WKU Professor Elected President Of Political Psychology Society

May 12, 2008

Bowling Green, Ky. - Dr. Sam McFarland, Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Psychology at Western Kentucky University, has been elected president of the International Society of Political Psychology.

Dr. McFarland will be president-elect for 2008-09; president for 2009-10; and past-president in 2010-11.

“I am sincerely honored by my election to become president of ISPP,” Dr. McFarland said. “The society’s task is to promote excellent and useful scholarship in political psychology, and my role as president will be to help strengthen our ability to do so. I look forward to the work with great joy.”

The ISPP is an inter-disciplinary organization of scholars from more than 50 nations. ISPP members study all forms of human political behavior: intergroup conflict and violence, public opinion and voting, the decision making of political leaders, the development of democracy and human rights and more.

The society, founded in 1977, holds an annual scientific meeting and publishes the journal, Political Psychology.

Another psychology professor, Dr. Bill Pfohl, is the current president of the International School Psychology Association.

“I doubt that there are many psychology departments in the country that can boast of having two faculty members serving as presidents of international professional organizations,” Department Head Steve Haggbloom said. “This says a lot about the quality of our faculty and our international reach.”

More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For more information, contact Dr. Sam McFarland, (270) 745-4408.