Faculty Spotlight

Dr. Aletha Marie Harven is an Associate Professor of Psychology and a Co-PI on our CIENCIA Program here at California State University Stanislaus. Dr. Harven holds a Ph.D. in Education from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), a Master of Arts degree in Education and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Child Development from the California State University, Sacramento (CSUS), and an Associate of Arts degree in Liberal Studies from American River College in Sacramento, California. Dr. Harven’s areas of expertise include K-12 education; diversity, equity and inclusion; social justice teaching; risk and resilience; psychosocial adjustment; and academic functioning including motivation and achievement. Her research program has a social justice focus and explores the protective nature of psychological and social environmental factors on the relation between school-related risk factors and student adjustment. Dr. Harven has received many prestigious grants and academic accolades for her outstanding work and has published in journals such as the Journal of Educational Research and the Journal of Science Education and Technology. She has also co-authored a book on careers in child and adolescent development, edited and contributed chapters to critical books on social justice instruction and education policy, and written policy reports for the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST). Dr. Harven’s international humanitarian work, as a teacher educator in impoverished communities, further demonstrates her dedication to increasing the success of our most vulnerable students. We're so happy to have Dr. Harven on our team!