Pamela Laughon, Ph.D. (Posthumous)

Dr. Pamela Laughon began as an Assistant . Prof. at UNC Asheville in 1989 and served as the Chair of Psychology for 14 years. She taught a variety of courses in the Psychology department, including Educational Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Psychology of Exceptional Children, Human Sexuality, History and Systems, and Research Methods. One of the facts that made her such a tremendously effective teacher was the depth and breadth of psychological knowledge that she brought to bear on any topic. [She] had a singular gift for enlivening course topics with her consulting experience and her broad and deep knowledge of psychological science. Dr. Laughon’s Psychology and Law class has been a popular and influential course in the psychology curriculum for many years, in which she related the elements of crimes to everyday criminal behavior, histories of trauma, and fundamental psychological principles, such as conformity, deindividuation, the weapons effect in aggression research, anonymity and aggression, and the woeful nature of so much social media messaging. Pam’s former students sing her praises, many of them years after taking her inspiring courses.

As a Mitigation Specialist, Dr. Laughon’s scholarly focus was primarily on capital sentencing and more generally on criminal psychology and the psychology of the legal system. Dr. Laughon excelled as a legal consultant, according to staff colleagues at the Center for Death Penalty Mitigation: Dr. Laughon’s…work often involves a complex investigation and analysis of multiple generations of the defendant’s family. [Dr. Laughon] is required to gather all available documentary evidence regarding the defendant and to synthesize information from lay witnesses and experts in order to present the defense team and court with the fullest explanation of factors affecting the defendant’s development.