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Sarah Henseler, Ph.D. Associate Professor and Coordinator of Psychology, New College St. Edward's University New College 3001 South Congress Avenue CM 843 Austin, TX 78704 Office Location: 304 Holy Cross Hall Phone: (512) 428-1346 Fax: (512) 448-8669 EDUCATION: B.A., Hope College, 1976 M. Div., Princeton Theological Seminary, 1982 M.A., Hunter College, City University of New York, 1995 Ph.D., The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York, 1999

Asked about her interests, Sarah Henseler is likely to name at least these two:  teaching and human development.   After graduating with an English major from Hope College in Holland, Michigan, she moved to Tokyo to teach English to elementary school students at a Japanese girls’ school.  That experience sparked a lifelong interest in teaching and in child development.   Later, counseling and teaching children, adolescents, and adults in Protestant congregations confirmed her growing conviction that development continued, in ways equally fascinating and significant, throughout the adult years.  The opportunity to teach traditional and non-traditional adult students in colleges and universities in New York City and in the Austin area further strengthened her commitment to adult development through the vocation of teaching. 

Sarah Henseler’s Ph.D. work at the City University of New York focused on the cognitive development of young children, ages 3 ½ to 5.  Despite the fun of using finger puppets to research children’s thinking, she has since expanded the age range of those whose development she studies.  In addition to child development, her current research interests include learning and cognitive development in adulthood and developmental issues in the psychology of religion.   She is fascinated by questions of how development (cognitive, emotional, social, and spiritual) is prompted by exposure to worldviews that are different from our own.  It is these questions, and others that adult students bring from their own life experience, that are the focus of her collaboration with students in the classroom and in research projects beyond the classroom.   For further information on Sarah Henseler’s courses and collaborative research, click here.

Sarah Henseler regularly teaches the following courses:

  A sample of collaborative research projects: 

     Yarbrough, J.* & Henseler, S. (2007, April).  Mutuality with mothers and peers:  Are they related?  Poster session presented at the annual meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, Fort Worth, TX.

     Hobbs, K. * & Henseler, S. (2007, April).  Parental stress among working parents:
Does child’s age matter?  Poster session presented at the annual meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, Fort Worth, TX.

     Henseler, S. (October, 2006).  Work hours, anxiety, and academic self-efficacy:
Relationships and recommendations.  Presented at the annual meeting of the Adult Higher Education Alliance, Dallas, TX.

     Henseler, S., & Cajas, E.* (April, 2006).  Coping and culture: A comparison of the coping strategies of recent Cuban immigrants and native-born Americans in central Texas.  Poster session presented at the annual meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, Austin, TX. 
 
      Henseler, S., & Just, H. (April, 2006).  Non-traditional vs. traditional age college students:
Characteristics of successful learners.  Poster session presented at the annual meeting of the
Southwestern Psychological Association, Austin, TX.

     Owens, J.,* & Henseler, S. (April, 2006).  Ethnic identity and resiliency: A comparison of
relationships across ethnic groups. Poster session presented at the annual meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, Austin, TX. 

     Henseler, S., & Just, H. (March, 2005).  Motivation for service and motivation for life goal
selection:  Are they the same?  Poster session presented at the annual meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, Memphis, TN. 

*  indicates student presenter