NIU recently appointed a new director for the Psychological Services Center.

Carol Yoken, formerly a psychology faculty member at Loyola University in Chicago, began her position at the Psychological Services Center Feb. 1. The Psychology Department chose Yoken after narrowing down a national search to four candidates.

We are pleased,” said pyschology department Chairman Joseph Grush.

The center serves families, children and adults, Yoken said. People who have problems in relationships, work and school can go to the center for help. If the center cannot treat an individual, he or she will be referred to a professional, she said.

Yoken will work with graduate students in clinical psychology. She has had experience at Loyola, Northwestern University and the University of Chicago in areas including psychotherapy, family therapy, crisis intervention and group therapy.

Yoken’s published works include a 1979 compilation of nine profiles on deaf and blind people. Yoken used sign language to communicate with her subjects, she said.

She also published a how-to book on starting free clinics, based on a Texas clinic, she said.

A selection committee of faculty and clinical psychology students met with Yoken before she was appointed. “There was a strong consensus of opinion in the department about Dr. Yoken,” Grush said. “She had a two-year post-doctoral (fellowship) which was viewed as positive, and she also knew the academic ropes.”

Yoken accepted the position because she is “very attracted to the program here,” she said. “I really enjoy it.”

Yoken said the goals of the center are to “provide the very best training” to clinical students and to “serve a wide variety of people.”