Wally Cleaves (Emeritus, 1990)
Dr. Wally Cleaves joined the Psychology Department in 1971 and was intricately involved until his death in 1995. Among his numerous leadership roles, he served as department chair and as director of the clinical/counseling master’s program. Wally was a leader in the most creative and helpful sense, always working to instill educational excellence as the core of our department’s identity. Students, faculty, and staff who had the privilege of knowing and working with him over the years were all touched by his devotion to the department and the university. His scholarly accomplishments, the range of his professional expertise and interests, as well as his enormous energy were immediately discernible and extraordinarily impressive. Wally’s research on perception and perceptual development was published in top journals such as Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, Perception and Psychophysics, the Journal of Experimental Psychology, and the prestigious publication Science. Student’s needs and concerns were always paramount in Wally’s mind; anything that did not serve the educational priorities that should govern a university was something to be confronted. What we remember most about Wally was the quality of his character. It was his righteousness, his integrity, and his soaring, gentle soul that touched us most.
Gloria Cowan (Emeritus, 2002)
Dr. Gloria A. Cowan earned her doctoral degree in social psychology from Rutgers University in 1964. She taught at Wayne State University for six years, receiving tenure, and joined the CSUSB faculty in 1971 as an Associate Professor of Psychology. Gloria’s devotion to pedagogy and her unmatched skill as an instructor and mentor were recognized with her receipt of the CSUSB Outstanding Professor Award in 1991 and the CSBS Outstanding Teacher Award in 2005. Gloria is a Fellow of the Society for the Scientific Study of Social Issues, and the Western Psychological Association; she won a CSUSB Meritorious Performance and Professional Promise Award in 1989 and the CSBS Outstanding Professional Growth Award in 1999. She served on the Board of Directors for the Riverside Area Rape Crisis Center, where she trained volunteers for a number of years. A prolific researcher in the areas of women’s studies, women and violence, and hate speech, Gloria published many papers in books and professional journals including The Psychology of Women Quarterly, Sex Roles, The Journal of Applied Social Psychology, The Journal of Social Psychology, and Violence Against Women. Most of her published work includes students as co-authors. Gloria also served as associate editor for The Psychology of Women Quarterly and was a member of the editorial board for the journal Sex Roles. In 2010, Gloria became the first Psychology faculty member to be inducted into the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Hall of Fame.
Robert E. Cramer (Emeritus, 2011)
Dr. Robert Ervin Cramer retired from the University in 2011 after 33 years of distinguished service. Bob received his M.A. degree from Trinity University in San Antonio, TX and his Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma. He joined the CSUSB Psychology Department in 1978 as a lecturer, and in 1981 he became a tenure-track faculty member. Bob mentored dozens of undergraduate and graduate student members of his Social Learning and Evolution Research Group. SLERG used conditioning principles to illuminate familiar social processes (e.g., interpersonal attraction, sex roles, and causal relationship detection), and applied principles of evolutionary psychology to investigate mate selection and the precursors of sexual jealousy. This research was published in professional journals including the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, Sex Roles, Current Psychology, Basic and Applied Social Psychology, and the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. Bob is a recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award from the San Bernardino Chamber of Commerce, and he is one of the select few who have won the Outstanding Professor Award (1989-1990) – the highest honor CSUSB confers on a faculty member. Bob was elected to the Psychonomic Society in 1988 and to Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society in 1996; in 2010, he was named a Fellow in the Western Psychological Association. In the final three years of his career, Bob served as Chair of the Psychology Department. In December, 2013, Bob was selected for induction into the College of Social and Behavioral Science Hall of Fame.
Stuart Ellins (Emeritus, 2004)
Dr. Stuart Ellins is a Comparative Psychobiologist who spent most of his career in the study of animal behavior. He earned his A.B. in Psychology at the University of Miami in 1967 and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Psychology at the University of Delaware in 1971. In 1973, Stu joined the Psychology Department at CSUSB where he remained until his retirement in 2004. An exceptional instructor and mentor at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He was the coordinator of the M.A. program in psychology for many years and he was the Founding Faculty Advisor of the first chapter of Psi Chi, the National Psychology Honors Society. As chair of the University Faculty Affairs Committee, he established the University's Outstanding Professor Program. He served as Psychology Department Chair in 1991-1992 and from 1999 to 2004. Stu’s early research was on discrimination learning in amphibians and on visual orientation in echolocating bats. This research was presented at the American Society of Mammalogists, the Animal Behavior Society, the Eastern Psychological Association. and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. It was also published in such journals as Psychonomic Science, Behaviour and Brain, and Behavior and Evolution. He then switched his focus to research on food aversion conditioning in rats and on laboratory and field studies in coyotes and wolves which led to projects throughout California applying taste aversion conditioning to coyote predation on domestic animals. This research was published in a number of journals including the Journal of Comparative Psychology, Behavioral Neuroscience, the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology and Behavioral and Neural Biology. Stu published two books, 'Living With Coyotes' published by the University of Texas Press and 'John Garcia, Life of a Neuroethologist and History of Conditioned Taste Aversion' published by Outskirts Press.
Diane Halpern (Emeritus, 2001)
Dr. Diane Halpern received her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, her M.A. from Temple University, and her Ph.D from the University of Cincinnati. She joined the Psychology Department at CSUSB in 1981. One of the most recognized figures in contemporary psychology, and a brilliant teacher/scholar, Diane is the McElwee Family Professor of Psychology and Roberts Fellow at Claremont McKenna College, the Dean of Social Sciences at the Minerva Schools at KGI, and the Founding Director of the Berger Institute for Work, Family, and Children at Claremont McKenna (2001-2008). She has served as Psychology Department Chair at CSUSB and at Claremont McKenna. She is past President of several major professional organizations including the American Psychological Association (2004), the Western Psychological Association (1999-2000), and the Society for the Teaching of Psychology (1997-1998). Diane is the winner of numerous awards for excellence in teaching and research including the California State University’s State-Wide Outstanding Professor Award and, most recently, the 2013 Association for Psychological Science James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award for a lifetime of outstanding contributions to applied psychological research. A highly published author of seminal scientific papers and critically acclaimed books and texts, Diane’s areas of scholarship include sex differences in cognitive abilities, critical thinking, using the principles of cognitive psychology to enhance teaching and learning, and work and family interactions.
Philip L Herold (Emeritus, 1992)
Dr. Les Herold joined the then fledgling Psychology Department in 1970. At the time of being hired, Les stated unequivocally that he would be at the University “for one year only.” Twenty-two years later, Les accepted an early retirement from CSUSB in order to work full time in his forensic psychology practice. Hired originally as a much-needed ‘generalist,’ Les later underwent post-graduate training and clinical supervision in order to become licensed (1986). He subsequently began to teach in the Clinical Counseling Master’s program. Les is immensely proud of the many former graduate and undergraduate students who went onto distinguished careers. Shortly after retiring, Les founded an organization titled ‘Solutions for Families.’ His divorce education and skill-based co-parenting program is offered at numerous locations throughout California and in other States. He has been a frequent presenter at regional and international meetings of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts. Les was honored to receive that organization’s “Most Innovative Program of the Year” award in 2011. He does not intend to retire until he’s 90 at the least.
Charles Hoffman (Emeritus, 2008)
Dr. Charles 'Chuck' Hoffman was a vital contributor to the success of the Psychology Department for some 40 years, from 1974 through 2013. Chuck received his Ph.D. from Adelphi University in 1972. He served as Department Chair for 12 years, from 1984-1996. These were formative years for the department, with Chuck overseeing the Department’s period of greatest growth. Reflecting the steady increase in enrollments at the University, the Department grew from 12 to 31 full-time psychology faculty members during these critical years. Chuck’s stewardship was paramount in building what our department has become - one of the premier academic departments in the CSU. Further, Chuck was instrumental in helping to develop our highly successful Psychology Department Honors Program – a program that has proven critical to launching the graduate training and professional careers of many students. Chuck served as Honor’s Director for a number of years, particularly during the latter stages of his tenure in the department. Among Chuck’s other contributions to the University were his over 30 years as a member of the University’s Faculty Senate, including stints on the Senate’s Executive Committee, and a term as Director of the University’s Institute of Child Development and Family Relations (which he helped to establish). Also, during the latter years of his career, Chuck served as the Research Director for the campus’ University Center for Developmental Disabilities. In this capacity, Chuck mentored the research of scores of undergraduate and graduate students and, with them, contributed significantly to scholarship on autism - with particular focus on sleep problems associated with autism, and on family processes and interactions in these families and in the families of children with other developmental disorders. Chuck also authored many professional papers related to divorce, focusing particularly on fathers and their children, as well as on the impact of divorce on children and parents.
Nikolai Kohkhlov (Emeritus, 1992)
Dr. Nikolai Kohkhlov received his Ph.D. in clinical and experimental psychology from Duke University in 1968. A brilliant statistician and computer engineer, Nikolai taught at CSU San Bernardino from 1968 to 1993. Joining the University just three years after its inception as a CSU campus, Nikolai played an important, foundational role at CSUSB. Nikolai published research in the areas of perception, cognitive consistency, and parapsychology. His life prior to arriving in the US was remarkable for its moral, political, and deeply human drama. A KGB Officer in the Soviet Union, Nikolai refused to carry out an assassination mission, warning the intended target instead. Following his defection to the United States, Nikolai collaborated and worked with Western intelligence services, the US government, and various anti-communist activists. As a result, he was the victim of an assassination attempt by the KGB in 1957. He quite fortunately survived the attempt, despite a long period of difficult recuperation and rehabilitation. In 1992, Russian President Bois Yeltsin pardoned him, and Nikolai returned to Moscow for a short stay for the first time since the 1950s. The story of his escape to the West is the subject of the book, “In the Name of Conscience” (New York: David McKay, 1959) and a documentary by the BBC and Russian Public Television, entitled, 'A Matter of Conscience.' Nikolai passed away at St. Bernadine Medical Center in 2007 at the age of 85.
Frederick Newton (Emeritus, 2005)
Dr. Frederick A. Newton began his distinguished career at California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB) in 1975 after earning his Bachelor of Science in Psychology from St. Peter’s College in 1967, his Master of Science in Physiological Psychology from Villanova University in 1970, and his Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Houston in 1975. Fred developed the first interdisciplinary neuroscience course at CSUSB, pioneered the use of biofeedback as a clinical tool, and served as the Chief Academic Content Advisor for the award-winning PBS Telecourse, Understanding Human Behavior. Fred received the CSUSB Outstanding Professor Award in 1982. He was the first member of our Department to do so and he set a standard of excellence that Department faculty have tried to emulate ever since. Fred also won the Psychology Department’s Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award in 2005-2006, the CSBS Outstanding Service Award in 1995, and the Fred Keller Memorial Award in recognition of his sensitivity to issues affecting disabled students. In 2012, Fred was inducted into the College of Social and Behavioral Science Hall of Fame.
Jean Peacock (Emeritus, 2013)
Dr. Jean Peacock received her B.A. in Psychology from CSUSB in 1975 and her doctorate in experimental psychology from the University of California, Riverside, in 1993. She joined our Psychology Department that same year. Jean has had a truly remarkable career at this University spanning every possible role from student to professor to administrator. A much-beloved and respected teacher, both in the classroom and in mentoring roles, Jean inspired many students to accomplish what they had not thought was possible. She made unique and profound contributions to the education of first-generation college students on our campus. Jean served as Counselor Coordinator for the Educational Opportunity Program and founded the “Black Future Leaders” Program on campus. Jean authored the proposal that created the ‘Student Assistance In Learning’ (SAIL) Program and served as its first Director. Toward the end of her career, Jean served as Assistant and Associate Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Repeatedly enlisted by the University throughout her career to tackle special projects, Jean lent her intelligence, integrity, people skills, and energy to important causes both on campus and in the greater community. For this service, she received numerous university and community recognition awards. Jean also pursued a successful research program identifying predictors of violent behaviors among adolescents and studying the roles of racial identity and socialization patterns in promoting healthy outcomes among minority youth. In 2013, Jean was coaxed out of retirement by President Morales and Dean Clark to assist new faculty in launching their careers at our University, a job she approaches with the same dedication, compassion, and consummate professionalism that has marked her entire career.
David Riefer (Emeritus, 2020)
Professor David Riefer has served on the faculty of the California State University, San Bernardino, for thirty-four years with dedication, professionalism, the keenest of intellects, and a brilliant sense of humor. David earned his Ph.D. from UC Irvine in 1981, and joined the Psychology Department in 1985. As an instructor, David taught courses in cognitive psychology, statistics, and experimental psychology, and he created the Department’s Honors Program. David also served as the Psychology Associate Chair. Beyond the Department, David played an invaluable and innovative role as Assistant Dean for the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, serving as the College’s Scheduling Coordinator for more than 25 years. In this capacity, he helped manage the remarkable growth of the College, assisting Deans and Chairs in scheduling classes, meeting FTE targets, and effectively dealing with resource issues. David contributed substantially to his field as a cognitive and mathematical psychologist, publishing influential papers in virtually all of the top journals in this area, including the Journal of Mathematical Psychology, the British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, Memory & Cognition, the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, Psychological Review, the Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, Psychological Assessment, and the Journal of Educational Psychology. In recognition of his career accomplishments and contributions as a much-beloved and respected teacher, researcher, and colleague, David received the 2000 CSUSB Outstanding Professor award and earned an unprecedented four (!) Golden Apple awards. We would be remiss if we did not also mention that David has been a surrogate parent to numerous abandoned cats in the San Bernardino area, each of whom has nothing but positive things to say about him.
Matt Riggs (Emeritus, 2020)
Dr. Matt Riggs began his career at CSUSB in 1988. In addition to serving this University for over 20 years, he held faculty positions at Loma Linda University and Portland State. A quantitative psychologist with an expertise in research methods, statistics, measurement, and assessment, Matt’s career has been characterized by excellence in instruction, mentorship, and scholarship. A much-beloved classroom instructor and student mentor, Matt always had a large and loyal following of students and he served as the ‘statistician’ on more student thesis committees than anyone can remember or count. His publication record reflects a highly accomplished researcher who is well respected by peers across a remarkable variety of domains. Matt published in the fields of psychology, education, nursing, family and development, and creativity and his work appears in journals from each of these fields, including the Journal of Attention Disorders, the Journal of Personality Assessment, the Journal of Applied Psychology, Behavior Research and Therapy, Empirical Studies of the Arts, the International Journal of Creativity & Problem Solving, the Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, the Social Science Journal, the Journal of Environmental Education, the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, the Journal of Family Communication, the Journal of Child and Family Studies, the Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing, and the Journal of Women & Social Work. Matt’s collaborations with faculty extended well beyond the Psychology Department and the University. His extensive expertise in quantitative psychology has proven invaluable to the success of numerous basic and applied research projects and interventions. Students and faculty alike enjoyed Matt’s great sense of humor and his homespun witticisms. We hope that retirement will bring Matt endless, long-awaited opportunities to engage in some favorite pastimes, with fishing being first and foremost among these.
Faith McClure Teyber (Emeritus 2013)
Dr. Faith Teyber served on the faculty of the California State University, San Bernardino, for twenty-five years with distinction as a teacher, researcher, and practitioner. Faith is a masterful therapist who provided exceptional clinical training to students in our M.S. Clinical Counseling (MFT) Program across three decades. She has instilled in future clinical psychologists a keen and expert appreciation of multicultural issues in mental health care. Her groundbreaking collaboration with Dr. Laura Kamptner in the use of parent training and therapeutic interventions with incarcerated mothers and fathers is helping to end the intergenerational cycle of incarceration in the IE. Faith has published numerous articles on psychotherapy, cultural psychology, child abuse, the psychology of women, and other topics. These have appeared in such publications as the Journal of Black Psychology, Psychology of Women Quarterly, Child Abuse and Neglect,Urban Review, Journal of Family Violence, and the Journal of Creative Behavior.She is the author of “Child and adolescent therapy: A multicultural-relational approach,” a graduate-level psychotherapy text that addresses child and adolescent treatment from a multicultural perspective. Along with her husband, Ed, Faith is a co-author of the 6th edition of “Interpersonal Process in Therapy: An integrative model,” one of the most widely respected and widely employed textbooks on the therapeutic process. Throughout her career at CSUSB, Faith has been a much-beloved and respected teacher and mentor whose work was consistently characterized by excellence from the classroom to the clinic.
Ed Teyber (Emeritus 2013)
Dr. Ed Teyber received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Michigan State University and served on the faculty of California State University, San Bernardino, for over 35 years with dedication, compassion, and consummate professionalism. He directed the Community Counseling Center (CCC) from 1979 to 2015. Throughout his term as director, the CCC provided low cost mental health care to the campus and greater San Bernardino communities and served as a training center for students in the clinical/counseling psychology M.S. program. Ed trained generations of mental health care workers and marriage and family therapists who have gone on to make a difference in the lives of individuals and families throughout the Inland Empire. His compassionate, supportive, and affirming approach to therapy helped to remove the stigma of mental illness and mental health care on our campus. Ed and Faith Teyber are co-authors of “Interpersonal Process in Therapy: An integrative model,” one of the most widely respected and widely employed textbooks on the therapeutic process currently available - now in its 7th edition. Ed is also the author of the popular-press book “Helping Children Cope with Divorce,” and a textbook published by Brooks/Cole, “Casebook in Child and Adolescent Treatment: Cultural and Familial Contexts, 2nd edition. Ed and Faith Teyber were honored at the 2015 Annual Convention of the APA where they received special recognition from the Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy for their article, “Working with the process dimension in relational therapies: Guidelines for clinical training,” published in a 2014 special issue of the Journal of Psychotherapy. In recent years, Ed has served masterfully as Chair of the Board of Directors for the University Enterprises Corporation. He continues to be active in clinical practice and writing.
Joanna Worthley (Emeritus, 2010)
Dr. Joanna Worthley received her B.A. from Marietta College in 1967, her M.S. from Springfield College in 1977, and her Ph.D. from the Claremont Graduate School in 1987. She joined the Psychology Department shortly thereafter as a lecturer and was appointed to full-time status in 1990. A brilliant teacher and mentor, Joanna was a key figure in the lives of many undergraduate and graduate students across her 20 years in academics. She served as Department Chair from 2006 to 2008 and as Associate Dean for the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Early in her career she developed a peer advising program in psychology. Following Joanna’s lead, the department established a Peer Advising Center which currently provides advising support for undergraduates and training opportunities for graduate students. Joanna published professional research in several areas including memory, decision-making, studies in higher education, and, in collaboration with her long-time friend and colleague, Dr. Kelly Morton, moral reasoning among medical professionals. Joanna passed away in 2011 following an extensive battle with pancreatic cancer. To honor Joanna’s legacy and to continue to enhance the work that she did to support student educational achievement, an endowed fund was established with a contribution from her lifelong partner Betsy Crighton and support from alumni, faculty, staff, students, friends and family. The fund is a fitting tribute to Joanna’s lifelong support for students.
Michael Weiss (Emeritus 2010)
Dr. Michael Weiss joined the university in 1982. Michael was a devoted university citizen and an exceptional classroom instructor. His many contributions to the department’s goals were substantial and well-recognized, and extended from the classroom, to the community counseling center, and to the conference room. Long after Michael was initially diagnosed with brain cancer in 1989 he continued to make vital contributions to the educational mission of the department and of the university. He had an ardent following of undergraduate and graduate students studying developmental psychology and counseling psychology, his two primary areas of expertise. His enthusiastic students were instructed, mentored, and trained consistent with the highest standards of professional educators. Michael influenced a significant number of counseling students, many of whom are working as therapists in our community. Following his retirement from the University in 2004, Michael continued to work part time as a psychotherapist until his death in 2010. The remarkable courage and optimism he displayed throughout his 21-year battle with cancer serves as an inspiration to his colleagues and students.
Bob Ricco (Emeritus 2022)
Dr. Bob Ricco is a developmental psychologist with a specialization in cognitive development. He received his BA in psychology from New York University (1980) and his PhD in developmental psychology from Temple University (1986). He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the City University of New York Graduate Center (1986-88) and held a visiting assistant professor position at Vassar College (1988-92) before joining the CSUSB Psychology Department in 1992. Across his 34 years of college and university teaching, Dr. Ricco has offered 17 different undergraduate and graduate courses and supervised numerous graduate and undergraduate student theses and independent study projects. Dr. Ricco has served as graduate coordinator for both the Lifespan Development MA. Program – a forerunner to the current Child Development Program – and the General Experimental Psychology (now Psychological Science) M.A. Program. From 2011 to 2020, Dr. Ricco served as Chair of the Psychology Department, overseeing the hiring of 18 tenure-line faculty. In his professional work, Dr. Ricco has published over 30 empirical, theoretical, and review papers in two research areas: 1. the development of reasoning and argumentation skills across the lifespan and 2. the influence of parents’ beliefs about knowledge, learning, and development on their children’s educational experiences. Dr. Ricco continues with this scholarship as an emeritus faculty member. He has also been highly involved in editorial work, having reviewed for 15 professional journals. Dr. Ricco would like to express his deepest gratitude to the many students, faculty, staff, and administrators he has worked with across his career. He is blessed to have had these opportunities and he encourages all educators to work towards the day when each of our academic disciplines and professions reflects the diversity of our society.