Social Sciences Department

Dr. Carr received her B.S. in psychology from Oklahoma City University in 2001 and a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin (with an emphasis in behavioral neuroscience) in 2005. In 2008, she became a Board Certified Behavior Analyst through a program at Penn State. Dr. Carr currently works as a behavioral consultant in local school districts and teaches online courses for universities and colleges around the country. She was most recently appointed to the Autism Crisis Committee to determine possible changes to legislation in Oklahoma and the School Climate & Culture Task Force that will evaluate consequences and future directions in a nearby school district. She is the secretary for the American Psychological Association’s Society of Behavioral Neuroscience and Comparative Psychology (Division 6) and the Applied Behavior Analysis Special Interest Group on Ethics. Dr. Carr currently lives in Oklahoma with her husband, two daughters and three dogs.

Dr. Fay advocated for first-time offenders through a pre-trial diversion program before earning a business degree. Her doctoral research focused on the employment relationship, specifically on the impact of nonprofit organizations’ social context on employees’ evaluation process. For the past 17 years, she has taught management and sociology, coordinated internships, mentored student entrepreneurs, and served as chair of the Division of Business and Law.

Susan Goldman has been in clinical practice for more than 30 years. She is currently in private practice in West Springfield, and has a special interest in couples and family treatment as well as trauma work. She has taught Introduction to Counseling at Elms for several years, utilizing an innovative in vivo method. Previously, Susan was a field instructor for Springfield College and the University Of Connecticut School Of Social Work.

Dr. Marcus is a clinical psychologist who worked as a psychotherapist/counselor in several university counseling centers including Northern Arizona University, Boston College (postdoctoral fellowship), and Western Connecticut State University. In 2004, he shifted his career focus to teaching. He taught for 10 years at the Borough of Manhattan Community College/City University of New York up until his arrival at Elms College in 2013. Dr. Marcus currently serves as the academic program coordinator for the accelerated bachelor’s degree programs in psychology at Mount Wachusett Community College and Holyoke Community College. His primary interests are in cross-cultural psychology and psychology and the arts. He wrote his doctoral dissertation on counseling Native American college students from the Navajo, Hopi, and Apache tribes. He has published one collection of poetry and his poems have appeared in more than 60 literary journals. In addition, he has won several poetry fellowships and grants. When not engaged with psychology or poetry, he prefers a peripatetic lifestyle and to date has traveled to nearly 100 country over the last 25 years.

Elizabeth Pitoniak is a trained social worker and psychotherapist who has considerable experience with the juvenile justice system, with a particular interest and experience in working with girls confined by court order to locked facilities.

Dr. Rivers is an experimental social psychologist with research interests in basic processes related to self-concept change, social influence (e.g., cognitive dissonance, and reactions to feedback about the self), and prejudice. She has worked for the School of Public Health at Saint Louis University conducting research on public response to emergency health directives related to bioterrorism events. Dr. Rivers teaches courses in research methods, statistics for the behavioral sciences, general psychology, and social psychology. She is also advisor to the Psychology Club.

Bob Sabato is a licensed marriage and family therapist who has been working with children and families for the past 30 years. Bob has worked in virtually all of the children’s clinical milieus, including inpatient, outpatient, and partial hospitalization. Bob currently serves as the clinical director of a therapeutic day school for children between the ages of 5 and 18. Bob has been an adjunct professor in the Psychology Department at Elms College for the past 10 years.