Meet our Distinguished Alumni

Dr. Leona Aiken, ASU President's Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University, is internationally known for her research in applied statistics and health psychology. Having received her Ph.D. from Purdue in Quantitative Psychology, she is co-author of one of the most cited statistics textbooks, Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions. Besides being a distinguished scholar and prolific writer, Dr. Aiken is a highly treasured professor as her awards attest: ASU Professor of the Year (2010); Outstanding Graduate Mentor award (2009); the Distinguished Teaching/Mentoring award (Division 5, Evaluation, Measurement, Statistics, of the American Psychological Association, Inaugural Award, 2001); College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Distinguished Teaching award (2000); and ASU Alumni Association Excellence in Teaching award (1997).

Dr. Kelly D. Brownell is internationally recognized for his expertise on eating disorders, obesity and body weight regulation and is credited with coining the phrase "yo-yo dieting." Dr. Brownell earned a BS degree in psychology from Purdue in 1973. He is currently Dean and Professor of Public Policy at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.

Dr. William C. Byham, cofounder, chairman, and CEO of Development Dimensions International, received his Ph.D. from Purdue University. He pioneered human resource technologies including the assessment center method, behavior-based interviewing and behavioral job analysis methodology. He is the co-author of the best-selling book, Zapp!, which was named the number one business book of the decade for 1990-2000.

Dr. Antonio Cepeda-Benito was recently appointed dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Vermont. Dr. Cepeda-Benito earned his MS and Ph.D. degrees in psychology at Purdue. He received numerous awards while at Texas A&M including Psychology Teacher of the Year and was named as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Hispanics.

Patrick H. DeLeon, who received his MS in 1966 and his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in 1969 from Purdue, retired after 38 years serving as Senator Daniel Inouye's chief of staff. During his tenure, he worked extensively for public policy advocacy in the healthcare field, specifically in psychology and nursing. He is a past president of APA (pdf).

Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, who received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in 2000 from Purdue and is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine, currently serves as Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. In May 2014, Dr. Delphin-Rittmon completed a two-year White House appointment working as a Senior Advisor to the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. While at SAMHSA, she worked on a range of policy initiatives addressing behavioral health equity, workforce development, and healthcare reform.Her professional and research interests have included system-level strategic planning and policy development geared towards eliminating health disparities and promoting recovery oriented care; and individual, organizational, and system level cultural competence including training, program design and evaluation.

Dr. Annette M. La Greca was named 2013 Distinguished Women Scholars. She received her Ph.D in Clinical Psychology from Purdue in 1978 and is now Director of Clinical Training at the University of Miami. Dr. La Greca was recently selected as President-elect of APA DIvision 12: Society of Clinical Psychology.

Brenda N. Major is the author of more than 100 articles and book chapters on coping, stigma, self-esteem and intergroup relations. Dr. Major received an MA degree from Miami University in 1975 and a Ph.D. in social psychology from Purdue in 1978. She is a distinguished professor in the Department of Psychology, University of California-Santa Barbara.

Dr. Michael C. Roberts has made major contributions to research and practice on children’s physical and mental health, psychotherapeutic outcomes and program evaluation, and the professional training of psychologists. The author or co-author of over 200 scientific journal articles and book chapters, and the author or co-editor of 19 books, Dr. Roberts has served as the editor-in-chief of scholarly journals in pediatric psychology, in children’s healthcare, and in professional psychology, and has won numerous awards for his national service to the field. Dr. Roberts earned his Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Purdue in 1978, and is Professor of Clinical Child Psychology at the University of Kansas.

Dr. William Shadish is Professor and Founding Faculty member at the University of California, Merced. His research and expertise cover a wide range of topics in the field of psychological experimentation, analysis and evaluation. Shadish is the author of several leading psychology books and more than 100 articles, book chapters, scientific papers and other published materials. He is a widely recognized authority on experimentation and social-science methodology – devising testing techniques that yield reliable results. He is editor, associate editor or past editor of numerous psychology publications and the recipient of more than half a dozen distinguished awards and honors in his field. Dr. Shadish received his M.S. and Ph. D. degrees in clinical psychology from Purdue.

Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger is an American airline transport pilot, safety expert, and accident investigator. Sullenberger gained fame in January of 2009 when he safely landed a commercial airliner on the Hudson River in New York and saved the lives of 155 passengers and crew. He earned a BS degree from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1973. Sullenberger also earned his MS degree in industrial psychology from Purdue in 1975 and received an MS degree in public administration from the University of Northern Colorado in 1979. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate degree from Purdue in 2011.

George C. Thornton III who is a Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychology, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO, received his Ph.D. in Industrial Psychology in 1966 from Purdue University.