Dr. Cynthia Fekken recently became the Associate Vice Principal of Research at Queen’s University.   Cynthia obtained her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) (1978), Master of Arts (1980) and Ph.D. (1983) degrees in Psychology from Western University. She joined Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario in 1983 and has since become a tenured Full Professor in the Department of Psychology. Prior to her current administrative position, Cynthia was an Associate Dean in the Faculty of Arts and Science from 2001 to 2012.  She held various portfolios, including the Associate Dean (Studies), the Associate Dean (Graduate Studies) and the Associate Dean (Research).  Many of her professional responsibilities have related to research and academic integrity.

Dr. Fekken’s research interests focus on personality theory and psychological assessment.  She has published many empirical papers and book chapters that have evaluated the adequacy of structured questionnaires for assessing adult personality. Her early research focused on altruistic and moral behavior whereas her recent work has focused on a malevolent set of subclinical personality traits known as the “Dark Triad” and how they correlate with high status behavior including academic integrity and marital success. Dr. Fekken has been a registered psychologist with the Ontario College of Psychologists since 1989 and has consulted about psychological assessment systems with a variety of professional, governmental and community organizations.