Faculty

Shanyn Aysta, Psy.D.

Counseling Lecturer
Shanyn.Aysta@nsc.nevada.edu

No biography submitted.

Erika Beck, Ph.D.

Dean, School of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Associate Professor of Psychology
Location: Dawson Building, Office 204
Phone: (702) 992-2634
Erika.Beck@nsc.nevada.edu

Dr. Erika Beck currently serves the Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences as well as an Associate Professor of Psychology at Nevada State College. She received a B.A. in psychology from the University of California at San Diego and an M.A. in psychology at San Diego State University. She completed a Ph.D. in experimental psychology at the University of California at San Diego, where she remained as faculty fellow until joining us as a founding faculty member at Nevada State College. Dr. Beck has a broad background in psychology, including research in the areas of developmental psychopathology, social psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. Her favorite classes to teach include Drugs and Addiction, Human Sexuality, Social Psychology, and the Psychology of Emotion.

Dr. Beck discovered her passion for teaching early in her career and dedicated herself to creating a dynamic and interesting class experience for her students. Dr. Beck keeps a passion for learning alive in her classes and works to awaken the students’ natural desire to question, challenge, and investigate. Her experience as a teacher has led her to appreciate how class diversity enhances the learning experience. Each student is encouraged to contribute his/her unique perspective to class discussions. The open discussion of these different perspectives helps students appreciate the ways in which culture and experience shape human behavior.

Myron Burns, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Counseling
Location: Dawson Building, 120
Phone: (702) 992-2641
Myron.Burns@nsc.nevada.edu

Born in Vero Beach, FL and raised in South FL, Myron Burns received a B.S. in Human Development from Howard University in Washington, DC, and a M.S., and Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Tennessee State University in Nashville, TN. He has taught psychology and research courses at the University of Miami, Florida Memorial College, Florida International University, and Tennessee State University. Dr. Burns has six years of counseling and psychological assessment experience with the adult and child population, as well as six years of experience supervising undergraduate, master, and doctoral students. He has worked with people from different races, cultures, economic backgrounds, and worldviews. His research currently focuses on HIV/AIDS; Minority health; and stress-process of health outcomes including individual, family, and ecological factors. He teaches a wide variety of courses at Nevada State College including Introduction to Human Services and Counseling; General Psychology; History of Psychology; and Personality. Dr. Burns enjoys working out, traveling, and is an avid sports fan. Fellow Miami Heat fans are always welcomed to talk Heat basketball.

Perry Hood, M. S.

Psychology Lecturer
Location: Dawson Building, 219
Phone: (702) 992-2643
Perry.Hood@nsc.nevada.edu

Perry Hood, M. S., was born and grew up in Connecticut, but moved to Maine upon completing his college studies. He obtained his BA in Psychology from The University of Michigan, did one year of graduate-level Clinical Psychology at Boston College, then two years in Mental Health Information at Syracuse University, followed by four years at Rutgers University, in Child Clinical and Developmental Psychology. A combination of fellowships and teaching assistantships helped pay for his seven years of graduate work. Perry completed his clinical internship in Maine, then spent three years working for rural community mental health centers in Maine and Arizona, during which he was a co-editor of the Rural Community Mental Health Newsletter. He has been working full-time in schools since the fall of 1975 (over 100 schools so far), and has been teaching college for about 35 years at both the undergraduate and graduate levels (live, over interactive television, and online). Recreational interests include marine history, sailing, soccer, mining, railroads, geology, and trying to stay cool in southern Nevada!

Tony Scinta, Ph.D.

Department Chair of Social Sciences
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Location: Dawson Building, Office 203
Phone: (702) 992-2626
Tony.Scinta@nsc.nevada.edu

Dr. Scinta was born in Buffalo, NY (motto: “I can’t feel my toes”) and earned an undergraduate degree in psychology at the University at Buffalo.  He then went to the University of California at Los Angeles to thaw his limbs and get a Ph.D. in social psychology (with a minor concentration in statistics).  It was in graduate school that he fell hopelessly in love with teaching.  His repertoire of classes includes social psychology, research methods, and automatic processes, but his favorite class is quite possibly statistics.  Like Mother Theresa, it may not look like much, but it has a lot to give.  On the other end of the spectrum, his research focuses on ways of measuring attitudes that cannot be assessed using traditional paper-and-pencil questionnaires, particularly in the domain of romantic relationships.  Major kiss-up points can be earned with him by talking about Star Wars, video games or sports.

Gwen Sharp, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Sociology
Location: Dawson Building, 120
Phone: (702) 992-2645
Gwen.Sharp@nsc.nevada.edu

Raised on a cattle ranch in Oklahoma, Gwen Sharp attended the University of Oklahoma for her undergraduate degree, receiving her B.A. in Sociology in 1997. She then entered the program in Sociology and Rural Sociology from the University of Wisconsin--Madison, receiving her Ph.D. in 2005. Beginning in 2005 she taught a broad range of sociology courses at Southern Utah University, in Cedar City, Utah, including Race and Ethnicity, Gender Studies, Sociology of Sport, Urban Sociology, and Introduction to Sociology and Social Problems. Fall 2007 is her first semester at NSC. Dr. Sharp's research interests include food systems (particularly the U.S. beef industry), racial identity, popular conceptions of the role of scientific research in the production of knowledge, and intimidation and harassment of social science researchers by research subjects. Her most recent publication, "The Safety Dance: Confronting Harassment, Intimidation, and Violence in the Field," co-authored with Emily Kremer, was published in Sociological Methodology in 2006. She is currently revising her dissertation, an investigation of the U.S. beef commodity chain, for publication. She enjoys riding horses, reading for pleasure instead of research, cooking, and playing with her dog, Corky.

Richard Yao, M.S.

Counseling Lecturer
Location: Dawson Building, Office 219
Phone: (702) 992-2632
Richard.Yao@nsc.nevada.edu

Professor Yao is originally from Woodstock, Illinois and attended Eastern Illinois University receiving his bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1993.  He continued at Eastern Illinois University and completed his master’s degree in clinical psychology in 1995.  Currently, he is completing his Ph.D. in clinical psychology with Fielding Graduate Institute, with a research emphasis on severely emotionally disturbed adolescents who are transitioning into the adult mental health system.

He moved to Las Vegas in 1995 and has been employed by Mojave Adult, Child, and Family Services for the past eleven years in a number of capacities.  He began as a group counselor in their adult day treatment program, before moving on to become the program coordinator of their children’s day treatment and after-school program in 1997.  In 1999, he became the clinical coordinator of Mojave’s young adult group counseling program, assisting youth who are transitioning from the children’s mental health system to the adult mental health system.

Prior to teaching at Nevada State College, he taught psychology for the Community College of Southern Nevada as adjunct faculty for nine years.  This is his third semester teaching at Nevada State College.  His personal interests include running, hiking, music and spending time with his family.

Edward Yesser, M.A.

Adjunct Sociology Instructor
Location: Dawson Building, Office 219
Phone: (702) 992-2633
Edward.Yesser@nsc.nevada.edu

Professor Yesser received his B.A. in sociology from the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and his M.A. in sociology from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.  He worked in management for the State of Michigan for 35 years, also teaching part-time at Wayne State University and at Oakland Community College.  He and his wife, Susan, moved to Henderson in 2004, and he taught part-time at the Community College of Southern Nevada for two years before joining Nevada State College.  One of Edward’s primary interests in sociology is how health status indicators vary by race and gender.  His objective in the classroom is to bring students into a dialogue from the sociological perspective, which means that he is very interested in what students have to say.