Psychology

Martha S. Zlokovich, PhD studied Psychology and German her freshman and sophomore years at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, earned her BA in Psychology at UCLA, and her MS and PhD in Developmental Psychology at the University of Florida. The first half of her career she was a faculty member at Southeast Missouri State University. The second half of her career she served as Executive Director of Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology.

At Southeast Missouri State University, she started teaching ABD (all but dissertation) and ended as tenured full professor and Psychology Department Chair. Martha taught Child Development, Adolescent Development, Lifespan Development, Advanced Child Psychology, and Introductory Psychology for Majors. She also served as Chair of the Psychology Department, Interim Director of the Center for Scholarship in Teaching and Learning, and Chair of Faculty Senate.

Martha joined Psi Chi staff in 2008 as its second Executive Director, leaving Southeast Missouri State University after teaching there for 17 years. This move, however, was not her first involvement with Psi Chi. She served as chapter advisor since 1993, as Midwestern Region Vice-President (1998-2000), and as National President of Psi Chi (2003-04). In 1996, Southeast’s Chapter won the Ruth Hubbard Cousins National Chapter of the Year Award, and several chapter members won Psi Chi Regional Research Awards at MPA and/or had their research published in the Psi Chi journal. As Executive Director, Martha oversaw the addition of 32 international chapters located at universities in 19 countries outside the 50 US states and the addition of Psi Chi’s first Society-level fundraising activities.

Her research interests have focused on student study habits, study beliefs, and persistence to graduation as well as adolescent and young adult contraception and sexuality. More recently, she helped establish Psi Chi’s Network for International Collaborative Exchange (NICE), an annual, crowd-sourced, global research project. Each year the NICE Committee selects one research project for global data collection and invites psychology students and faculty at any university across the globe to participate in data collection. In 2023, researchers translated measures into 17 languages and collected data in 32 countries outside the US 50 states.

Martha has also served in several board leadership positions, including board member and President of Association of College Honor Societies, Division 52 International Psychology (Treasurer 2017-2023 and President-Elect 2024), Faculty Senate at Southeast Missouri State University, Psi Chi, Society for Psychologists in Leadership, Cape Girardeau Public Schools Board of Education, and Cape Girardeau Public Schools Foundation Board. She also served as Member-at-Large on the Southwestern Psychological Association Board of Directors.