Sharon Stephens Brehm (April 18, 1945 – March 30, 2018) was an American psychologist who served as president of the

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychologists in the United States, and the largest psychological association in the world. It has over 170,000 members, including scientists, educators, clin ...

(APA). She was a professor of psychology at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

. She held administrative roles at

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university in Binghamton metropolitan area, Greater Binghamton, New York, United States. It is one of the four uni ...

and

Ohio University Ohio University (Ohio or OU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Athens, Ohio, United States. The university was first conceived in the 1787 contract between the United States Department of the Treasury#Re ...

, before becoming chancellor of

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...

Early life and career

Brehm was born in

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It lies in Southwest Virginia, along the Roanoke River, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Blue Ridge range of the greater Appalachian Mountains. Roanok ...

on April 18, 1945. She earned an undergraduate degree in psychology from

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

. She went to

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

for an AM in clinical psychology and then returned to Duke to earn a PhD in clinical psychology. Brehm spent 15 years at the

, where she taught psychology and directed the honors program. She served as dean of arts and sciences at the

from 1990 to 1996. She later served as provost at

and she was chancellor at

between 2001 and 2003. She served as the 2007 president of the APA. During her term, the organization created the Presidential Task Force on Integrative Healthcare for an Aging Population, APA-SRCD Task Force on Math and Science Education (with the

Society for Research in Child Development The Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) is a professional society for the field of human development, focusing specifically on child development. It is a multidisciplinary, not-for-profit, professional association with a membership ...

) and the Presidential Task Force on Institutional Review Boards and Psychological Science.

Personal life and death

Brehm met psychologist when she went to work for him as a graduate assistant. The couple got married in 1968. Though they divorced several years later, they continued to work together and even co-authored a book. Jack Brehm constructed the theory of reactance and Sharon adapted it to the clinical psychology setting. In a 2013 interview, Brehm discussed her

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

diagnosis, the early symptoms of which had appeared in 2010. She died from complications of the disease on March 30, 2018, at the age of 72.Indiana University mourns passing of former IU Bloomington Chancellor Sharon Brehm
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Works

* ''Psychological Reactance: A Theory of Freedom and Control'' (with J. W. Brehm, 1981) * ''Intimate Relationships'' (with Rowland Miller and Daniel Perlman, multiple editions)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brehm, Sharon 1945 births 2018 deaths Duke University Trinity College of Arts and Sciences alumni Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Binghamton University faculty Ohio University faculty Presidents of the American Psychological Association Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in Indiana American women psychologists American women academics 21st-century American women People from Roanoke, Virginia American clinical psychologists 20th-century American psychologists