My name is Dr. Jennifer Stiegler-Balfour, and I am a Professor of Psychology and the Assistant Academic Director in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of New England (UNE).
For the 2025–26 academic year, I am honored to serve as the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) Ludcke Chair. Funded through a generous bequest from the estate of Eleanor Ludcke (Westbrook College, Class of 1926), the Ludcke Chair is the highest academic honor in the College of Arts and Sciences. Awarded annually, it recognizes a senior faculty member who exemplifies excellence in teaching and has achieved national or international recognition for original scholarship.
Since joining UNE in 2010, my teaching and research have focused on the cognitive processes involved in reading comprehension, memory, and learning. I regularly teach courses such as Cognition and Memory, Statistics, Research Methods, Psychology of Consciousness, and a seminar in Memory and Learning.
My research explores the relationship between reading skills, text characteristics, and strategies, with the broader goal of understanding how readers adapt to different contexts to support academic and professional success. This work has been recognized by the Society for Text and Discourse, which awarded me the Jason Albrecht Outstanding Young Scientist Award for demonstrating exceptional promise and achievement in the field.
I earned my Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology and M.S.T. in College Teaching from the University of New Hampshire in 2010. Originally from Stuttgart, Germany, I have lived in the United States for more than 20 years and now call one of Maine’s beautiful coastal communities home, where I live with my husband and two children. Outside of UNE, I enjoy traveling, gardening, biking, practicing yoga, and spending time at the beach.