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melissa muller headshot
melissa muller headshot

Dr. Melissa Muller

Professor of Psychology

At Mount Union, students are our number one priority. This is evident in how our classes are set up, in how we mentor our students, both within and outside our majors, and in how we show up for our students outside the classroom.

Education

Ph.D., Biopsychology, Kent State University 
M.A., Experimental Psychology, Kent State University 
B.S., Psychology, California Lutheran University 

Hometown

Ventura, California

Career 

I chose this profession because it combined my interests in teaching and animal cognition. By far, my favorite part of my job is teaching. I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I was in grad school, and I was able to teach a lab section for a Learning and Conditioning course at Kent State. Although I taught larger lecture sections as well, I really enjoyed teaching the lab sections because they were small, and activity based. I knew a small school like Mount Union would permit me to teach using interactive pedagogy and allow me to get to know my students on a more personal level. 

 

Students Being a Priority 

At Mount Union, students are our number one priority. This is evident in how our classes are set up, in how we mentor our students, both within and outside our majors, and in how we show up for our students outside the classroom. You will find professors attending sporting, theater, musical, and other events that our students participate in. I think that's really special and shows how much we care about our students. 

 

Favorite Part of the Job 

My favorite class to teach is Learning & Conditioning. In this class, my students train dogs to use agility equipment over the course of the 16-week semester. My students use positive reinforcement to train their dogs to jump over hurdles and through hoops, and to run through tunnels and weave bars. Seeing my students successfully train an animal to perform a novel behavior makes me so happy! 

 

Unique Program 

We have a really unique research methods/senior capstone experience that prepares psych, neuro, and human development majors for graduate school. Since most of our students are interested in working in the mental health field, preparation for graduate work is essential for their future career goals. We pride ourselves on delivering a rigorous research experience at the undergraduate level. 

  • Muller, M. D. & Fountain, S. B. (2016). Concurrent cognitive processes in rat serial pattern learning: Ii. Discrimination learning, rule learning, chunk length, and multiple‐item memories. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, Vol 105(1), Jan, 2016. pp. 155-175.
  • Muller, M. D. & Fountain, S. B. (2010). Concurrent cognitive processes in rat serial pattern learning: Item memory, serial position, and pattern structure. Learning and Motivation.
  • Fountain, S. B., Rowan, J. D., Muller, M. D., Kundey, S. M. A., Pickens, L. R. G., & Doyle, K. E. (2012). The organization of sequential behavior: Conditioning, memory, and abstraction. In T. R. Zentall and E. A. Wasserman (Eds.), Handbook of Comparative Cognition (pp. 594-614). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Fountain, S.B., Rowan, J.D., Muller, M.D., Smith, D.P.A, Chenoweth, A.M., & Wallace, D.G. (2006). Sequence production paradigms for exploring the organization of sequential behavior. In M.J. Anderson (Ed.), Tasks and Techniques: A Sampling of Methodologies for the Investigation of Animal Learning, Behavior, and Cognition. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers.