Lynn DellaPietra Directory Profile

Education

• Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, Hahnemann University
• B.A., Psychology, Boston College

Dr. DellaPietra was a faculty member at Holy Family from 1999 to 2011, during which time she taught a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate courses in psychology and served as Department Chair and then Division Chair. In 2011, Dr. DellaPietra was tasked with creating a new bachelor's program in psychology from the ground up at Marymount California University. She designed, taught in, and led this program until 2016, when she left to return home to Pennsylvania. She served as the Dean of Social and Behavioral Science at Bucks County Community College from 2016-2022. For the past several years, Dr. DellaPietra had been using her expertise in higher education to assist institutions in hiring administrators, working as a recruiter at AGB Search. When the opportunity came up to return to Holy Family in 2025, however, she couldn't pass it up! She is thrilled to be back where her career in higher education started, working with students again, and serving the mission of Holy Family.

Research Interests

My research interests lie in the area of creativity and I am specifically interested in examining what cognitive skills underlie creativity. I have conducted research looking at flexibility of thinking, fluidity of idea generation, and originality of thought and how these manifest themselves in artists.

Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy is that it is my job is to create a space for students to be able to ask questions, explore ideas, and make mistakes. I believe that you can learn as much from an assignment that you struggle with as you do from one that is easy for you. I hope that students will put in the hard work to grapple with challenging material and come out better for it.

Student Mentoring & Opportunities

I am always interested in taking on students who are interested in conducting research in creativity. If you have other ideas for projects, I'm all ears!