Dana Gross, Professor of Psychology and the (2021-2024) Paul and Mildred Hardy Distinguished Professor of Science, has been a member of the St. Olaf College faculty since 1988. She is affiliated with Applied Linguistics, Family Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Nordic Studies. She previously served as Coordinator of St. Olaf’s U.S. Student Fulbright Program and is a past director of the interdisciplinary individual majors program. As Associate Dean of Interdisciplinary and General Studies from 2013 to 2019, Dana worked closely with St. Olaf’s Office of International and Off-campus Studies. She was a member of the St. Olaf General Education Task Force from 2016 to 2019 and received a Melvin George Faculty Recognition Award in 2022-23.
Dana received her BA in Psychology from Smith College and her PhD in Developmental Psychology from the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota. She has co-authored and contributed to textbooks in developmental psychology and is sole author of Infancy: Development from Birth to Age 3 (now in its 4th edition).
Incorporating study abroad and global learning into the psychology curriculum is a major theme in Dana’s work, and she has co-authored and co-edited scholarly books on these topics, including Faculty as Global Learners: Off-Campus Study at Liberal Arts Colleges (2020, Lever Press). She has studied and traveled in China, India, Japan, and Norway; developed assignments to facilitate intercultural learning in her courses; and led short-term psychology courses in India, China, and Norway. Most recently, in January 2025, she led a study-abroad psychology course, Gender Equality in Norway.
Membership in Professional Associations:
American Psychological Association (APA)
Association for Psychological Science (APS)
The International Congress of Infant Studies (ICIS)
Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD)