Martha L. Banz, Ph.D.

Dr. Banz began her teaching career while completing doctoral work in quantitative psychology at the University of Oklahoma, serving in an adjunct capacity at several institutions from 1980-1985 and then teaching full-time at MidAmerica Christian University for the 1985-86 academic year.  Shortly after completing doctoral training in 1986, she returned to Southern Nazarene University, serving as a member of the team which founded the institution’s degree-completion programs designed for non-traditional adult students.  In addition to providing academic oversight for SNU’s first baccalaureate degree-completion program (Management of Human Resources), she also served as the founding director for two additional cohort-based programs (B.S. in Family Studies & Gerontology and M.S. in Counseling Psychology).

In subsequent administrative assignments (as a Dean at SNU since 1994 and Vice-Provost since 2006), Dr. Banz worked extensively with a wide array of academic and support units, providing administrative oversight for all traditional undergraduate academic programs.  Her responsibilities included overall academic planning and coordination, oversight of student advising/progress, curriculum planning and oversight for both existing and new programs, planning and implementation of student learning outcome assessment activities, budget planning and oversight, and faculty recruitment and hiring for undergraduate programs.  Under her leadership in the last decade, ten new academic programs were developed and implemented, eight of which were multi-disciplinary in nature.  In cooperation with other campus areas, she was also involved in implementing an interdisciplinary Honors program, thematically-based Learning Communities, and the migration of summer course offerings to an online format.  She has extensive background and interest in accreditation issues, outcomes assessment, and data-driven decision-making.  

Dr. Banz holds membership in both Psi Chi, the international honor society in psychology, as well as Sigma Xi, the international honor society for research scientists and engineers.   She currently serves as chapter president for the Phi Delta Lambda Honor Society, and was the 2003 recipient of the University Award, presented to distinguished graduates by SNU’s Alumni Association.  Chosen as a 1998 participant in the Executive Leadership Development Institute, Banz has also served as a LDI mentor for numerous young academics as they begin their careers.

Current research interests for Dr. Banz include the study of automaticity and implicit learning, especially as those related to decision-making, the impact of technology on teaching and learning in adult learners, and the factors which influence effective use of data in decision-making processes.