Professor of Psychology

  • Office: Sutton Science Center
  • Department: Division of Behavioral Sciences
  • Phone: 865-981-8166
  • Email: karen.beale@maryvillecollege.edu
  • Education: B.A., University of Virginia's College at Wise; M.A., East Tennessee State University; Ph.D., North Carolina State University

Hello!

I started teaching at Maryville College in 2006, after receiving my Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from North Carolina State University and I’m now a Professor of Psychology and a Certified Sex Educator from the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT). I am also a member of the Advanced Sexuality Educators and Trainers (ASET) fellowship and the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSSS).

Teaching:

I believe that teaching is the most important thing that I do so I spend a great deal of time focusing on the best possible experience for my students. I am very proud to have received the Outstanding Teacher Award in 2013 and again in 2019 as well as runner-up in 2009. In addition, in 2018, I was honored to receive the SSSS Lester A Kirkendall Outstanding Mentor Award.

Courses I regularly teach:

  • Intimate Relationships (PSY 227)
  • Human Sexuality (PSY 228)
  • Human Thought and Learning (PSY 315)
  • Adolescent Psychology (PSY 218)
  • First Year Seminar: Women’s Sexual Health (FYS 110)

I also lead travel study courses such as:

  • The Netherlands: Sex and Society (PSY/SOC/249)
  • Peru: Service Learning (PSY/SOC/SPN 249)
  • Puerto Rico: A Search for Identity (EXP 200)
  • San Francisco: A City of Diversity (PSY 249)
  • The Road to Social Justice: Civil Rights in the South (SOC 200)

Research:

My research focuses on promoting healthy relationships and sexuality. Through teaching courses related to sexuality, I quickly realized that college students, who are otherwise very bright, had little to no information, or sometimes completely wrong information, about sex. This lack of good information often leads to poor decision making which can cause some major life changes. So, I began to study the effects of sex education and religion on sex and relationship outcomes. One of my recent studies investigates sex guilt in Baptists, Catholics, and Latter-day Saints and how that guilt affects sexual satisfaction, sex anxiety, and sexual efficacy.