Kathleen Hughes, Ph.D.

Kathleen Hughes, Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology for Pasco-Hernando State College and serves as the Social and Behavioral Sciences Department Chair for Arts and Sciences. She is the Past-President for Psi Beta, the National Honor Society in Psychology for Community Colleges. Hughes was President of Psi Beta from 2015-2017 and Vice-President of the Southeast Region from 2010-2015. In 2012, she was awarded the NISOD Excellence Award. Hughes has worked in higher education for 15 years as both an administrator responsible for assessment, curriculum, and student success and as a faculty member, teaching both face-to-face and online classes. Her first career was in the area of human-computer interaction where she held titles such as usability specialist and director of user experience.

Dr. Hughes is determined to help students connect psychology to their everyday life, school, and work experiences. She is the coordinator for service learning experiences at her institution and was awarded a faculty chair award for the 2018-2019 academic year to develop collegewide resources to support faculty across disciplines infuse service learning in their courses.  Her focus is on mentoring students and providing them with ways to enhance their professional development skills through applied experiences, such as research and service projects.