B.A.- Psychology and English Literature with Honors (Cum Laude),

Type of Student: Full Time

Biography:

Dana graduated from Wagner College in 2009 with the ambition to discover a way to combine his passion for psychology and theatre. While at Wagner, Dana immersed himself into social psychology and English literature. For three years, he assisted in the design, execution and evaluation of an intervention program for 4th graders entitled Students Against Relational Aggression (SARA). Additionally, Dana discovered his first opportunity to combine psychology and theatre through deceptive research focusing on cognitive dissonance. He completed his empirical Honors thesis, Cognitive Dissonance Reduction Through Internal Justification In The Absence Of An External Motivation, which won the Award of Excellence at the Eastern Colleges Science Conference. His theatre expertise lies in directing and creative Improv. While in New Hampshire, Dana directed children's theatre for Kids Coop Theatre. Dana comes to the NYU Drama Therapy program with the motivation to use social research to quantify the clinical work of Drama Therapy by submerging himself into theory and practice. Dana currently manages a children's enrichment center on the Upper West Side.

Research Interest

• Drama Therapy
• Tarot as a therapy tool and projective technique
• Cognitive Dissonance
• Relational aggression
• Gender identity and sexuality
• Role theory and fairy tales