Post-9/11: Psychological Implications from Societal and Clinical Perspectives

From a societal perspective based on psychological research and a clinical perspective based on work done with children, civilians, and military personnel post-9/11, Drs. Schmidt and Hershey will present on how the events on 9/11 and the subsequent media coverage have fostered the development of a new psychological manifestation of anxiety in children and adults today.

Brian Hershey, Ph.D.    

Adjunct Instructor of Psychology, Wilson College

After high school, Dr. Hershey joined the Marine Corps and was trained as a military police officer.  Assigned to the Marine unit responsible for the security of the President of the United States Helicopter Squadron.  He worked as a police officer during which time he obtained both undergraduate and graduate degrees.  Dr. Hershey later left police work to pursue his PhD in Counseling Psychology at West Virginia University.  Upon completion of degree, he became a Navy psychologist and served in various locations, including as the first psychologist assigned to an aircraft carrier (USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN).  He completed his post doctorate in child psychology and was assigned to the early intervention program for children of military families in Japan but was called back to serve with the 2nd Marine Division as an embedded psychologist with combat troops serving in the Iraq war.  This two year tour turned into a five year tour, after which Dr. Hershey retired from the Navy.  He has since worked in outpatient clinics and subsequently received additional training in geriatric psychology.  

Steven Schmidt, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Psychology, Wilson College

Diagnosed with leukemia in 1997, Dr. Schmidt underwent a bone marrow transplant two years later which was a transforming life event.  During his recovery, Steven resigned from his 15 year career in information technologies and focused on completing his associate of science degree.  Named one of the top 20 community college student in the U.S. and selected as a Jack Kent Cooke Scholar, Dr. Schmidt went on to complete his undergraduate studies at Trinity College and obtained his master and doctorate degrees from the University of Connecticut in 2013.  He joined the Wilson College faculty later that year.  Dr. Schmidt’s personal experiences as a cancer survivor fostered his research agenda on coping, growth, and meaning-making following traumatic events.  He is also interested in studying the processes by which cognitive dissonance influence the maintenance of attitudes and behaviors from a social psychological perspective.  In addition to these research endeavors, he also conducts, in collaboration with Student Development, the annual campus climate studies on sexual assault and misconduct.