Dr. McNaughton-Cassill received her Ph.D. in 1991 from the University of California, San Diego- San Diego State University Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, with an emphasis on Behavioral Medicine. Her research involved Psychological and Psychoimmunological explorations of stress responses among elderly Alzheimer’s Disease Caregivers. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, Psychology with an emphasis on Physiological Psychology, where her research involved the study of glucocorticoid responses to stress in rats. She is currently an Associate Professor and the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Affairs for the College of Liberal and Fine Arts.
Dr. McNaughton-Cassill started teaching Psychology since 1984 as a Community College Instructor and an Adjunct Professor, and currently teaches Theories of Learning, Psychology and Health, Abnormal Psychology and Stress Management, Physiological Psychology, and team teaches an Honor’ Course on the Science and Psychology of Everyday Live. She also works with undergraduate and graduate students as a research mentor, and is the advisor for the Student Psychological Association and the Mortar Board Honor’s Society.
She has worked as a Clinical Psychologist with College Student Populations, with an Outpatient Schizophrenia Program and on a Spinal Cord Injury Unit, and with Nursing Home Populations. She has also led stress management groups and conducted research on the stress couple’s experience when undergoing In Vitro Fertilization treatment for Infertility.
Her current research interests include the evaluation of the interaction of stress including the news media and the technological characteristics of modern life with cognitive and personality factors to impact mental and physical health. She is also looking at the psychological impact of high stakes standardized testing on elementary school children and their families. She has received research funding from the Minority Biomedical Support program through NIH, M-RISP, and at UTSA.