Faculty for Psychology Degree

Nicholas Armenti

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Gary Baker

Biography

Dr. Gary A. Baker has a passion for teaching. For over 30 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 psychology because 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 worked for nine years at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the Medical College of Georgia conducting research on addictions and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Professional & Scholastic Affiliation

• American Psychology—Law Society
• Association for Psychological Science
• The Society for Personality & Social Psychology

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Toni Balboni

Biography

Toni Balboni is a young professional who has a background in Forensic and Legal Psychology. She has interned with the Washington DC Public Defender’s Office as well as worked with the Innocence Project in Virginia, with a strong focus on investigation. Toni anticipates learning just as much from her students as they do from her.

CV

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Sarah Jerger

Biography

Sarah Jerger is a Faculty Instructor of Human-Centered Design and Communication and has been at Champlain College since 2008. To her classroom teaching, she brings a career of hands-on experiential education forging over 100 project-based collaborations between students and industry partners in a studio environment. Jerger is passionate about empowering students to design solutions for positive social impact through “real-world” experiences.

Jerger holds a Master’s degree from Champlain College in Emergent Media. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in Business and two Associate’s degrees in Multimedia & Graphic Design and Public Relations & Media Communications.

Jerger’s previous experience includes communications, operations, graphic design, and media-buying in the advertising, beverage, and real estate industries. She is a multi-disciplinary artist with a passion for analog making and craft which she explores intertwining with digital means of expression. Her work spans (for now) textile art, digital storytelling, mixed-media collage, video, and wearable electronics. She also operates and curates a Free Little Art Gallery, a community-driven project to make art more accessible and nurture creativity.

What are your hobbies?

Mixed media art, hiking, nature, cooking, taking classes & learning new things, procrastinating folding laundry

Favorite local eateries and things to do in Vermont:

Devil Takes a Holiday, Kate’s Food Truck, Jericho Cafe & Tavern, Spot on the Dock // Palmer Lane Maple for creemees, hikes around Indian Brook Reservoir, South End Art Hop in September, shows at the Monkey House, Vermont Comedy Club, concerts at Snow Farm Vineyard in South Hero

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Melissa McDuffie

Biography

Melissa had a variety of experiences working in the field of psychology both before and after she started teaching including addictions counselor, working in therapeutic foster care, community mental health counselor, school intervention programs, crisis intervention work and running a campus counseling center. She has been teaching since 2001. Her areas of teaching interest include General Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Abnormal Psychology and Counseling Psychology.

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Robin Perlah

Biography

Robin Perlah currently serves as Dean of the Core Division, Creative Studio and School of Social Innovation at Champlain College, where she is also an Associate Professor. In this role, she provides academic leadership across the humanities, social sciences, and creative arts and design disciplines.

During her time at Champlain, Perlah has held several leadership positions, including Chair of the Creative Studio, Program Director for several programs including Graphic Design (BFA), Interaction Design (BS) and Emergent Media (MFA and MS), Academic Director for the Emergent Media Center, and Assistant Dean for the Division of Communications and Creative Media. She has taught a range of courses in the areas of photography, graphic design, design history, image-making, visual design, interaction design, and media theory, serving both undergraduate and graduate students.

Perlah’s art practice is based on a persistent interest in the photographic image, both still and moving, as it is transformed by digitality. Her work deals with the ambiguity of memory, the intersection between image capture (both analog and digital) and the methods of processing and presenting images, and how generative art and data mutations can reveal layers of complexity.

Before working at Champlain College, Robin taught and ran programs in art, design and creative media in K-12 education, and developed several community art programs to support young people through art-mentoring relationships and other activities. She also served as co-director for the Technology & Design Institute at Governor’s Institutes of Vermont. Prior to her work in education, she had a long career as a professional photographer and photo editor, specializing in commercial, portrait, and event photography as well as fine-art printing.

Robin is a site evaluator for the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), is part of the volunteer board for PechaKucha Night (PKN) Burlington, and currently serves as Vice Chair of the Vermont Arts Council board of trustees, which she rejoined in fall 2024. Robin earned a master of fine arts in emergent media from Champlain College, a bachelor of science in art education from the University of Vermont, and studied commercial and fine art photography at the New England School of Photography.

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Melyssa Sweet

Biography

Dr. Melyssa Sweet is an adjunct professor at Champlain College, bringing extensive practical experience to her teaching. She holds a Master of Science in Educational Psychology & Methodology, a Certificate of Advanced Study in School Psychology, and a Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) in School Psychology from the University at Albany, SUNY.

Dr. Sweet currently works full-time as a school psychologist in the Burlington School District. Her professional journey also includes roles in teaching, school psychology in various PreK-12 public schools, counseling and case management in a residential treatment center for at-risk youth, and autism evaluation. This diverse background enables Dr. Sweet to provide students with a unique perspective enriched with real-life examples. Her research interests encompass trauma, effective program implementation, and wellness practices. Passionate about teaching psychology at the college level, she emphasizes the subject’s relevance to everyday life and relationships, aiming to empower students with knowledge that enhances their personal and professional lives.

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