In Memoriam: MMC Psychology Professor Roy Tietze
Professor Roy Tietze
Roy Tietze, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and educator who taught at MMC for more than 40 years, passed away in May, just days after his 77th birthday.
Professor Tietze led the Psychology department for 12 years during his tenure. A firm believer that psychosocial relationships and dialogue between students and teachers form the most complete educational experience, he worked to foster opportunities for discourse across the College. He regularly engaged in team teaching with colleagues from the Writing, Literature, and Language and Theatre departments and worked with student organizations such as Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology.
Professor Tietze was an avid music lover who played and collected guitars in his free time. His passion for music was reflected in an MMC course he created in 2002, “The Blues, Jazz and American Identity.” The class used jazz as both a skill set for listening and reflecting and as a metaphor for integrating the fast-paced changes of modern life while maintaining a sense of psychological and cultural identity. It would later form the basis of his book, Blues, Jazz and American Identity: A Workbook for Listening and Dialogue, published in 2020.
The College extends its deepest sympathies to Professor Tietze’s family.
Published: June 26, 2024
New MMC Center Helps Students Find Creative Paths in Health Care
Professor Nava Silton has had a varied career in health and human development. She’s created graphic novels about the adventures of children with visible and invisible disabilities and produced an off-Broadway musical about disabilities and bullying. Levar Burton and The Jim Henson Company are developing two of her projects for the small screen.
But she wouldn’t have been able to envision it in her early days as a premed student; back then, she thought building a career in health meant following a narrow professional track. “I remember thinking, okay, maybe I’ll be a physician or teach in a medical school,” she said. “I’d always been creative, but I never thought it would relate to any professional goals I’d have in health.”
That changed when she took a developmental psychology class that showed her how rich and exciting the field could be and worked with a professor who helped her realize that creativity could be an asset in health—and not just a passion she pursued on the side.
Now, as the director of MMC’s new Center for Health, Human Development, and Creativity, Dr. Silton is helping Marymount Manhattan students reach that same understanding from the moment they step foot on campus.
