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 Family Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Linguistic Studies, and Nordic Studies. She has 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.
Dana received her BA in Psychology from Smith College and her PhD in Child 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 a textbook on development from birth to age 3 (now in its 4th edition). Internationalizing the psychology curriculum is a major theme in Dana’s work, and she has co-authored and co-edited scholarly books about global learning, 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, since 2012, has led short-term psychology courses in India, China, and Norway. Most recently, in January 2023, 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)