06/22/2009
James J. Starzec, who served the College for more than 33 years, retired on Jan. 7. He has earned the designation of professor emeritus of psychology.
Starzec attended Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill., on an Illinois State Scholarship and received bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology. While studying for those degrees and his doctorate, he served as a teaching assistant in Introduction to Psychology courses and as a research assistant in developmental psychology projects. His scholarship was published on such topics as maternal responses to infant vocalizations and cues in rats and mice.
He began his career with the College in 1974 as an assistant professor and soon earned his doctorate in psychology from Northern Illinois University. His dissertation was on perceptual development in children. He was promoted to professor in 1988.
Starzec taught Experiential Psychology, Sensory and Perceptual Processes, Experimental and Sensory, Child Psychology and the Senior Seminar, among other classes. Over the years, Starzec involved many students in laboratory research projects, co-authored many research papers with them, and served on numerous masters' thesis committees. He also advised the Psychology Club and obtained funding for them to attend a national conference.
Starzec's research focus was the effects of aging, stress during pregnancy or during infancy, animal models of cardiovascular disease processes, hypertension and hyperglycemia.
In the early 1980s, he participated with colleagues in the Psychology Department and the Biological Sciences Department on three national studies relating to stress on blood cholesterol levels. Results of his work for the American Heart Association, the National Institute of Mental Health Laboratory of Clinical Services and the National Institute of Neurological and Commun-icative Disorders and Stroke were published in professional journals.
He served on many departmental and college committees.
Starzec and his wife, Betsy Wisner, a former lecturer in psychology at SUNY Cortland, now reside in Killeen, Texas.