Professor Samantha Mattheiss is wrapping up her first semester as an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Felician University. Her courses include Bio Psychology, Introduction to Psychology, Child Development, and Writing and Reading in Psychology. “Psychology has been my passion since high school, and I love to inspire students to understand the human person in greater depth,” says Dr. Mattheiss.   

Before coming to Felician, Dr. Mattheiss taught a masters course in the Psychology department at Seton Hall University, as well as a graduate course in the Department of Professional Psychology and Family therapy and served as a teacher assistant at Rutgers University- Newark.   

Having grown up in a diverse neighborhood in South Orange, NJ, Prof. Mattheiss says she especially loves teaching at Felician University because of the diversity of its student population. “I appreciate and recognize the beauty of diversity and enjoy working with the students here, and I notice much resilience in these students, which I love.” Dr. Mattheiss says she learned both the value of learning from all people and seeing the beauty in diverse cultures, languages, and religions from her parents. As a Roman Catholic, she loves examining and reflecting on the intersection of the Catholic faith and psychology and neuroscience and finds it exciting when she sees “that overlap between the teachings of the Catholic Church and psychological practices.”     

Dr. Mattheiss received her doctoral degree in Psychology with a concentration in Neuroscience from Rutgers University- Newark. She completed post-doctoral training in a clinical lab at Rowan University.   

After earning her PhD, Dr. Mattheiss served as a lay Salesian Missionary in an orphanage in Bolivia, an experience she says strengthened both her faith and interest in psychology. “I tell my students all the time – make observations, then go out into the world, travel as much as you can, and I also tell them about service opportunities where they can be involved both locally and globally.”   

Prof. Mattheiss looks forward to developing a course in positive psychology that she says would “look at how to increase happiness among the general and clinical population with practices such as meditation, mindfulness, and gratitude.”