Northern Illinois University
Department of Psychology
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Student Perspectives

The clinical faculty strives to create a supportive, close-knit environment. Hear from some of our current students about what they value most in the program.

Faculty

The following are the core clinical psychology faculty members you will work with closely. They serve on your thesis and dissertation committees, teach the core classes you take, and are often the first clinical supervisors in our in-house training clinic.

• Davielle (Davi) Lakind – New child clinical faculty starting in Fall 2025
  • Description of her background, research, and clinical interests
  • Dr. Lakind’s video
• Michelle Lilly – Understanding the effects of interpersonal trauma and duty-related trauma on mental health (e.g., PTSD, depression, somatization); cognitive and emotion regulation processes; mindfulness ( Trauma, Mental Health and Recovery Laboratory ).
  • Laboratory video
  • Trauma Focus video: “Favorite Things about the Trauma Focus”
• Holly Orcutt – Post-traumatic stress disorder; traumatic stress and its consequences; sexual risk-taking behavior; experiential avoidance; forgiveness; emotion regulation; fear physiology ( Research Lab for the Study of the Consequences of Trauma Exposure ).
  • Laboratory video
  • Alumni video
  • Student video
  • Trauma Focus video: “Favorite Things about the Trauma Focus”
• Laura Pittman – Developmental psychopathology; family process; extended family; parenting and co-parenting; economic and cultural diversity; children’s psychological response to natural disaster ( Families and Development in Context Lab ).
  • Laboratory video
• Elizabeth Shelleby – Developmental psychopathology, child disruptive behavior problems, preventive interventions, parenting practices, child emotion regulation, contextual influences (e.g., poverty, parental psychopathology).
  • Video from Professor Shelleby
  • More information can be found on Professor Shelleby's biography page .
• David Valentiner – Anxiety disorders; factors that impede or facilitate natural recovery following trauma and during exposure-based treatments for anxiety disorders; early identification and prevention of anxiety conditions, particularly social anxiety ( NIU Anxiety Disorders Research Lab ).
  • Valentiner Lab Overview 2025
  • Research interests for interviewees (February 2025) [PDF]
  • Student perspectives
  • Videos about Professor Valentiner’s research:
    • Valentiner lab interaction anxiety and interpersonal processes
    • Valentiner Lab OCD and trauma
    • Valentiner lab wellbeing mindset to increase hope and wellbeing
• Kevin Wu (not accepting new graduate students) – Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder; dimensional models of psychopathology; experimental psychopathology; personality; psychological assessment/measurement issues ( NIU Anxiety and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders Lab ).
  • Laboratory video