Professor to provide insight into the mind of Lincoln

The Messenger 02.22.10
Dr. Michelle Marks Merwin, University of Tennessee at Martin associate professor of psychology and recipient of the UT Martin 2009 Cunningham Award, will present “Lincoln’s Destiny and Will: The Writings of Rollo May Visible in the Life of the Great Emancipator” at 7:30 p.m. March 4, in Watkins Auditorium of the Boling University Center.
The presentation is free and open to the public.
“We welcome Dr. Mer-win, an accomplished psychologist, who will provide some insight into the mind of that most fascinating of presidents, Abraham Lincoln — most notably the question of whether Lincoln suffered from depression and how his sufferings may have contributed to his work in the presidency,” said Dr. Dan McDonough, UT Martin Honors Program director.
Dr. Merwin received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and a doctorate in clinical psychology from Michigan State University. She served as a National Institute of Health Research Post-doctoral Fellow at the University of Michigan before joining the UT Martin faculty in 1999.
In addition to her academic pursuits, Dr. Merwin has experience working in the psychological field, having served as a neuropsychological psychometrician in Colorado Springs and as a cognitive remediation therapist in both Colorado Springs and in East Lansing, Mich.
She is the author of numerous articles in such publications as the Teaching of Psychology, College Student Journal, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Journal of Personality Assessment, Journal of Personality Disorder and the Journal of Clinical Psychology. Her most recent work, “Lessons from an Existentialist: What Rollo May Taught Me about Power in the Classroom” will be published this spring in the Journal of Humanistic Psychology.
She has made presentations to numerous professional meetings including the American Psychological Association, Southeastern Psychological Association, American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the Annual Conference on Undergraduate Teaching of Psychology.
Dr. Merwin has also compiled a solid record of service, including her work as Department of Psychology interim chair from 2007-09 and a term as UT Martin Honors Council chair.
“I am honored to discuss two men whose work and intellect I admire most, Abraham Lincoln and psychologist Rollo May,” Dr. Merwin said. “Many of us are familiar with Lincoln as our 16th president, but few of us fully appreciate his lifelong struggle with depression. Even fewer know about his exertion of will to create meaning in his life. And perhaps none of us will fully comprehend how his confrontation of ‘destiny’ preserved his life and this nation’s life. I look forward to sharing Lincoln’s greatness made visible through the psychology of Rollo May.”
The event at UT Martin is co-sponsored by Hon-ors Programs and the Department of Behavioral Sciences.
For more information, contact McDonough at (731) 881-7436.

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