Fall 2023 Course Offerings:
PSYC 121 000B and 049X Introduction to Psychology
PSYC 330 000A Research Methods
PSYC 440 000A Biological Psychology
Dr. Ocal currently serves as Assistant Professor of Psychology at Peru State College.
She earned her doctoral degree in educational psychology in 2015 from the Graduate
Center of the City University of New York, her master’s degree in special education
and bachelor’s degree in early childhood education from Minnesota State University,
Moorhead.
Dr. Ocal was awarded with the Enhanced Chancellor Fellowship by the Graduate Center
of the City of University of New York in 2009. While working on her doctoral degree
with mentoring of distinguished professor of psychology, Linnea Ehri, she taught Brooklyn
College education and psychology majors.
Between 2015 to 2019, she served as Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology at
the University of Minnesota Duluth. There she taught research methods and statistics,
developmental psychology, and psychology of language courses and was awarded with
department of psychology grants in support of her research.
She conducts research on acquisition and development of literacy skills. She has published
articles in Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal and the Journal of College
Reading and Learning. She presents her research findings in national and regional
conferences.