Arlene Rankin, Ph.D.

Professor of Psychology

Professor Emeritus

508-767-7551 Kennedy Memorial Hall - Room 209

Degrees Earned

B.A., McMaster University; Psychology, 1963
Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley; Social Psychology, 1969
Ph.D. Thesis Title: “Behavior in the presence of an audience: the effects of perceived impression formation”

Undergraduate Courses Taught

Social Psychology
Research Methods in Psychology

Publications & Editorships

National Endowment for the Humanities “institutional” grant for interdisciplinary curricular development (#ED-20030) – Women’s Studies project, with Angela Dorenkamp, John McClymer, and Mary Moynihan. This grant led to the first course in Women’s Studies at Assumption College – Women’s Studies: Images , to two editions of an anthology in Women’s Studies still used in the Women’s Studies program -Images of Women in American Popular Culture, and to the establishment of the Women’s Studies program at the college.

Vadum, A. and Rankin, N. (1998) Study Guide for Use with Psychological Research: Methods for Discovery and Validation. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Dorenkamp, Angela G., John F. McClymer, Mary M. Moynihan and Arlene C. Vadum (Eds.). Images of Women in American Popular Culture, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, San Diego: 1985; 2nd edition, 1995.

Dorenkamp, Angela G., John F. McClymer, Mary M. Moynihan and Arlene C. Vadum (Eds.). Images of Women in American Popular Culture, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, San Diego: 1985; 2nd edition, 1995.

Piliavin, Irving M., Vadum, A. C. and Hardyck, J. A., Delinquency, personal costs and parental treatment: A test of a reward-cost model of juvenile criminality. The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology and Police Science, 1969, 60, 165-172.

Piliavin, Irving M., Jane Allyn Hardyck, and Arlene C. Vadum, Constraining effects of personal costs on the transgressions of juveniles. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1968, 10, 227-231.

Piliavin, Irving M. and Arlene C. Vadum, Reducing discrepancies in professional and custodial perspectives. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, January, 1968, 35-43.

Presentations

Vadum, Arlene C., Re-imagining self with others: The transformative power of “as if” performances in everyday life. Presented at Narrative Matters 2014 Conference, Paris, France, June, 2014. 

Vadum, Arlene C. The power of performance: A Sullivanian analysis. Presented at the 13th annual European Congress of Psychology Conference, Stockholm, Sweden, July, 2013 

Vadum, Arlene C., Advice on reproduction and motherhood: An improvised performance of a 19th Century phrenology lecture for prospective mothers. Presented at Reproduction and Motherhood Conference, Toronto, CA, October, 2012. 

Vadum, Arlene C., Performance and personal change: Using concepts from fixed role therapy to improve communication skills. Presented at 19th International Congress on Personal Construct Psychology, Boston, Massachusetts, July 20, 2011 

Vadum, Arlene C., Learning to mother ourselves: Nurturing the self through improvised role enactment. Presented at Mothering and Motherhood in the 21st Century: Research and Activism, Lisbon, Portugal, February 19, 2011 

Vadum, Arlene C., Whewell’s philosophy of discovery and its application in qualitative research in the social sciences. Paper presented at the Third International Qualitative Research Conference, Universidad de Guanajuato, Departamento de Lenguas, May, 2010. 

Vadum, Arlene C., John Watson’s impact on advertising: An Internet archival project for teaching qualitative methods. Poster presented at International Conference on the Teaching of Psychology,Vancouver, CA, July, 2009. 

Edmonds, R., & Vadum, A., Improvising and re-visioning mother-child encounters. Association for Research on Mothering Conference: Performing Feminist Mothering, New York, May, 2008. 

Vadum, A., Power of performance workshop. Workshop presented at Performing the World 4, Tarrytown, NY, October, 2007. 

Vadum, A., Revising the presentation of self in everyday life: A class project. Paper presented at Society for the Study of Symbolic Interactionism National Convention. New York, August, 2007. 

Vadum, A., Managing Media Madness. Invited keynote speaker at Second Brown Bag Lunch seminar, Celebrating the Women’s Initiative of the United Way. Assumption College, November 15, 2006. 

Vadum, A., Invited keynote speaker: Induction ceremony for Psi Chi Honor Society, Assumption College, November, 2006. 

Vadum, A., The transformative power of performance: A Sullivanian analysis. Accepted for presentation at 13th European Conference on Personality. Athens, Summer, 2006. Could not attend. 

Vadum, A., Character visualization/role enactment as a strategy for behavior change. Poster presented at Association for Research in Personality Annual Meeting, Palm Springs, CA, January, 2006. 

Vadum, A., Performance as a vehicle for personal change. Presentation at Performing the World 3: The performance of creativity and the creativity of performance. Tarrytown, NY, October, 2004.

Grants and Awards

Won competition among faculty for fully funded one-year Sabbatical from Assumption College. 1991-1992.

National Endowment for the Humanities “institutional” grant for interdisciplinary curricular development (#ED-20030) – Women’s Studies project, with Angela Dorenkamp, John McClymer, and Mary Moynihan. This grant led to the first course in Women’s Studies at Assumption College – Women’s Studies: Images , to two editions of an anthology in Women’s Studies still used in the Women’s Studies program -Images of Women in American Popular Culture, and to the establishment of the Women’s Studies program at the college. 1981 – 1983.

Professional Affiliations

Worcester Women’s History Project (WWHP) Subcommittee on Oral History 

Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (MIRCI)