Dr. Lindsey Root Luna of the Hope College psychology faculty has been presented the 53rd “Hope Outstanding Professor Educator” (H.O.P.E.) Award by the graduating Class of 2017.
The H.O.P.E. award, first given in 1965, is presented by the graduating class to the professor who they feel epitomizes the best qualities of the Hope College educator. Root Luna was named the recipient during the college’s Commencement ceremony, held at the Ray and Sue Smith Stadium on Sunday, May 7.
Root Luna is an assistant professor of psychology who is also a 2003 Hope graduate. She returned to the college as a faculty member in 2012 with a desire to engage intentionally in faith integration and grow her research program in virtues and emotion regulation.
Her teaching responsibilities include Introduction to Psychology, Research Methods in Psychology, Behavior Disorders, Perspectives on Personality, Advanced Research in Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Neuroscience Capstone. She also advises the Psychology Club and Hope’s chapter of Psi Chi – The International Honor Society in Psychology.
Root Luna’s research focuses on emotion and emotion regulation, as well as cultivating virtues such as forgiveness, gratitude, humility and hope. She began studying forgiveness within a psychological framework when she was a student at Hope and her studies have continued beyond her years as a student. She continues to investigate how forgiveness impacts the body along with how embodying humility, gratitude and hope impact physiological functioning, in particular heart rate variability. She has had several articles published in refereed journals.
She conducts her research collaboratively with Hope students. Her students have received awards for their research at the Midwestern Psychological Association’s annual conference, where they have also been chosen to make presentations about their work.
Prior to coming to Hope, Root Luna completed her pre-doctoral internship at Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services in Grand Rapids and maintains a private practice there one day per week. She was a faculty member at Ferris State University for three years before joining the Hope faculty.
She majored in psychology at Hope. She completed her master’s and doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of Miami in 2005 and 2009 respectively.