Professor Maria “Masha” Gartstein, an expert in developmental psychology, has been appointed to serve as chair of the WSU Department of Psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) beginning Aug. 16, 2023.
Gartstein currently directs the Clinical Training Program in psychology and heads the Infant Temperament Laboratory while also teaching graduate and undergraduate courses and seminars.
“Dr. Gartstein’s extensive leadership experience, both within and outside WSU, have prepared her well to take on this role, and I am excited to work with her and her colleagues to advance the next stage of the department’s development,” said Todd Butler, CAS dean.
“As chair, I look forward to leveraging the WSU Psychology department’s many strengths in student success, scholarship, and community engagement to expand the visibility of our programs and training opportunities,” Gartstein said.
In addition to facilitating faculty connections across the WSU system and supporting the growth of interdisciplinary collaborations, she intends to focus on fostering “greater communication beyond typical academic channels and translating the transformative research under way in the department to showcase our work and its impact, particularly to our communities and stakeholders,” she said.
Since joining the psychology faculty in 2002, Gartstein has taught a variety of courses, from abnormal and developmental psychology to professional ethics and child and adolescent therapy. She has also published broadly from her research, much of it focused on the evaluation of early childhood temperament development.