Interim Dean, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
Office: Uhler 220
Office Phone: 724-357-6227
E-mail: mlzanich@iup.edu
How I became interested in Psychology
As a kid, I was always interested in how things—and people—worked. It became clear that science was the thing to do. Unbound by gender rules, my parents acceded to my wishes for a microscope and a chemistry set. At that time, the only psychology I knew anything about was all that Freud stuff—and that didn’t seem very scientific. So, I started college as a chemistry major. During my second semester, I took an Honors Introduction to Psychology course where we spent the whole semester studying operant conditioning. What could be better than science in psychology? I changed my major immediately. It’s now forty years later, and I have never once regretted my decision.
Current Research and Professional Projects:
A long-standing—and incomplete—project with Beverly Goodwin on “fictive” kin; factors involved in the establishment of one’s professional identity
Degrees/Schools
Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh: Experimental Psychology (Learning-Developmental Program)
Courses Taught
Undergraduate
Historical Trends, College Teaching Seminar, General Psychology, Honors College Science Core, Comparative Psychology
Graduate
History of Psychology, Teaching of Psychology
