HDQM Alumna Spotlight: Carolyn McNamara Barry ('96)

back of someone at graduation in cap and gown lifting a right arm

Carolyn McNamara Barry is a 1996 alumna of the Human Development Ph.D. program, specializing in educational psychology, and 2019 alumna of the HERS Institute-Wellesley, a year-long higher education leadership development program for women. She is a Professor of Psychology at Loyola University in Baltimore, MD, and, as of July 1, 2019, also Associate Dean for Social Sciences and Graduate Programs.

Her duties include supervising six departments that offer degrees at the undergraduate level (Political Science, Sociology), both undergraduate and master’s levels (Communication, Speech Language Hearing Sciences); and undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral levels (Psychology); as well as the ROTC/Military Science department and over 85 full-time faculty, including clinical faculty based at the Loyola Clinical Centers. She assists with division/department/program visioning; strategic planning; supporting new initiatives, curricular management, including scheduling and staffing, faculty and staff hiring, development, evaluation, student learning program assessment, and adherence to university policies and procedures. She represents Loyola College, the Dean’s Office, and Academic Affairs at a range of administrative and governance meetings. Her recent university achievements include serving as Chair of the Psychology Department, Chair of the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, Chair of the Academic Senate, and Chair of the Faculty Affairs Committee.

In addition to her 2014 Oxford University Press co-edited volume entitled, Emerging Adults’ Religiousness and Spirituality: Meaning-Making in an Age of Transition with Mona Abo-Zena, she has published over 50 scholarly articles and book chapters.

As alumni of the Human Development & Quantitative Methodology department, the sky is the limit!