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Veronica completed her undergraduate training in psychology at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, where she wrote her senior thesis on self-efficacy among female engineering students. She then earned an MA and PhD in positive developmental psychology at Claremont Graduate University, studying strengths-based interventions for adolescents and community college students. After two years on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, she joined the faculty at Dominican in 2016.

Veronica's current research program centers on understanding how hope and well-being are developed in young people through their mentoring and developmental relationships. She teaches content courses in Child and Adolescent Development, Adulthood and Aging, and Positive Psychology, as well as one unit courses in Hope and Mentoring. She also enjoys teaching Statistics and supervising student senior thesis research in Directed Research I and II. 

Education

Claremont Graduate University, PhD, Positive Developmental Psychology

Claremont Graduate University, MA, Positive Developmental Psychology

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, BS, Psychology

Research Interests

Veronica’s research is at the intersection of positive psychology and adolescent development. She studies the role of mentors in helping young people transition to adulthood and develop the hope to achieve their goals. Her recent publications investigate the differences in the quality and availability of mentoring relationships for people from different social and cultural backgrounds in an attempt to better understand the complex factors that contribute to the equity gap in higher education.