamilton College

Erin Meenan guides our internship classes and placements in Psychology at Champlain. She has a particular passion for helping students understand what it is they are passionate about and figuring out what type of career placements/internships/research experience will guide them down the career path of their choosing. She's trained specifically as a Global Career Development Facilitator by the National Career Developer's Association. Before teaching at Champlain, she worked specifically as a career advisor - so she's perfectly situated to help you achieve your career dreams! The internships she guides gives students an opportunity to test and translate how theoretical thinking in Psychology applies to the "real" world of work! As she said when asked about her teaching: "I get goosebumps on my arms when I read reflection papers from students who dig deep to apply current theory to their internship sites and see value in adding relevant experience to their resumes while in college." When not teaching, Meenan has a passion for field hockey (there is a rumor that she earned the title of "most stitches in a season" back in college) and also for gardening and her dogs! She spent time living in Senegal and Kenya, a experience which taught her a lot about humans and cultures. You may meet her as you plan and execute your career internship in Psychology!

John Myer

Ed.D. Boston University; M.S. Unversity of Wisconsin, B.S. St. Norbert College

For Dr. John Myer, psychology is life-long learning! He's particularly passionate about consciousness and unconsciousness (critical and creative thinking) as encapsulated by current debates in psychotherapy, neuroscience, and counseling. Getting his students to integrate psychology into their personal and professional lives and getting them to teach others how to become more conscious of their lives are his favorite teaching moments. Many of his courses include a service learning component to help students understand which psychological theories informs their personal experience and reflection. He feels students who ask critical questions are the ones who do the best in his classes. Before Champlain he has years of experience teaching at McGill University, Boston University, and Norwich University. He's also worked as a counselor educator within the Massachusetts Prison Service, various Employee Assistance Programs and is a member of the National Crisis Care Network. He runs a private counseling and consulting practice, Shelburne Counseling Services, with a focus on children and families in transition and adult adjustment issues related to work, family, and life changes. Dr. Myer lived in Gambia West Africa for two years working with local peanut farmers, and is currently working to develop an active international service-learning project between community mental health and education programs in Vermont and The Gambia. Over the years he has run marathons and currently jogs, bikes and gardens for physical activities. You may meet him in an Introduction to Applied Psychology class!

Kimberly Quinnsmith

M.S. Boston College, B.S. Saint Michael's College

Kimberly Quinnsmith is about as passionate about life as any college Professor you'll meet! Students tell us it vibrates off her while she's teaching and that you can't help but get inspired in her classes. It's her long fascination for understanding connections between the mind and the body that inspires her scholarly interests. Besides teaching, she worked for many years treating people with addictions as well as a family therapist. She has published three books and three documentary films on topics relating to media psychology and gender development (learn more here: www.kimquinnsmith.com). When asked about her teaching she told us that: "my purpose is to be an instrument of learning to my students, to help them explore themselves and those around them as well as to personalize what we do in the classroom... For me, the most rewarding thing about teaching at Champlain is seeing the enthusiasm in a student's eyes during a dynamic class discussion... Champlain is a 'think outside the box' kind of campus which encourages the freedom of creative expression for the students and professors... A new student in my class would notice the dynamic energy in the room. My teaching is expressive and there is no telling where our conversations may go. The students who do best in my classes are those who let go of preconceived, conventional notions of what it means to sit in a classroom and learn, and instead, let their guards down, open their minds, and dare to be who they 'truly' are." When not teaching, Kimberly is a bit of an adrenaline junkie, an active downhill skier with a taste for para-sailing, white-water rafting, and she is hoping to skydive soon! You may meet her in an Introduction to Psychology or Cognitive Psychology class.

Sarah Rosenthal

M.S.W. Tulane Unversity; B.A. Hampshire College

Sarah Rosenthal approaches her teaching at Champlain in the same way she approaches her art- with creativity and passion. Her love for drawing and painting also comes into play in her work as a psychotherapist with children and youth. She has a strong commitment to help children recover from trauma and adversity in their early lives. As an instructor, she brings her clinical knowledge to the classroom as she furthers her students' learning about human development. In particular, students tell us that she inspires them to want to be better people- to want to work for a better and more just world. What she finds rewarding about teaching is watching students develop a deeper and more complex understanding of the world around them. Those students who take a hands-on and proactive approach do the best in her classes. Aside from her teaching and clinical practice, she recently completed a collaborative documentary film called Belonging: From Foster Care to Family, which highlights the importance of permanent families for youth in foster care.

Meg Sealey

B.S. Champlain College, A.S. Champlain College

Meg Sealey is a Senior Career Advisor in the Career Services Office here at Champlain College. She teaches career management skills and advises students during their time here at Champlain, and beyond. Meg has been working in Career Services for over 6 years providing a wide range of assistance and services to students and alumni. Meg's areas of expertise are: self-assessment, career exploration, resume and cover letter writing, and networking and interviewing skills. She is a certified practitioner of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and a Certified Internet Job Search Expert. Meg is passionate about helping students reach their career goals and there to help every step of the way.

Katheryn Wright

Ph.D. Florida State University, M.A. Florida State University, B.A. Stetson University

Dr. Katheryn Wright is excited to represent the Core Division in the Psychology College Capstone! Her scholarly interests are in television and new media studies where she examines how all types of media shape the way people experience space and place (feel free to visit her personal blog at http://screenencounters.wordpress.com/). What excites her most about teaching is helping students look at things they encounter everyday in new ways or, conversely, make sense out of complex phenomena so they can apply that knowledge to their lives. You may see her out and about walking her dog, perusing art galleries, or playing tennis when the weather warms up. She also enjoys learning anything and everything about popular culture. Dr. Wright is working on introducing a Media Psychology course.