Susanne Denham, Ph.D.

Susanne A. Denham, Ph.D., is University Professor Emerita in the Department of Psychology at George Mason University, where she served on the faculty from 1985 until her retirement in 2016 and was named University Professor in 2007. An applied developmental psychologist, she is among the field’s leading authorities on emotional competence in early childhood: how young children come to express, understand and regulate emotion, how that capacity shapes their relationships and school readiness, and how parents and teachers can nurture it. Before entering academia she spent eleven years as a school psychologist. She holds a Ph.D. in applied developmental psychology from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, an M.A. from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A., summa cum laude, from Western Maryland College. She edited the journal Early Education and Development for two decades, was co-editor of Social Development, and has served on the editorial boards of Child Development and Developmental Psychology. A Fellow of the American Psychological Association, she is the author of three books, most recently The Development of Emotional Competence in Young Children.