- Alumna; On Campus
By the time she was 12, Patricia Mackie ’04 knew she wanted to be a psychologist.
"I had the counseling corner at school. Friends would seek me out and tell me all their stories," she says. "I said, 'This is what I want to do with my life.' "
Patricia had a similar inspiration when she visited the SNHU campus as a high school senior and attended a psychology class.
"Professor Betsy Gunzelmann sold it to me," she says. "She really made me feel like I was one of the students."
In classes, Patricia says, she learned the art and the science of psychology.
Gunzelmann emphasized that "people are individuals" and "you have to encounter people where they are."
Professor Peter Frost was her "research anchor."
"He made sure you knew what those numbers meant," she says.
A magna cum laude graduate of the Honors Program, Patricia earned her bachelor’s degree in three years, earned a Gold Key and was named to the President’s List.
She was also president of the National Honor Society in Psychology, secretary of the Psychology Student Association, and a member of the National Honor Society for Liberal Arts.
Today, Patricia holds a master's degree in clinical psychology and a license as a professional counselor in Illinois, where she lives with her husband, Joseph Mackie '03, '04, '06, and their young daughter.
"I went to SNHU and fell in love," she says. "SNHU was the start to a life I couldn't have dreamed up for myself."
