B.A., Summa Cum Laude, Western Maryland College, 1972; M.A., The Johns Hopkins University, 1974; Ph.D. University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 1985.
 

E-mail to: sdenham@gmu.edu
Office located in David King Hall, Room 1024A; Phone: 993-1378

Prior to coming to GMU in 1985, Dr. Denham was an instructor at the University of Maryland, College Park, and has been a Guest Scientist at the
National Institute of Mental Health Developmental Psychology Laboratory. Her teaching and research interests include basic processes of
social-emotional development, social cognition, and social competence, particularly in young children (but through early adolescence), as well as
developmental psychopathology (i.e., primary and secondary prevention of deviations from normal social-emotional development).  Her research area
also includes new investigations on the development of forgiveness in children.  

Her papers have appeared in Child Development, Developmental Psychology, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, International Journal of
Behavioral Development, Social Development, Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, Child Study Journal, and others.  She has written two books, Emotional
Development in Young Children (1998, Guilford Press), and, with Dr. Rosemary Burton, Social and Emotional Prevention and Intervention Programming for
Preschoolers (2003, Kluwer-Plenum).

She has been funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health, National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (in partnership with Head
Start and the Administration for Children and Families), the W.T. Grant Foundation, the John Templeton Foundation, and the National Science
Foundation.  She has served on numerous editorial boards, and is past co-editor of the journal Social Development, as well as current editor of
Early Education and Development.