B.A., M.S., Ph.D.
Dean, St. John's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Professor of Psychology
Queens Campus
(718) 990-1549
fagenj@stjohns.edu
Biography
Dr. Fagen received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1972 from the
City College of New York with a major in psychology and a minor in
sociology. He received his Master of Science (1974) and Doctor of
Philosophy (1976) degrees in developmental psychology from Rutgers
University. He was an assistant professor of psychology at Northern
Illinois University from 1976-1979 after which he returned to
Rutgers University to assume the position of Research Associate in
the laboratory of Dr. Carolyn Rovee-Collier. Dr. Fagen joined the
faculty of St. John’s University as an associate professor of
psychology in 1981 and was promoted to professor in 1990. He
chaired the Department of Psychology at St. John’s from 1990-2000
when he became the Dean of St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and
Sciences at St. John’s University. Dr. Fagen currently serves on
the editorial boards of Infant Behavior and Development and Child
Development Research`. He is a fellow of the of the General,
Experimental, Developmental, and Clinical Child and Adolescent
Psychology Divisions of the American Psychological Association. He
is a frequent accreditation site visitor for the American
Psychological Association and previously served on the
Association’s Accreditation Appeals Panel. He recently chaired two
3-day workshops for new and experienced department chairs for the
Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Fagen is a licensed
psychologist in the State of New York.
Research Interests
Dr. Fagen’s research interests are in developmental psychology and
developmental psychobiology with special emphasis on infant
behavior and development. His infant research has focused on
learning and memory in human and nonhuman infants, the effects of
early experience on later behavior, the predictability of infant
behaviors to behaviors in later childhood, the influence of
temperament on infant behavior, and the determinants of learning,
attention, and retention in normal, high-risk, and handicapped
infants. This research has been funded by several research grants
from the National Institute of Mental Health, the National
Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the New York State
Health Research Council, and the March of Dimes Birth Defects
Foundation.
Recent Publications
Suss, C., Gaylord, S., & Fagen, J. (2012). Odor as a contextual
cue in memory reactivation in young infants. Infant Behavior
and Development, 35, 580-583.
Schroers, M. C., Prigot, J., & Fagen, J. (2007). The effect
of salient odor context on memory in 3-month-old infants.
Infant Behavior and Development, 30, 685-689.
Daman-Wasserman, M., Brennan, B., Radcliffe, P., Prigot, J., &
Fagen, J. (2006). Auditory/visual context and memory retrieval in
3-month-old infants. Infancy, 10, 201-220.
Ohr, P.S., Feingold, J., & Fagen, J. (2006) Predicting
adolescent anxiety ratings from infant behavioral style in response
to expectancy violation. Applied Developmental Science,
10, 147-156.