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Department: Psychological Sciences

Mary Ann Watson

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Watson taught Psychology of Sexuality at Metropolitan State University of Denver since 1974. She is a professor emeritus of Psychological Sciences. 

Watson has published many papers throughout her academic career, including “SAMD: Diversity Division – My Journey,” “Female Circumcision from Africa to the Americas: Slavery to the Present” and “Bereavement in the Elderly.”

Watson has contributed to several documentaries, including, “Wearing Hijab: Uncovering the Myths of Islam in the United States” and “Africans in America: The Unfolding of Ethnic Identity.” Watson has won several Telly Awards which honor excellence in film and video productions. Watson also had a cameo role in “Combover: The Movie,” which screened at the Denver International Film Series in 2005.

Watson also maintains a private clinical and consulting psychology practice in Denver.

Randyl (Randi) Smith

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Randyl (Randi) Smith, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Her areas of expertise include professional ethics, service-learning, and human sexuality.

Smith is a licensed psychologist and a licensed clinical social worker. She has been working in the mental health field since 1987, providing services in a variety of settings ranging from inpatient psychiatric hospitalization to school-based counseling to home-based family therapy. Smith has her own private practice where she focuses on adult and adolescent treatment, and on marital/couples therapy. She is the chair of the Psychologist Examiner Board for the State of Colorado. Smith has worked with various community partners since she started teaching, including Colorado High School Charter, New Foundations Nonviolence Center, the Denver Rescue Mission, Urban Peak Denver, the Karis Community and CHARG.

Smith received her doctoral in counseling psychology from the University of Denver in 1999 after completing her doctoral internship at Denver General Hospital (now Denver Health Medical Center). She also received a master’s in social work from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s in human ecology from Cornell University.

Anna Ropp

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Anna Ropp teaches Introduction to Statistics for Social and Behavioral Sciences, Psychology of Group Prejudice and Multicultural Psychology.

Ropp has taught at Metropolitan State University Denver since 2010.

Her current research interests include students’ perception of the campus and classroom environment for LGBTQ individuals as well as individuals’ responses to discrimination. Ropp also is currently researching weight prejudice.

Aaron Richmond

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Aaron S. Richmond, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

With almost a decade of professional teaching experience, he has taught over a dozen different psychology and education courses. Richmond has garnered several awards for excellence in teaching and mentoring, including the Psi Chi Excellence in Teaching Award, the Psi Chi International Regional Faculty Advisor Award for the Rocky Mountain Region and the Society for Teaching of Psychology Jane S. Halonen Award for Excellence in Teaching. He is a member of several professional associations. Richmond served as the Vice President for Programming for the Society of the Teaching of Psychology and is past-president of the Northern Rocky Mountain Educational research association. He currently holds several positions on editorial boards including the journals Teaching of Psychology, Journal of Educational Psychology, and the Journal of Experimental Education.

In more than 70 peer reviewed journal articles, books, and book chapters Richmond has explored effective pedagogical approaches to instruction in both k-12 and higher education. He specifically investigates cognitive and elaborative processes, model teaching competencies, the efficacy of instructional strategies, and various other topics in the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Richmond received his doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Nevada-Reno in 2006, a master’s in applied cognitive psychology from Montana State University in 2002 and a bachelor’s in social sciences from University of Montana in 1999.

Harvey Milkman

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Harvey Milkman, Ph.D., is a psychology professor emeritus at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Dr. Milkman is currently the principal consultant for the US-Russia Peer-to-Peer program on working with at-risk youth.

From September 1992 – June 2002, he was author, principal investigator and director of Project Self-Discovery: Artistic Alternatives for At-Risk Youth, a national demonstration model funded by The Center for Substance Abuse Prevention and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. He was the recipient of a Fulbright-Hays Lectureship Award at the National University of Malaysia and has represented the United States Information Agency as a consultant and featured speaker in Australia, Brazil, Iceland, The Netherlands, Peru, Turkey and Yugoslavia. In July, 2016 in Moscow State University, Russia, he delivered master classes at on adolescent problem behaviors.

His coauthored book “Pathways to Self-Discovery and Change: Criminal Conduct and Substance Abuse Treatment for Adolescents” is the principal substance abuse/criminal conduct treatment curriculum used in residential correctional settings for juveniles throughout Oregon, Colorado, Texas and Montana.

Dr. Milkman is the author of numerous scholarly articles and books on the causes, consequences and treatment choices for the broad spectrum of addictive behaviors. His recent coauthored publications include: “Social Responsibility Therapy: A Cognitive-Behavioral Model for Treatment of Substance-Abusing Judicial Clients,” “Forensic CBT: A handbook for clinical practice,” “Pathways to Self-Discovery and Change: Criminal Conduct and Substance Abuse Treatment for Adolescents – Provider’s Guide and Participant’s Workbook” and many others.

Linda Lockwood

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Linda Lockwood, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Her areas of expertise include brain development, drug effects on the brain, neuropsychology, neuroscience, brain disorders and stress. She currently teaches Behavioral Neuroscience.

Lockwood has taught part time, temporarily and full time at MSU Denver since 1992. She also worked as a consultant for the Colorado Department of Education and briefly taught at the University of Colorado Denver. Lockwood has been presented with the Excellence in Teaching award from the Psi Chi National Honor Society-Metro Chapter. She also received the Honor Society Outstanding Faculty (Full-Time) award from the Golden Key Honor Society. Lockwood is a member of the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society and the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience.

She has published work in the Charter School Governing Board Training Handbook and the Charter School Best Practices Handbook for the Colorado Department of Education. Her other publications range in topics: psychology, child development, neuroscience and teaching. Her research is focused on instructional strategies to improve student learning while becoming a master teacher. Lockwood’s current research project is titled “Brain Training Impacts on Learning Skills.”

Lockwood received her doctorate and master’s in Behavioral Neuroscience from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1994 and 1992, respectively, and a bachelor’s in Psychology magna cum laude from MSU Denver in 1989. She holds a Quality Matters certificate from MSU Denver and a certification in Distance Education from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Bill C. Henry

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Bill Henry, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

Henry joined MSU Denver’s Department of Psychological Sciences as a full-time faculty member in 2002 and served as chair of then the Department of Psychology from 2008-2011. He has also served in many administrative positions on campus including associate vice president for faculty affairs, deputy provost and interim provost as well a number of campus committees. Prior to MSU Denver, Henry worked as a research associate at American Humane Association and as an assistant professor at Colby College.

He has co-authored several book chapters and published over 20 articles on his research. His research interests include human-animal interactions and factors leading to animal abuse.

Henry received his doctorate in experimental psychopathology from University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1993 and a bachelor’s in psychology from University of Maine, Orono in 1987.

Lisa Kindleberger Hagan

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Research focus on pedogogy within higher education, constructivism, and children’s risk taking.

Bethany Fleck Dillen

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Bethany Fleck Dillen is a professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver teaching courses in human development and psychology. Her teaching experience includes Introduction to Psychology, Developmental Educational Psychology, Statistics, Research Methods, Child Development, Developmental Research Methods, and Cognitive Growth and Development. In her courses, Fleck Dillen is committed to an active, learner-centered approach to teaching.

Her research centers on cognitive and social development in classroom contexts. Two distinct areas of work focus on issues in early childhood education and university classrooms. Both lines of research draw on developmental theory with the overall goal of enhancing the learning environment for students of all levels. Recently, she has been working on linking Documentation, an ECE teaching approach, with maternal reminiscing style. In the classroom, her research as of late focuses on the effects of service learning, flipped classrooms and integrating Social Media into teaching.

Fleck Dillen is also the director of regional conference programming for the Society for the Teaching of Psychology.

Cynthia Erickson

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Cynthia Erickson, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience in the department of psychology at Metropolitan State University of Denver. She teaches a range of topics ranging from social issues such as multicultural psychology to cellular and molecular neurobiology.

Over the years, Erickson has conducted research from coast-to-coast mainly focusing on the neurobiology of visual memory and perception. Most of her research involves studying how the brain changes with learning and subsequently how the aging process alters this ability. Along with MSU Denver undergraduates, Erickson is investigating the relationship between consumption of probiotics and age-associated cognitive impairments in humans. The research has significant implications for development of cost-effective memory aids for an aging population.

With an early passion for psychology, Erickson received her doctorate in Psychology and Neuroscience from University of Arizona, a masters in Psychology and Learning from Emporia State University, and a bachelor’s in Psychology, English and Biology from Nebraska Wesleyan University. She received an Excellence in Teaching Award from the Psi Chi Honorary in Psychology in 2013. Additionally, Erickson has published several articles on her research and expertise in psychology and neuroscience, and held numerous presentations at conventions and conferences.

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