Dr. Anna Harper

Professional Experience

• Associate Professor of Psychology, Mount Vernon Nazarene University, 2022-present
• Department Chair, Southern Nazarene University, 2021-2022
• Associate Professor of Psychology, Southern Nazarene University, 2019-2022
• Assistant Professor of Psychology, Southern Nazarene University, 2015-2019
• Counseling Center Intern Therapist, Grand Valley State University, 2014-2015
• Adjunct Instructor, Grand Valley State University, 2014
• Adjunct Instructor, Owens Community College, 2014
• Therapist & Administrative Assistant, Psychological Services Center, Bowling Green State University, 2013-2014
• Counselor, Counseling Center at Bowling Green State University, 2012-2013
• Psychology Research Assistant, Bowling Green State University, 2010-2014

Professional Organizations

• Association for Contextual Behavioral Science, 2012-present
• APA Division 36, Society for the Psychology of Religion & Spirituality, 2011-present
• Wesleyan Theological Society, 2010-present
• American Psychological Association, 2007-present

Awards and Recognitions

• Dr. Wally Quanstrom Distinguished Faculty Scholar Award Grant, 2018-2019
• Psi Chi, International Honor Society in Psychology, 2011
• Alpha Chi, National College Honor Scholarship Society, 2009
• Phi Delta Lambda, National Honor Society of Nazarene Institutions, 2009

Published Works & Presentations

• *Siems, M. B., Gray, K., Castaneda, J., & Harper, A. R. (2022, April). Who keeps the
  score? Associations between attachment style and grace-giving. Poster presented at the Southwestern Psychological Association Annual Conference, Baton Rouge, LA.
• *Wilson, P., & Harper, A. R. (2022, April). Actions speak louder than words: Service
  practices and compassion toward strangers/humanity. Paper presented at the Southwestern Psychological Association Annual Conference, Baton Rouge, LA.
• *Brittain, M., Nunez, G., Gray, K., Siems, M., Wilson, P., Gomez, M., & Harper, A. R.
  (2021, April). Love’s shaping forces and defining features: A thematic analysis.
  Poster presented at the Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences Undergraduate Research Colloquium at Southern Nazarene University, Bethany, OK.
• *Knight, K., & Harper, A. R. (2021, April). The impact of a compassionate love writing intervention on state attachment to God. Poster presented at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, Virtual Conference.
• *Palmer, P., & Harper, A. R. (2020, February). Love knows some bounds: Lay
  conceptualizations of compassionate love in the United States and Costa Rica. Poster presented at the Annual Convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, New Orleans, LA.
• *Harper, A. R., & Palmer, M. (2019, October). Love and fear in the mortal body of believers: Existential tradeoffs of religious commitment and theological orientations for practices of compassionate love. Paper presented at the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Annual Conference, St. Louis, MO.
• *Marquis, M., Harper, A. R., & Wright, R.W. (2019, April). Two roads to love:
  Compassion through religious orientation and personality characteristics. Paper presented at the Southwestern Psychological Association Annual Conference, Albuquerque, NM.
• *Wing, S., & Harper, A. R. (2019, April). Compassionate frailty: Associations among emotional distress, personality, and compassionate love. Symposium paper presented in “The Wound is Where is the Light Exits: Human Frailties and Compassionate Love” at the Southwestern Psychological Association Annual Conference, Albuquerque, NM.
• Wright, R. W., Drabenstot, S., & Harper, A. R. (2018, August). Implications of terror
  management, moral modules, and attachment theory for clergy and congregants. Symposium paper presented in “Giving Psychology Away: Applying the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality in Faith Communities” at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, CA.
• *Harper, A. R., Wright, R. W., Jester, T., & Noah, E. (2017, August). Revisiting Freud
  and James: The psychological functioning of religious beliefs for coping, humility, and views of suffering. Symposium presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C.
• Hawley (Harper), A. R. & Pargament, K. (2015). Trauma, religion, and spirituality:
  Pathways to healing. In K. E. Cherry (Ed.), Traumatic stress and long-term recovery: Coping with disasters and other negative life events. Springer.
• Hawley (Harper), A. R., Mahoney, A., Pargament, K., & Gordon, A. K. (2015). Sexuality and spirituality as predictors of distress over a romantic breakup: Mediated and moderated pathways. Spirituality in Clinical Practice, 2, 145-159. doi: 10.1037/scp0000034
• Hawley (Harper), A. R., & Mahoney, A. (2013). Romantic breakup as a sacred loss and desecration among Christians at a state university. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 32, 245-260.

• Ph.D., Clinical Psychology Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, 2015
• Doctoral Internship Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan, 2015
• M.A., Clinical Psychology Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, 2012
• B.A., Psychology & Sociology, Mount Vernon Nazarene University, Mount Vernon, Ohio,
  2009