Ben Freer

Ben Freer

Director, Professor, School of Psychology and Counseling
Co-Founder, Center for Empathy Research and Training
School of Psychology and Counseling

Contact Information 

Office Location: 103 Williams Hall

Courses

• Research Methods (undergraduate)
• Cognitive Psychology (undergraduate)
• Teaching Seminar (graduate)
• Learning, Cognition, and Emotion (graduate)
• Biological Basis of Behavior (graduate)

Research

I am currently involved in four separate but related lines of research:

1) Examining factors related to attitudes about psychological distress, mental health services, and those who seek and/or utilize mental health services. This work specifically focuses on factors such as stigma, trauma, loss, and empathy  (collaboration with Dr. Stefanie Ulrich).

2) Examining the construct of empathy and effective practices in empathy training, focusing on long-term organizational change to a common language and culture of empathy (collaboration with Dr. Steven Dranoff).

3) Examining higher-order cognition, with a special interest in the relationship between attention, inhibition, and working memory.

Education

• BS, Valparaiso University
• MA, University of Kentucky
• PhD, University of Kentucky

Academic Profile

I am the Director of the School of Psychology and Counseling and have served as the Director since the Summer of 2020. I joined the faculty in the Fall of 2011.

As co-founder of FDU’s Center for Empathy Research and Training (CERT), I work within FDU as well as with external partners on the importance of empathy, promoting long-term institutional change that fosters communities of connected collaborators. External partners include hospitals and medical centers, religious organizations, community organizations, municipal governments, and many more.

I have represented FDU at the United Nations since 2013. In this role, I serve on the Executive Committee of the NGO Committee on the Family-New York. I organize trips to the United Nations for our students for International Days and Commissions. I regularly attend the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), Commission for Social Development (CSocD), Psychology Day at the UN, and International Day of the Family.