Celeste Gaia

Celeste Gaia is Professor and Chair of Psychology at Emory & Henry College where she has been a faculty member since 1997 and has served as Director of International Education since 2007. She completed her Ph.D and M.A. in psychology at the University of Tennessee and her undergraduate studies at Christian Brothers University. As an experimental social psychologist with primary research interests in interpersonal relationships, gender, and culture, she values the intersection of psychology and global citizenship, and believes that acceptance of the “other” is essential to peaceful human relations and fundamental human rights.

Dr. Gaia wants to make certain that others share in the message of tolerance and acceptance that Ashleigh lived. Ashleigh understood the importance of global perspective and was the kind of student whose life held true to Socrates’ belief that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” This legacy lives on in her friends, family, and those who follow in her footsteps at Emory & Henry.