Brent Mallinckrodt to Transition from College of Humanities and Social Sciences Dean to Western Psychology Department Faculty

Brent Mallinckrodt, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS) at Western Washington University, will transition to serving as a faculty member in Western’s Department of Psychology, Provost Brent Carbajal announced today.

“I am very appreciative of Brent Mallinckrodt’s leadership in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences during his nearly two years of service as dean.  He has also played an important role in discussions at the university level on any number of topics and initiatives. That for personal and professional reasons he now chooses to take a faculty position in the Department of Psychology will be of benefit to our students, and I anticipate that he will remain an active member of our community on many levels,” Carbajal said.

Mallinckrodt will continue to serve as CHSS dean until the end of the current academic year. Carbajal will be appointing an interim dean in the coming months, and will announce further steps regarding dean recruitment at a later point in time.

Mallinckrodt has been CHSS dean since 2016. He succeeded former Dean LeaAnn Martin, who retired.

“I am very grateful for the opportunity to work with the superb staff in the CHSS college office, and with so many other outstanding, dedicated staff and faculty in CHSS. I look forward to contributing in new ways to Western as a member of the faculty,” Mallinckrodt said.

Prior to Western, Mallinckrodt was associate dean for Graduate Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences and a full professor of Psychology at the University of Tennessee

Mallinckrodt received a bachelor’s degree in political science and sociology from the University of Missouri and a doctorate in psychology from the University of Maryland.

He has served as director of graduate studies in the counseling psychology programs at the University of Oregon and University of Missouri before joining the UT Department of Psychology in 2007 to serve in the same role.

In 2005, he was named Graduate Faculty Mentor of the Year at the University of Missouri. In 2013, he was co-recipient of the UT Chancellor’s Honors award for excellence in graduate advising. He is a recipient of APA divisional awards for integrating science and practice, for mentoring international graduate students, and the 2011 Evelyn Hooker award for distinguished contributions to de-stigmatizing people with minority sexual orientations.

Mallinckrodt is a former editor of the “Journal of Counseling Psychology” and previously was a co-principal investigator (PI) on two National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) grants for social support in cancer survivors and a co-PI of a federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) grant for suicide prevention on the UT campus. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.