Washington and Lee University, Cognitive and Behavioral Science Department

04/27/2026

I write with the unimaginably sad news that Professor Holly Shablack passed away on April 14th from colon cancer. Holly was in her fourth year at W&L and, simply put, was a rock star. Students and colleagues alike adored her. Our department was better because of her kindness and compassion. Holly leaves behind her husband of two years, Derek, and her 10 month old daughter, Lucy. If you'd like to help there is a gofundme to support the family, along with a CBSC memorial award in Holly's name (I'll put that information in the first comment).

Derek & Lucia Living Support A GoFundMe to help Derek and Lucia with eve… Derek Goodheart needs your support for help Derek and Lucia with everyday expenses.

02/09/2026

Once again we are working on putting together an annual department newsletter and would like to include an "Alumni Corner" where alums tell us what they are up to. So that we can include you in the newsletter, please email me ([email protected]) a 2 to 4 sentence description of cool career news (e.g., new job), family event (e.g., new spouse or child), and/or personal achievement (e.g., new hobby or adventure). Please send a high resolution photo with the short blurb. If you could get this to me by mid-March, that would be awesome. Thank you!

05/12/2025

Hello W&L Psychology/Cognitive & Behavioral Science Alumni! We are working on putting together an annual department newsletter and would like to include an "Alumni Corner" where alums tell us what they are up to. So that we can include you in the newsletter, please email me ([email protected]) a 2 to 4 sentence description of cool career news (e.g., new job), family event (e.g., new spouse or child), and/or personal achievement (e.g., new hobby or adventure). Please send a high resolution photo with the short blurb. If you could get this to me by the end of May, that would be awesome. Thank you!

04/14/2025

Thanks to our alumni panelists who shared their career paths today in our first (soon to be annual) CBSC Alumni Career Panel. About 45 students attended the panel, breakout sessions, and dinner. W&L has the best alums! Thanks to Graham Pergande, Sarah Otey, Randl Dent, Enuma Anekwe-Desince, Meredith Hardy, Rian Lewis, and Brodie Gregory!

08/19/2024

Anyone planning on coming back to W&L Young Alumni Weekend 2024? If yes, please comment below. We'd love to see you!

Young Alumni Weekend 2024 event page

02/25/2023

Senior CBSC students Hannah Puckett, Gabby Emge, and Carter Chandler present posters at the annual meeting of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology in Atlanta. And we had a guest visit from Enuma (‘22) who works at Emory!

11/16/2022

Congratulations to Tahri Phillips! Rhodes Scholar and CBSC major.

05/16/2019

Pictures from Bev's retirement party last night... Congratulations, Bev!

05/06/2019

Some pictures from the 2019 CBSC (formerly PSYC) Year-End Picnic.... Department Chair, Wythe Whiting, presents Allan Blenman with the Oliver Award and Hailey Glick with the Bona Voluntas Award!

05/06/2019

Hannah Witherell '20 presents her research findings from summer PSYC 253 at the Reid Conference at UVA