Heather E. Macalister

AB, Smith College; MEd, State University of West Georgia; PhD, University of Georgia

Heather Macalister is a Life-Span Developmental Psychologist with interest in women’s psychosocial development in adolescence, young adulthood, and midlife. At Mary Baldwin she is Chair of the Psychology department, and teaches the developmental psychology sequence (Child Psych, Adolescent Psych, and Adulthood) as well as Psychology of Women and Introductory Psychology. She is a firm believer in women’s education and received her own Bachelor’s degree from Smith. Her Ph.D. is in Life-Span Developmental Psychology with a co-major in Women’s Studies. She also holds a Master’s degree in Career Counseling and initially pursued her Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. In addition to completing postdoctoral fellowships in teaching writing at Cornell and Duke, she has been teaching college psychology for 15 years, being part of Mary Baldwin’s Psychology Department since 2003.

Dr. Macalister grew up outside New York City and has lived in MA; NY state; Atlanta; Durham, NC and currently VA with her husband, also an academic psychologist, and their 7-year-old son, a 4-year-old daughter, and Jack Russell terrier, Georgia. She enjoys a variety of child-centered activities that she shares with her family: cooking, crafts, horseback riding, skiing, hiking, bike-riding, travel, “movie night,” and snuggling up with a good book.