Psychology grad becomes first alumni department chair

Mrinal Sinha returned to CSU Monterey Bay as its first graduate hired as a tenure-track faculty member, and he is the first alum to become a department chair. He was part of the cohort of faculty who established the psychology department under the leadership of its first chair, Jennifer Dyer Seymour. In the years since, the program has grown to the largest on campus.

As chair, Sinha has helped guide the department through the challenges of the pandemic and its shift to remote learning. He also runs a psychology research lab, where he’s working with students on a body of research looking at how Latino students’ backgrounds, family, neighborhood, and experiences either presented obstacles or facilitated their education. He has just returned from a sabbatical where he completed the preliminary data analysis of 53 interviews and began writing up the findings. This work has led to a book chapter accepted for publication and another article in progress.