Mount St. Joseph University

Below are examples of the graduate degrees and subsequent careers that our psychology alumni have pursued.

Dr. Grinstead obtained her doctoral degree in clinical psychology at Nova Southeastern University (NSU) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She completed her internship at Brooke Army Medical Center and was a military psychologist for 4 years. During her time on active duty, Dr. Grinstead served one tour in Iraq as a Combat Stress Control Psychologist and was officer-in-charge of her clinic. In her current role as a Clinical Psychologist, she provides individual and group evidence-based psychotherapy to veterans, and she specializes in the treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder. Erin credits the excellent training she received in statistics and research methods at the Mount for helping her succeed in her statistics courses in graduate school.

Dr. Reisinger obtained her Ph.D. in School Psychology from the University of South Carolina, and she completed an internship at the prestigious Kennedy Krieger Institute and a postdoctoral fellowship at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Dr. Reisinger is currently a professor with a joint appointment in the Division of Child Development at the Indiana University School of Medicine and Riley Children's Hospital Child Development Center. During her career, she has researched neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., autism spectrum disorder, fragile X syndrome, Angelman syndrome). Dr. Reisinger believes the Mount's psychology program continuously challenged, inspired, and guided her toward her current career path in psychology. She was able to develop excellent research, clinical, and practical skills in her classes, co-op, and practicum at the Mount.

Natalie earned her Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from the Mount, after completing her psychology degree. She works in an outpatient facility where she assists patients in their rehab after they have had a total joint replacement or experienced a stroke. Natalie helps to return patients’ quality of life through exercises or other manual therapy interventions. She says her psychology major has been extremely helpful, especially the courses related to neuroscience and research.

Sami obtained a master’s degree in Inclusive Early Childhood Education at the Mount after completing her degree in psychology (with a second major in criminology). She currently works in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics in the Graduate School of Medicine at UT. Sami is the facilitator of the Knoxville branch of a multi-site NIH-funded study of web-based programs designed to educate pregnant women and assist their decision making about which contraceptive methods best meet their needs, preferences, and future reproductive goals. Sami recruits and interviews participants, and she assists in the data analysis. She says that the psychology research courses, her co-op at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and her Senior Thesis course prepared her well for her current position.

Dr. Huesman obtained her Ph.D. in school psychology from the University of Cincinnati. She currently works for schools across Clermont County that serve students with social communication and behavioral needs. She works closely with teachers and administrators to support the implementation of academic and behavioral supports for students. Liz also helps supervise school psychology graduate students’ field experiences within the schools. She feels that her research and child development courses at the Mount provided a strong foundation for success in graduate school.

Mike obtained his master’s degree in school counseling from Northern Kentucky University and his Master of Science in Organizational Leadership at the Mount. He is currently applying his skills to improve the quality of health care. Mike manages a vendor that engages Humana members to complete their annual wellness visit. His duties include reviewing documentation of care managers, analyzing data, presenting data to stakeholders, and improving care manager policy and procedure adherence. Mike believes the opportunity to present at multiple national conferences while at the Mount, collaborating with professors outside of the classroom, and the diverse course offerings within the Department of Psychology were vital to preparing for this career. 

Tracy earned her Master of Science in Public Health Education and Promotion at the University of Cincinnati, and she is a Certified Health Education Specialist. Tracy manages multiple maternal and child health programs and grants in Butler County.  She works to reduce infant mortality in the county while focusing on health inequities and racial disparities in maternal and child health.  Tracy’s role requires her to do strategic planning, grant writing, monitor and evaluate data, create and implement outreach plans, work with community partners and hospitals, lead coalitions, and implement policy and practice changes. Tracy continues to use skills and lessons learned from her psychology courses in her work today. She says the Mount also taught her about social justice, ethics, and the importance of serving others. 

Cori earned a master’s degree in industrial/organizational psychology from Northern Kentucky University.  She leads and manages projects and reporting within the Office of Institutional Research. These projects might include data analysis of a variety of institutional metrics, such as degrees and enrollment, retention, graduation, and successful course completions. She oversees reporting on these metrics at the state and federal levels as well. Cori credits her success to the Mount’s psychology research courses and senior thesis project. She also credits the psychology department faculty who encouraged her to pursue her research interests by attending and presenting at conferences and pursue graduate school. Cori is currently completing her doctorate degree in Educational Policy Studies, Measurement, and Evaluation at the University of Kentucky

Rachel is working on completing her Ph.D. in the research methods subunit of the Educational Studies program. She currently lives in Charlotte, NC where she is completing her dissertation. Her research focuses on adolescent sexual violence prevention. Outside of dissertation-related work, Rachel continues to work on projects focused on the well-being of adolescents and marginalized groups, as well as program evaluation through her graduate assistantship at the UC Evaluation Services Center. Rachel attributes many of her accomplishments to the psychology faculty at the Mount, who have played invaluable roles on her current career path.

Sherrie obtained her master’s degree in mental health counseling from Xavier University. She ensures high-quality counseling is offered to clients through monitoring outcomes of treatment, and she expands services where needed across the United States. She says her bachelor’s degree in psychology created the solid foundation that she needed in order to understand the complexity of human nature, mental health and illness, the importance of evidenced-based practice, and statistical analysis. Sherrie believes the classes that helped her prepare for this career the most were Research I & II, Abnormal Psychology, Pseudoscience, and Social Psychology. She attributes her success to the devoted support she received from her professors. 

David wanted to work in a corporate environment, so he obtained a master’s degree in industrial/organizational psychology from Austin Peay State University in Tennessee. Today, David leads a team of experts using employee rewards, benefits, well-being programs, technology, and analytics to drive employee engagement and work performance. David mentions that the corporate working environment is currently taking a pro-employee approach that makes this career path very rewarding. Some of his work entails advanced statistics and data analysis, so his advice to current students is, "Pay attention in your research design and Senior Thesis classes, because out in the real world, you really do use what you learn."

Jodi was a trained practitioner of Applied Behavior Therapy for individuals on the autism spectrum for several years. She is now earning a master’s of public health with concentrations in epidemiology (research identifying risk factors and disease patterns in specific populations) and medical statistics at Indiana University. Jodi has always loved research and hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in epidemiology in order to study connective tissue disorders.

Dr. Litton obtained his doctoral degree (Psy.D.) from the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology in Missouri. He has worked with the Youth Opportunity Center in Muncie, Indiana, where he gained extensive experience working with children and adolescents in a mental health in-patient and alternative school setting. He is currently working as a clinical psychologist in Birmingham, Alabama. Dr. Litton specializes in working with people dealing with conversion disorder. He also works closely with area neurologists in helping those suffering from neurological diseases. He enjoys helping people with general mood issues, adjustment problems, and other assorted mental health concerns.