About the Program: The science and practice of psychology have impacted our lives in lasting and meaningful ways. So many aspects of our world—the design of our cellphones, the training of pilots, how we work, how we diagnose and treat mental illness, how we parent our children—have all been shaped by psychological science and practice. Dr. Faye will explore this impact through stories from the Center’s Archives of the History of American Psychology and National Museum of Psychology. As 2025 marks 60 years since the founding of the Center’s Archives, she will also reflect on how this world class collection and museum came to be established right here in Akron, Ohio.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Cathy Faye is the Margaret Clark Morgan Executive Director of the Drs. Nicholas and Dorothy Cummings Center for the History of Psychology at The University of Akron. She is Center’s third Director and the first woman to hold this role. She is also an Associate Professor of Research in The University of Akron’s Department of Psychology.
Dr. Faye is a historian of psychology and the human sciences and her work is rooted in the belief that historical understanding is an essential and powerful part of our human experience. She is committed to mobilizing historical stories in ways that encourage us to explore our shared humanity and expand our view of our world, ourselves, and each other.
She has continuously enacted these values in her daily work at the Center through public programming, exhibits, academic research and teaching, and mentorship. In 2016, she collaborated with the American Psychological Association, the Smithsonian Institution, York University, and the White House Council on Women and Girls to curate and launch an exhibit that celebrates the contributions of women of color in psychology. The exhibit, titled I Am Psyched! Inspiring Histories, Inspiring Lives, has traveled to more than 35 sites across the United States.
In 2018, she led the content development and curation of the Center’s new National Museum of Psychology. The Museum is the first of its kind in the world focused on sharing the history of psychology as a science, a profession, and an agent of social change. The museum, with a collection of 1500 objects and 6,500 linear feet of documents, invites visitors to explore the many ways that psychology shapes and is shaped by our everyday world.
Dr. Faye hails from a small rural Canadian community in Saskatchewan. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and English from The University of Regina in her home province. She went on to complete her Ph.D. in Psychology at York University in Toronto, Ontario. She made Akron her home in 2009, relocating to become the Assistant Director at the Cummings Center. Dr. Faye has served as Executive Director since 2020. In her spare time, you will generally find her reading a good piece of fiction or running, hiking, biking, and swimming her way through all of the great outdoor spaces that Northeast Ohio has to offer.