Dr. Veronica Fruiht is a Positive Developmental scientist with research interests centering on developmental assets during the transition to adulthood. She joined the Psychology faculty at Dominican in 2016 and teaches courses in human development and positive psychology, and mentors students as they complete empirical senior thesis projects. She earned a BS in Psychology at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and an MS and Ph.D. in Positive Developmental Psychology at Claremont Graduate University where her research focused on the applications of hope and goal setting on academic achievement and persistence during adolescence and emerging adulthood.

Since coming to Dominican, Dr. Fruiht’s research has continued to investigate the internal and external resources that help young people as they grow into thriving adults. Namely, she focuses on mentors and the impact of social support and social capital in predicting not only academic persistence, but well-being and flourishing downstream.