Laura Morris

I currently attend Virginia Commonwealth University's Masters of Social Work Program. I am pursuing a clinical placement with the hopes of eventually becoming a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. I was also recently approved to receive the certificate in Gender Violence Intervention upon graduation. While in school, I currently work at an emergency shelter which serves survivors of intimate partner and sexual violence. I provide services such as case management, emotional support, and safety planning to residents of the shelter. I have also completed an internship providing hospital accompaniment to survivors of violence. I provide similar resources to clients during these interactions, but my relationship with them and allotted time to build rapport is much shorter.   I would be happy to speak to students about school, work, or this internship. They can reach me at this email, morrisln@vcu.edu. … [Read more...]

Monica Paige Band

I am an alumna of Mary Washington's Psychology program, class of 2011. I am finishing my doctorate this Spring in Counselor Education and Supervision. I teach, advise, and supervise master's level clinical mental health counseling students at Marymount University as a full time professor. Additionally, I am a practicing therapist in Northern Virginia. My research includes better understanding spiritual identity development and coping strategies as it relates in counseling. My email address for students interested in counseling: mband@marymount.edu   … [Read more...]

Stephanie Mattern

I graduated from UMW with a degree in psychology in 2011 and I love to read the newsletters from the psych department! After graduating from UMW, I worked in a child care facility for a year and then received my masters in teaching (K-6) in 2013 from East Carolina University. I am currently a kindergarten teacher for the Wake County Public School System in Raleigh, NC. The knowledge, experiences, and overall background I gained from being a psych major at UMW have been so helpful in this job and I am able to apply them daily in so many ways, many of which I never would have expected. Having an understanding of developmental psychology and the associated behavioral/cognitive processes helps me with planning instruction for my students according to their unique personalities/learning styles/needs, and I also rely on it when it comes to behavior management in the classroom. In addition, so much of teaching (especially now) is about data - collecting data, analyzing data, and applying data … [Read more...]

Shelley Markle

Name: Shelley Ekermeyer Markle (’94) Occupation: Project Manager for large Residential Remodeling Company Description: Daily visits to client homes/condos for review of the construction work being carried out to ensure quality, accuracy, timelines, and budgets. Weekly meetings with the client, architect, designer, and all affiliated parties (stakeholders) to identify questions or potential problems before they occur. I find creative solutions to problems, understand the vision that the client has and through attentive listening and thorough communication, extract information from stakeholders, convey technical information in simple English, pursue win-win solutions, and manage the finances and schedules.  In essence, lots of reading body language, understanding what motivates people and using that to achieve the desired results of all involved, being able to communicate with all types of people (from laborers to CEOs), and a fair amount of attempting to mind read. As a double … [Read more...]

Lisa Lawler

I graduated from UMW in 2006 with a psychology degree and continued on at CUNY Hunter college for a master's degree in Childhood education and then went further and got my certificate in Special Education at Long Island University at CW Post.  Currently I'm a Special Education teacher in a 6th grade middle school.  I've taught all grade levels, in many different settings, with middle schoolers being my favorite age. My name is Lisa Lawler and my email is lawler_lisa@yahoo.com. … [Read more...]

Sean Lynch

Sean Lynch Resume … [Read more...]

Graduate in Residence

 This year’s Graduate in Residence is Amy Wick Mavis, Executive Director of PACE Center for Girls, a nonprofit center serving at-risk adolescent girls in Florida. On Friday, October 23 at noon, Amy will be having lunch with students who are interested in her work and might be interested in doing similar work.  The lunch will be here inMercer 131 and is limited to 15 students.  Over lunch you could find out more about her work, her educational background, the type of people she hires for her center and work with at-risk youth in general.  You will get a catered lunch and get a chance to have an informal conversation with Amy.  You might also find out what it was like in the Psychology Department in the roaring 80’s. Here is a video about the PACE center: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0O4cUnByaE&feature=share … [Read more...]

Justine M. Schmollinger

I graduated from Mary Washington in 1997 with a BS in Psychology.  I went on to get my MA in Forensic Psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice (1999), and then did a joint Ph.D./J.D. at Pacific Graduate School of Psychology of Palo Alto University (2008) and Golden Gate University School of Law (2006).  Currently, I am a Senior Psychologist, Supervisor at the Department of State Hospitals-Vacaville, located in Vacaville California.  The facility is a unique environment in that it is run by the DSH, but is housed in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) California Medical Facility.  The population I work with are culturally diverse, post-adjudication, males with severe and persistent mental illness or severe personality disorders that result in complicated individualized treatment plans focusing on suicide prevention, and reduction of psychopathology.  When I was a staff psychologist I worked with a multidisciplinary treatment team developing … [Read more...]

Kathleen Long

I graduated in 1999, when it was still Mary Washington College and my second home was Chandler Hall.  I have been working for the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice as a juvenile probation officer since 1999.  My first ten years my work was exclusively working with juveniles on probation.  That was in Stafford County.  In 2009 I moved to the King George office and I now wear many hats.  I provide civil intake to the public which includes filings for custody, visitation, paternity and child and/or spousal support.  I also process petitions for domestic abuse protective orders.  Law enforcement seeks my assistance in regard to filing criminal charges against juveniles.  When those juveniles are adjudicated delinquent, I also supervise them on probation and in more serious offenses, I supervise juveniles in direct care (incarcerated at a juvenile correctional center) and then when those juveniles are released back into the community on parole.  I am the chair of the Family Assessment … [Read more...]

David Sands

David Sands Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney City of Fredericksburg PO Box 886 Fredericksburg, Virginia 22404-0886 540-372-1040 (phone) 540-372-1181 (fax) … [Read more...]