Cynthia A. Berg
Dean, College of Social & Behavioral Science
Responsibilities
- Chairs & Directors
- Strategic Plan
- Retention, Promotion & Tenure (RPT)
- Sabbatical Leave Applications
- Sabbatical Reports
- Transformative Cluster Family Health Research (C-FAHR)
- Faculty Activity Reports (FAR)
- Budget
- Donor Relations
- Nominations for university and national awards
- Faculty Hiring (Tenure Track and Career Line)
- Advancement Board
- College Council
Biography
Cynthia A. Berg is the dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Science. Dr. Berg joined the University of Utah in 1986 as a professor of psychology. Previous appointments at the U include assistant and associate professor, director of graduate studies and chair of psychology. Dr. Berg completed doctoral training and earned two master’s degrees at Yale University all in developmental psychology. She earned a bachelor’s of psychology from the University of Washington.
Dr. Berg has published over 100 articles and book chapters. Her research, at the intersection of development and health psychology, examines how individuals cope with chronic illness (e.g., diabetes, cancer) within close relationships and family systems. Dr. Berg brings together collaborative and interdisciplinary research teams from psychology, pediatrics, medicine and the Huntsman Cancer Institute to approach these problems.
Dr. Berg’s work demonstrating that parental involvement is essential to good diabetes management across adolescence and emerging adulthood has been published in Diabetes Care, Journal of Pediatric Psychology, and Journal of Family Psychology. Her work with couples coping with cancer indicates that working together can boost cognitive performance, enhance satisfaction with the relationship and reduce psychosocial distress. These findings were published in Psychology and Aging and several gerontology journals. Dr. Berg’s research has been funded by NICHD, NIA, NIDDK and the Spencer Foundation.
As an administrator, Dr. Berg has developed initiatives improving graduate student mentorship, faculty development and undergraduate instruction. She has received numerous awards for her research and mentoring, including: 2006 U of U Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholar Distinguished Mentor Award; 2007 Master Mentor Award from the American Psychology Association; and the 2012 Irwin Altman Award for distinguished research, teaching, mentoring and service.
More details can be found at Dr. Berg's faculty page.