Faculty & Staff

Kathy Harring 2021 HeadshotKathleen Harring, Ph.D. Envelope ‌

Muhlenberg President
Professor of Psychology
President's Office, 3rd Floor Haas College Center

Background
B.A., Franklin and Marshall College; M.S., Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

2012-2013 American Council on Education Fellow.

Dr. Harring is a social psychologist with a minor in quantitative psychology. After many years as a respected and beloved full time professor in the department, she served as Provost and now serves at the 13th President of Muhlenberg College. Luckily for us, she will continue to teach one course in the Psychology Department each year, including statistics and health psychology.

She writes: As a psychology professor, I teach students how to think more critically about their own and others' behavior. Because there are so many areas and situations where we can apply psychological concepts, we always have new questions to answer and new ideas to examine. I try to share my excitement for psychology with my students and it is quite rewarding when they tell me that they talk about psychological theory and research with their friends and roommates.

Teaching at a small liberal arts college like Muhlenberg gives me the opportunity to get to know my students at a personal level. Our classes are small and many students take more than one course with me. In addition, I usually have several students who work with me as research assistants.

Another plus about teaching at Muhlenberg are my interactions with faculty and students from other disciplines. Having a biology or business major in my health psychology course adds a different perspective and enhances the learning experiences for both the students and me.

Also -- since Muhlenberg places a high priority on excellent teaching -- the faculty spend a great deal of time thinking and talking about teaching. I enjoy being part of a community that places such a high value on undergraduate teaching!

Research Interests

Music and Social Bonding, Preconscious Processing, Gender Role Identity

Selected Publications

  • Dearborn, K., Harring, K., Young, C.,* & O’Rourke, E.* (2006). Mirror and phase difficulty influence dancer attention and body satisfaction. Journal of Dance Education, 6, 116-123.
  • Snodgrass, L., & Harring, K. (2004-2005). Right hemisphere positivity bias in preconscious processing: Data from five experiments. Current Psychology, 23, 318-335.
  • Snodgrass, L., & Harring, K. (2000). Intensity affects the preconscious processing of emotionally toned words in college students. Current Psychology, 19, 249-257.
  • Snodgrass, L. L., & Harring, K. E. (1992).Subliminal perception evaluated in a signal detection paradigm. International Journal of Psychology, 27, 45.
    *Muhlenberg students

Selected Presentations & Workshops

Social Neuroscience

  • Snodgrass, L., & Harring, K. (May 2005).  Comparing detectability and reaction times in positive and negative stimuli. Poster presented at the 17th annual American Psychological Society meeting, Los Angeles, CA.
  • Harring, K., & Snodgrass, L.  (June, 2002). Positivity offset and negativity bias evaluated in a signal detection paradigm. Poster presented at the 14th annual American Psychological Society meeting, New Orleans, LA.
  • Snodgrass, L., & Harring, K. (June, 1999).  Automatic vigilance evaluated in a signal detection paradigm. Poster presented at the 11th annual American Psychological Society meeting, Denver, CO.

Gender Identity and Gender Roles

  • Harring, K., & Edelman, L. (May 2010). Perceptions of nontraditional parenting: How good a parent is Dad? Poster presented at the 22nd annual Association of Psychological Science meeting, Boston, MA. *Muhlenberg students
  • Harring, K., & Edelman, L. (May 2009). Gender and gender identity affect the preconscious processing of positive and negative traits. Poster presented at the 21th annual Association of Psychological Science meeting, San Francisco, CA.
  • Harring, K., & Edelman, L. (July 2008). Does experience make a difference in the expression of gender role behavior? Poster presented at the XXIX International Congress of Psychology, Berlin.

Teaching and Learning Theory

  • Harring, K., & Perfetti, L. (November 2010). Controversial conversations: Engaging students and faculty. Session presented at the annual meeting of the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education, St. Louis, MS.
  • Harring, K., & Edelman, L. (October 2009). Intentional PowerPoint: Do’s and Don’ts from cognitive research. Workshop presented at the annual meeting of the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education, Houston, TX.
  • Edelman, L., & Harring, K. (April 2009). Learning, teaching and the brain. Invited presentation at the Lilly-East Conference on College and University Teaching at the University of Delaware.
  • Harring, K., & Edelman, L. (June 2008). Learning, teaching and the brain: Neuroscience applications. Keynote address presented at the Math Science Partnership of Greater Philadelphia (MSPGP) conference at Widener University.
  • Harring, K., & Edelman, L. (October 2007). Pedagogies that tap brain functioning: Applying Zull’s theory of learning. Workshop presented at the annual meeting of the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education, Pittsburgh, PA.
  • Snodgrass, L., & Harring, K. (May, 2006). Pedagogies that facilitate student engagement: Getting them involved and connected. Invited address at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science, New York, NY.

Outcomes Assessment

  • Sloat, J., Harring, K., & Davidson, R.R. (March 2011). Assessment as an adverb: Shifting the paradigm to facilitate decentralized engagement. Session presented at the AAC&U General Education and Assessment conference, Chicago, IL.
  • Harring, K., Bloss, A., & Kirby, S. (October, 2008). Direct assessment of intentional learning. Workshop presented at the annual meeting of the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education, Reno, NV.
  • Kolmar, W., Wingard, J.,Harring, K., Bloss, A., & Tobin-Janzen, T. (January 2008). Assessing intentional learning: A Teagle Foundation project. Panel presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association for Colleges and Universities, Washington, DC.

Professional Development

  • Sloat, J., Harring, K., & Slote, B. (January 2011). Middle manager or academic leader: Thriving in the Associate Deanship. Session presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Conference of Academic Deans, San Francisco, CA.
  • Hannon, C.,  Harring, K., McKay, G., & Sloat, J.  (January 2010). Surviving and thriving: Developing academic leadership in the associate deanship. Session presented at the annual meeting of the American Conference of Academic Deans, Washington, DC.
  • Sloat, J., Shiller, D., Harring, K., & McKay, G. (January, 2009). Learning how to work “in between.”: Entering the Associate Deanship. Session presented at the annual meeting of the American Conference of Academic Deans, Seattle, WA.
  • Harring, K., Wixon, K., Reder, M., & Bloss A. (October 2006). Mentoring new faculty at small liberal arts colleges. Session presented at the annual meeting of the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education, Portland, OR.
  • Clearfield, M., Reder, M., Morgan, S., Fabritius, S., Halprin, J., Harring, K., Neylon, M., & Wixon, K. (November, 2004). Models for faculty development: Teaching and learning centers at small colleges. Panel presentation at the annual meeting of the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education, Montreal, Canada.

Research Collaborations with Muhlenberg Students

  • Morse, E.*, Harring, K., & Richmond, K. (May 2011). Gender and masculine ideology influence perceptions of gay fraternity members. Poster presented at the 23rd annual Association of Psychological Science meeting, Washington, DC.
  • Harring, K., Edelman, L., & Zito, D.* (May 2011). Competition versus communality: Influences on the perceptions of same-sex others. Poster presented at the 23rd annual Association of Psychological Science meeting, Washington, DC.
  • Dearborn, K., Harring, K., Young, C., & O’Rourke, E. (2006). Mirror and phase difficulty influence dancer attention and body satisfaction. Journal of Dance Education, 6, 116-123.
  • Harring, K., Snodgrass, L., Kaplan, A. & Sommer, R. (2006, March). College students’ perceptions of good and bad parents. Presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Baltimore, MD.
  • Harring, K., Harvey, A., Levin, S., & Williams, N. (March, 2003). College students’ expectations for the division of family responsibilities. Presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Baltimore, MD.
  • Brunell, A., & Harring, K. (April, 2001). Compliance with donation requests to charities. Presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Washington, D.C.
  • Harring, K., Snodgrass, L., Zyzniewski, L., & Myers, B. (1995, June). Predicting students' learning experiences. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Society, New York, NY.
  • Harring, K., & Gaertner, L. (1992, April). Social categorization affects recall of ingroup and outgroup members' attitudes. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Boston, MA.