Advisory Board

Psychology
Advisory Board

Nina Trasoff (Chair)

Nina Trasoff is the chair of the UA Department of Psychology Advisory Board. She is a corporate communications consultant who has made Tucson her home since 1976. She came for her job as a reporter and news anchor at KGUN-TV, where she also wrote and produced dozens of documentaries, special series, and investigative reports on topics ranging from the special needs of children to the death penalty. In 1983 she became public relations director and public affairs producer at KGUN, where she won numerous national and local awards for her work both on and off air. In 1985 she left KGUN to develop and direct the News/Communications department at the Arizona Health Sciences Center. While there, she served as spokesperson for the hospital when it became the focus of national and international attention for being the first to use an artificial heart as a bridge to transplant. In 1988 Ms. Trasoff formed her own company to handle the internal and external communications needs of her clients, something she pursued for 17 years before serving on the Tucson City Council, where for four years she focused on sustainable growth, revitalization of Downtown, integration of the fine arts in economic development planning, restructuring of the Land Use Code to enable adaptive reuse of old buildings, and fiscal responsibility. She has served on dozens of nonprofit boards during her years in Tucson. Currently, in addition to her service on the UA Psychology Advisory Board, she is on the UA Dance Advisory Board and the UA Arthritis Center Advisory Board.

Jeffrey Younggren, Ph.D.

Jeffrey Younggren, Ph.D. earned his BA, MA and Ph.D. at the University of Arizona. A Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA) and a Distinguished Member of the National Academies of Practice (NAP), Dr. Younggren is a clinical and forensic psychologist who practices in California and New Mexico. He was a clinical professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine and currently is a clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of New Mexico. Dr. Younggren served as President of APA Division 42 (Psychologists in Independent Practice). He has served on numerous boards and committees, including the Ethics Committees of the California Psychological Association (CPA) and the APA, the APA Committee on Accreditation, and the APA/APLS Committee that drafted the Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychology. Dr. Younggren consults to various licensing boards on ethics and standards of care, and qualifies as an expert in criminal, civil and administrative proceedings. He has been a Risk Management consultant to The Trust and its policyholders for 25 years.

Sara P. Weiner, Ph.D.

Sara P. Weiner, Ph.D. has deep expertise in employee survey research and analytics helping executives and managers to make sound, data-driven business decisions about their workforce for over 25 years. She has published many articles and book chapters and has dozens of presentations at international conferences on the factors that lead to the attraction and retention of top talent and improved business outcomes. Sara serves as Principal People Science Advisor for Glint’s ongoing research and consulting on engagement and performance and previously was Principal Consultant on Glint’s People Science team responsible for thought leadership, content design, and consulting with senior executives using people-analytics. Previously Sara served as the North American Consulting Leader in IBM/Kenexa (now IBM Talent Management) leading a large team of consultants and research scientists working in the areas of employee opinion surveys and assessments. Before joining Kenexa in 2007, Sara spent 16 years on IBM’s Workforce Research team as an internal consultant to IBM’s senior leaders using employee survey data to inform talent and business decisions. Sara received her masters and doctorate degrees in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from the University of Connecticut in Storrs, her BA in Psychology from Purchase College, the State University of New York, and is a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

James Hannley

James Hannley earned his BA in Liberal Arts from the University of Arizona with majors in Psychology and Sociology. He worked in psychiatry in Chicago as an inpatient clinician with adolescents and later with adult inpatients.  Continuing in the field of psychiatry, he became a psychiatric case manager for the Chicago Bureau of Mental Health. Upon returning to Tucson, he continued to work as a psychiatric case manager for the Arizona Center for  Clinical Management, working with highly unstable seriously mentally ill adults on an outpatient and inpatient basis. He earned a Baccalaureate Social Worker certification from the State of Arizona during this tenure. After leaving  the field, he became a licensed Registered Representative of a multi-national financial services company. After moving into an Investment Advisor Representative role, he produced financial plans for individuals and businesses;  delivering hundreds of millions of dollars in life, disability, health and long-term care insurance plans and investing many millions of dollars in retail and retirement accounts and annuities. In 2004, he formed his own firm, Jim  Hannley LLC, and became licensed by the State of Arizona as a Registered Investment Advisor. Prior to joining the Psychology Advisory Board, Jim served for ten years as a member of the Community Advisory Committee for  the University of Arizona's Africana Studies Program, and four years on the U of A Poetry Center’s Development Council. 

Margaret McConnell

Adina R. Wingate is the Director of Marketing and Public Relations at Pima Council on Aging. She is a native Californian who has over 40 years’ experience primarily in national, regional and local non-profit organizations. She is a communications and strategic marketing specialist who is responsible for publications, content management, public relations, and putting together multi-media- partnerships. Active on boards, Ms. Wingate is currently the Chair of the UA Department of Psychology Advisory Board and also serves on the board of Handi-Dogs, Inc. in Tucson. In 2004, she was named a trustee of the Women’s Foundation of Southern Arizona (WFSA) and served one term. A graduate of Case Western Reserve University, she holds a BA in Art History cum laude.


Elaine Nathanson has provided marketing, public relations, media relations and community relations services to a variety of businesses, organizations and government agencies. A native of Tucsonan and former journalist, Elaine has worked on nearly every topic and public issue, ranging from health care to environmental. In her previous position as Communications Director for Research Corporation for Science Advancement, she was responsible for communicating the programs and services of a national science and research foundation. She has a BA in Journalism from the University of Arizona and a MA in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix. She holds the Accredited Public Relations (APR) designation and is a Fellow in PRSA, the highest measure of professional achievement in the public relations profession. She is president of the board of directors of the Educational Enrichment Foundation (EEF). In addition to owning public relations firms, Elaine was the director of public relations for Bolchalk Frey Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations and was the executive director of the Southern Arizona Water Resources Association and the Tucson Regional Water Council.


Hal Movius is founder and president of Movius Consulting, in Charlottesville, VA. He is also senior consultant to the Consensus Building Institute, visiting executive lecturer at the Darden Graduate School of Business, consultant to the Affective Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of Virginia, and a research collaborator at Ethical Systems. Dr. Movius received his Ph.D in clinical psychology from the University of Arizona and his B.A. in history from Harvard College. An applied psychologist, Dr. Movius’ expertise spans the fields of negotiation, influence, emotion regulation, leadership, and organizational development. He is lead author of the book Built to Win: Creating A World Class Negotiating Organization and has authored or co-authored dozens of negotiation simulations and published papers, including articles the effectiveness of negotiation training, cross-cultural business negotiations, and dealing with difficult counterparts. He has also written, directed and produced short films on negotiation that are tailored to client contexts and challenges.  He has taught executive seminars on technology negotiation at Harvard Law School and many organizations have engaged Hal as a trainer, coach or consultant bringing his work to countries throughout North and South American and Europe.