Psychological Sciences Faculty and Staff

Working in an applied discipline, I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to serve on many occasions as both an internal consultant to WKU and as an external consultant to a number of organizations across the country. Whenever feasible, I include I/O graduate students in these applied research projects. These experiences typically result in written documentation in the form of a technical research report or publication. Applied problems encountered in service experiences frequently provide the impetus for basic research studies, thus contributing to the range of applied topics addressed by my research and providing a sound empirical basis for my applied work. Most recently, my research has focused on:

• Legal issues including cognitive ability testing court decisions, physical ability testing court decisions, and factors driving perceptions of sexual harassment in jury trials.
• Program evaluation for entities such as the Kentucky Family Court System, the Housing Authority After School Program, and the Warren County School Board Alternative to Suspension Program.
• The development of a performance appraisal system for the 600+ congregations and pastors of the Kentucky Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Other current research efforts focus on:

• Faculty Pregnancy Leave Practices
• Perceptions of fairness and deterrence to future misconduct of intercollegiate sport team disciplinary decisions.

• PSYS 581 - Professional Issues/Ethics
• PSYS 572 - Organizational Psychology
• PSYS 592 - Internship
• PSYS 599 - Thesis Research
• PSYS 670 - Equal Employment Opportunity, the Law, and Ethical Considerations
• PSYS 673 - Advanced Training in Business and Industry
• LEAD 500 - Introduction to Leadership Studies
• EDLD 720 - Indivdual and Group Issues in Leadership

While at Western, I have taught 11 different content courses and supervised five different types of experiential courses (e.g., thesis, internship, practicum). My teaching responsibilities for the past nine years have been solely at the graduate level in the Industrial/Organizational Psychology graduate program and in Leadership Studies. In these classes, I emphasize first the acquisition of knowledge of both theory and principle and then their sound application in organizational settings.

• "Psychology: Shoenfelt receives Distinguished Teaching Contributions Award" (WKU News; April 2013)
• "Shoenfelt begins role as president of Association for Applied Sport" (WKU News; November 2023)