Susan Styles PhD		    
     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Education

Ph.D.

University of Georgia, August 1988
Major: Clinical PsychologyDoctoral Dissertation: The Heterosocial Skills of Sexually Coercive and
Non-Coercive College Males

M.S.

University of Georgia, August 1986
Major: Clinical PsychologyMasters Thesis:  The Relationship Between Psychological Androgyny and Indices of Adjustment

B.A.                

University of South Florida, June 1984
Major: Psychology
Emphases: Philosophy and American Literature


                                                                         

 

Publications

Styles, S.P. (2000). Leadership, publicity, activities and building community: Four keys to a vital Psi Chi chapter. Eye on Psi Chi, 4(2), 30 – 31.

Faupel, C.E. & Styles, S.P. (1993). Disaster education, household preparedness and stress responses following Hurricane Hugo. Environment and Behavior, 25, 228 – 249.

Faupel, C.E., Kelley, S.P. & Petee, T. (1992). The impact of disaster education on household preparedness for Hurricane Hugo. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, 10, 5 – 24.
 

Presentations

            Styles, S.P. “Exploring the role of faith in the psychology curriculum: Making a case for the integration of faith and learning.” Paper presented at the 46th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, March 31, 2000.

            Badgley, A.M. & Styles, S.P. “The Heritage Method: A systemic model for the successful implementation of the character-based abstinence-only paradigm.” Paper presented at the National HIV Prevention Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, August 1999.

Badgley, A.M. & Styles, S.P. “A systemic model for the successful implementation of a character-based abstinence program.” Paper presented at the South Carolina HIV Prevention Conference, Columbia, South Carolina, October 1999.

            Badgley, A.M. & Styles, S.P. “The successful implementation of a character-based abstinence-only sex education program.” A round table discussion presented at Teen Pregnancy: Community Solutions to a Community Issue, Sponsored by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, Columbia, South Carolina, May 11, 1999.

            Sinisi, C.S., Styles, S.P. & Gilstrap, J. “The development of a scale to assess the reasons young people give for becoming sexually active.” Poster presented at the Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting, Albuquerque, New Mexico, April 1999.

            Styles, S.P. & Badgley, A. M. “Racial differences in adolescent’s attitudes toward abstinence.” Poster presented at the 45th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association, Savannah, Georgia, March 1999.

            Gilstrap, J., Sinisi, C.S. & Styles, S.P. “Religiosity and adolescent’s reasons for becoming sexually active.” Paper presented at the 45th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association, Savannah, Georgia, March 1999.

            Sinisi, C.S., Bilton, D.L., Padgette, A.M. & Styles, S.P. “Religiosity and attitudes toward medical intervention.” Poster presented at the 44th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Meeting, Mobile, Alabama, March 1998.

            Perrine, M.W. & Styles, S.P. “A qualitative comparison of the self-expressed treatment needs of male and female polysubstance abusers.” Paper presented at the Consortium for Undergraduate Research, Independent Colleges & Universities of South Carolina, Inc., Furman University, November 19, 1997.

Styles, S.P. “Multiple intelligences: Linking brain research to teaching strategies.” Staff Development Program Presented to Stratford High School, Goose Creek, South Carolina, August 19, 1997.

            Styles, S.P., McKnight, T. & Rux, J. “The applied program of the Southern Regional Chapter of the Association for Women in Psychology: Social action through community partnerships in the southeast.” Symposium presented at the Sixth Biennial Conference on Community Research and Action, Columbia, South Carolina, May 1997.

            Booth, N., Styles, S.P. & McKnight, T. “Taking action on women’s health.” An invited symposium presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Regional Chapter of the Association for Women in Psychology, Hilton Head, South Carolina, October 1996.

            Handelsman, M., Carpenter, S., Costanzo, M., DeRenzo, E. & Styles, S.P. “Incorporating ethics into the undergraduate psychology curriculum.” A roundtable discussion presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, Toronto, Canada, August 1993.

            Faupel, C.E., Kelley, S.P. & Petee, T.A. “Disaster education, household preparedness and stress response to Hurricane Hugo.” Presented at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Mid-South Sociological Association, Jackson, Mississippi, October 1991.

            Faupel, C.E. & Kelley, S.P. “An assessment of the impact of earthquake education on hurricane preparedness in Charleston, South Carolina.” Paper presented to the National Science Foundation, Earthquake Hazards Mitigation Program Update, Washington, D.C., June 1991.

            Kelley, S.P., Faupel, C.E. & Retnam, X. “Stress response following Hurricane Hugo as a function of preparedness activity.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, March 1991.

            Faupel, C.E. & Kelley, S.P. “The impact of disaster education on citizen preparedness for Hurricane Hugo.” Paper presented at the 16th Annual Meeting of the Mid-South Sociological Association, Hot Springs, Arkansas, October 1990.

            Faupel, C.E., Kelley, S.P. & Knotts, L. “Individual and household preparedness for Hurricane Hugo.” Paper presented at the 15th Annual Hazards Research and Application Workshop, Boulder, Colorado, July 1990.

            Kelley, S.P. & Calhoun, K.S. “Heterosocial skill and global ratings of social skill in sexually coercive college men.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association, Atlanta, Georgia, April 1990.

            Kelley, S.P. “Creative thinking versus traditional learning: Incompatible responses? A behavioral approach to stimulating creative thought in the classroom.” Presented at the Second Southeastern Conference on the Teaching of Psychology, Kennesaw State College, Marietta, Georgia, February 1990.

            Kelley, S.P. & Calhoun, K.S. “Response perseveration and persistence in a group of sexually coercive college males.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Washington, D.C., November 1989.

            Kelley, S.P. & Calhoun, K.S. “The relationship of anger and anger expression to sex role in college students.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Boston, Massachusetts, November 1987.

            Kelley, S.P. & Spielberger, C.D. “The relationship between psychological androgyny, trait-anxiety, and anger expression.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association, Orlando, Florida, March 1986.

            Kelley, S.P. & Calhoun, K.S. “Sexual coercion in college males.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association, Orlando, Florida, March 1986.


                                                                         
 

Courses

Main courses currently taught include:

Behavioral Statistics, Introduction to Counseling, Behavior Disorders of Childhood, Issues and Ethics in the Helping Professions, Psychopathology Through Popular Film and Theories of Personality.

Other courses taught include:

Behavioral Assessment and Therapy, Educational Psychology, Freshman Seminar for Psychology Majors, General Psychology, Introduction to Psychopathology, Physiological Psychology, Principles of Learning, Psychology of Adjustment, Psychology of Adulthood and Aging, Psychology of Women, Psychological Testing and Measurement, and Social Psychology.

 

Teaching Philosophy

We are all called by God to discover our unique gifts and talents, to develop them and use them to His service and glory. As St. Paul writes, “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are diversities of ministries, but the same Lord. (1 Corinthians 12: 4-5). Colleges and universities are places in which students gain knowledge and skills, form lifelong patterns of living and discover and develop the gifts given them by their Creator. As stewards of that education, teachers have a high calling and great responsibility.

“In the depths of his heart there always remains a yearning for absolute truth and a thirst to attain full knowledge of it. This is eloquently proved by man’s tireless search for knowledge in all fields.” (Veritatis Spelndor, p. 10). All disciplines are facets of the truth. While each holds the hope of being the field holding the key to understanding, as John Henry Newman pointed out in The Idea of the University, each discipline tends to “aggrandize” its’ own perspective, each is ultimately incomplete. Psychology, as the study of the human person has much potential to reflect truth and serve humankind. Despite its’ atheistic roots in Sigmund Freud and others, it cannot help but point to aspects of right living.

While psychology has the potential of teaching us a great deal about how God created us, it has gone far astray from the truth in certain areas, most notably in its’ failure to support the dignity of the human person and the ultimate value of human life and in its lack of support for family life. In its quest to be taken seriously as a social science and its focus on the observable and measurable, psychology has aspired to be value free. Although these forces are largely political and reflect the larger society, there are clearly values inherent in these positions and these vales are reflected in training programs for psychologists, the scholarly literature and educational materials published for undergraduate students.
Thus, although many young Christians are drawn naturally to psychology because they perceive it to be a way they can serve others, the majority of young people require guidance to sort out those aspects of the field that are consistent with Christianity and those aspects which must be rejected and reframed within a Christian perspective. This, I believe is my ultimate task: To provide the very best methods by which students can learn the tools of the trade, but to help them critically evaluate the field within the tenets of Christianity so they can become the psychologists of the 21st century, serve others and contribute to the development of psychology in ways that are closer to absolute truth.

I have been tremendously blessed to serve God through an academic life, to be with students as they grow and develop, to help them learn about a specific discipline and how they can use that discipline to enrich their own families and the world and to live in a community of scholars. I am blessed to have had the opportunity of developing in my professional life at a Christian college where academic freedom is not limited to the secular. As Our Lord said, “…you shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:32).