Dr. Michele Hirsch completed a B.A. degree with a double major in French Language and Literature and Psychology at SUNY Stony Brook. She continued her studies at Adelphi University where she graduated with an M.A. in Psychology: Behavioral Technology Specialty. She then returned to SUNY Stony Brook where she completed her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology.

Dr. Hirsch has served at St. Francis College since the fall of 1997. She is a tenured professor of psychology and she currently serves as the College’s founding Executive Director for Institutional Effectiveness & Accreditation. In addition, since 2011, she has been active in the role of Accreditation Liaison Officer (ALO) to the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Dr. Hirsch’s research interests lie in the area of health psychology, specifically pain, trauma, the mind/body connection, psychoneuroimmunology, and healing. Her most recent chapter, entitled “Health Psychology”, appears in Internationalizing the Teaching of Psychology (Information Age Publishing, 2017). She has published in the journals Pain and Clinical Infectious Diseases, and has presented at regional, national and international conferences. In addition to her own research, she enjoys mentoring and collaborating with students on their Honors thesis projects, their psychology thesis projects, and independent study research projects.

To round out her career history, in 2015, she was appointed as the founding Director of General Education when SFC rolled out a revamped program that was intentionally designed to be student learning outcome-driven. From 2015 through 2019, she served two consecutive terms as the elected Speaker for the Faculty Assembly. From 2011 to 2015, she served as the Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs. Prior to this, she served as the Department Chair for Psychology (2010-2011), and she was appointed as the first Director of Assessment for St. Francis College (2009-2011). She also served as the interim Associate Academic Dean during the 2005-2006 academic year. She is a former co-director of the St. Francis College Women’s Studies Minor and the founding Director of the Women’s Studies Center. She also served as a member of the Honors Council for many years.