Rate My Professor Whitney Whitaker

Dr. Whitney Whitaker serves as Department Chair and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Fort Hays State University. She earned her Ph.D. and M.S. in Social and Personality Psychology from Kansas State University, along with a B.A. in Psychology from Baylor University. In her role, she teaches a range of courses including PSY 340 Social Psychology, PSY 422 Psychology of Intimate Relationships, PSY 425 Personality, PSY 498 Experimental Psychology Lab, and PSY 850 Inferential Statistics. Her academic emphasis areas include Social-Cognitive Psychology at the undergraduate level and Experimental Psychology at the graduate level. Whitaker has been recognized for her contributions with several prestigious awards: the 2022 University Outstanding Scholarly Activity Award, the 2020 John Heinrich’s Outstanding Undergraduate Mentor Award, the 2020 University Outstanding Teaching Award, and the 2018 College of Health and Behavioral Sciences Outstanding Scholarship Award. She maintains an active research agenda focused on social psychology topics, mentoring numerous undergraduate and graduate students in research projects.

Whitaker's scholarly output includes peer-reviewed publications such as "Promoting Self-Reported and Behavioral Forgiveness" (2023, Psychological Reports) and "The Influence of Targeted Messages on Befriending" (2021, Psychological Reports). She has co-authored student-mentored works published in the Advances and Applied Learning Journal in Student Research, including "DARK TRIAD AND LIFE HISTORY STRATEGIES" (2024, with Jisook Park and Sydney Hicks), "Willingness to Seek Help" (2023, with Bobbie Juaneza), "Leader Member Exchange" (2019, with Carson C. Lopez), and "Mobile Mindfulness: Effectiveness of Brief Practices" (2020, with K.J. Haschke and Jordan A. Sparrow). Additionally, she serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Applied and Educational Research and has provided expert testimony before the Kansas Legislature as an Associate Professor and Department Chair. Her leadership in the department and commitment to student mentorship have significantly impacted the Psychology program at Fort Hays State University, fostering research opportunities through labs like the MARS Lab and contributing to public discourse on psychological topics such as mass shootings.