Meet the Director | Experimental Health Psychology Lab, USM

Positions

2009 - Director of the Center for American Indian Research and Studies

2008 – Advisor for Golden Eagles Intertribal Society

(2007 – 2008) Associate Professor and Interim Chair, Department of Psychology

(2003 – 2007) Associate Professor and Assistant Chair, Department of Psychology

(1996 – 2003) Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology

(1994 – 1996) NIH Post Doctoral Fellow, Department of Psychology, Tulane University

Education

Ph.D. (1994) Experimental (Quantitative) Psychology, Tulane University New Orleans, LA
M.S. (1992) Experimental (Developmental) Psychology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
B.A. (1988) Psychology, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA

Teaching

Multivariate Analysis, Quantitative Analysis I and II, Factor Analysis, Introduction to Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences, Multicultural Psychology, Contemporary Issues in Indian Country, Health Disparities

Medicine Wheel Garden Provides Education and inspiration for the
Southern Miss Community

Dr. Greer, who originated the idea for the garden based on conversations she had with Indigenous elders, shares her personal experience of bringing the garden to life to strengthen a bond with nature while invigorating connections to the past. She notes that the garden has inspired community, as its creation and ongoing growth involve collaboration between various groups, including faculty, students, and community members.

As the Southern Miss Medicine Wheel Garden reaches the age of twenty, it remains vital to the University’s drive toward “educating citizens in a pluralistic society,” honoring the native plants and the Native people who make up our history. We hope that this garden continues to be a source of inspiration and life-long learning, as, in the words of Dr. Greer, “These plants carry lessons that we need in this world. We wanted a garden filled with these plants, full of lessons.”

Learn more..

Dr. Tammy Greer on YouTube

Explore the insights of Dr. Tammy Greer on YouTube, where psychology meets culture, community health, and research.

Visit

Awards

2025 Douglass T. Baker Memorial Award: Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity
2024 Public Humanities Award: Humanities Educator, Mississippi Humanities Council
2022 Area/Regional Impact Award, National Indian Health Board
2013 USM Diversity Award for Excellence, The University of Southern Mississippi
2013 Peggy Jean Connor Heart of Hattiesburg Award from Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity
2013 Leadership Award from the United Houma Nation
Outstanding Undergraduate in Psychology, 1988, UNO
Outstanding Woman Graduate from the College of Sciences, 1988, UNO
Outstanding Woman Graduate from the University of New Orleans, 1988, UNO

Funding

Greer, T. (PI), Lemacks, J. (Supporting), Gillespie, J. (Supporting) Okla Achokma Yakni Achokma, Mississippi Humanities Council, $7,500, (February 2023 – February 2024).
Greer, T. (PI), Verdin, M. (Co-PI), Aaronson, I. (Co-PI), Mae, J. (Co-PI), Ozone (Co-PI) "Nanih Bvlbancha," Sponsored by Prospect New Orleans, Foundation, $50,000.00. (March 1, 2023 - Present).
Lemacks, J. (PI), Greer, T. (COPI), Choi, H. W. (Supporting), Eckenrod, M. R. (Supporting), Hayes, T. T. (Supporting), Anderson, A. R. (Supporting), "The Okla Achukma Project," Sponsored by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Federal, $695,436.64. (September 19, 2022 - August 31, 2023).
Greer, T. (PI), Verret, J. (Supporting), Verdin, M. (Supporting) $57,985, Library of Congress: Of the People: Widening the Path, American Folklife Center Community Collections Grant, And we are still here: Indigenous culture bearers of Houma communities, March 2022 – March 2023.
Greer, T. (PI), Lemacks, J. L. (Supporting), "It's Native: Nudging Towards Healthy Ways in Southeastern American Indian Country," Sponsored by Mississippi INBRE via National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Federal, $70,240.00. (May 1, 2018 - May 31, 2022).
Lemacks, J. L. (PI), Subramanian, G. (Supporting), Madson, M. (Supporting), Greer, T. (Supporting), "Mississippi INBRE Community Engagement and Training Core Telenutrition Center," Sponsored by National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Federal, $1,183,999.00. (July 1, 2018 - May 31, 2023).
Lemacks, J., Madson, M. B., Greer, T., Brazeal, M., Credeur, D. P., "Comparing holistic versus traditional approach to engaging patients in cancer preventive behaviors," Sponsored by Southern Miss Fund for Academic Excellence in the Multidisciplinary Research Teams Program Development Grant, University of Southern Mississippi, $15,000.00. (May 2019 - December 31, 2019).
Greer, T. (PI), Mississippi Humanities Council Mini Grant, Project Title: Petal Southern Miss Powwow, Funding $2000, Spring 2019.
Greer, T. (PI), Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians Tourism, Project Title: Petal Southern Miss Powwow, Funding $1,000, Spring 2019.
Greer, T. (PI), Mississippi Humanities Council Mini Grant, Project Title: Petal Southern Miss Powwow, Funding $2000, Spring 2018.
Greer, T. (PI), Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians Tourism, Project Title: Petal Southern Miss Powwow, Funding $1,000, Spring 2018.
Greer, T. (PI), Mississippi Humanities Council Mini Grant, Project Title: Petal Southern Miss Powwow, Funding $2000, Spring 2017.
Greer, T. (PI), Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians Tourism, Project Title: Petal Southern Miss Powwow, Funding $1,000, Spring 2017.
Greer, T. (PI), Mississippi Humanities Council Grant, Project Title: Petal Southern Miss Powwow, Funding $4200, Spring 2016.
Greer, T. (PI), Mississippi Tourism Development Grant, Project Title: 13th Annual Southern Miss Powwow, Funding $2000, Spring 2015.
Greer, T. (PI), Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians Tourism, Project Title: 13th Annual Southern Miss Powwow, Funding $1,000, Spring 2015.
Greer, T. (PI), Mississippi Humanities Council Mini Grant, Project Title: 13th Annual Southern Miss Powwow, Funding $1,000, Spring 2015.
Greer, T. (PI), Mississippi Humanities Council Grant, Project Title: 12th Annual Southern Miss Powwow, Funding $3,000, Spring 2014.
Greer, T. (PI), Walmart Community Grant, Project Title: 12th Annual Southern Miss Powwow, Funding $250, Spring 2014.
Greer, T. (PI), Mississippi Arts Commission Mini Grant, Project Title: 11th Annual Southern Miss Powwow, Funding $1,000, Spring 2013.
Greer, T. (PI), Mississippi Humanities Council Grant, Project Title: 10th Annual Southern Miss Powwow, Funding $5,000, Spring 2012.
Greer, T. (PI), Mississippi Humanities Council Mini Grant, Project Title: 9th Annual Southern Miss Powwow, Funding $1,500, Spring 2011.
Greer, T. (PI), Mississippi Arts Commission Grant, Project Title: A Native American Cultural Arts Festival on the MS Gulf Coast, Funding: $4,750, Summer 2010-Spring 2011
Co-Investigator, PI: David Echevarria, Project Title: Course Redesign of General Psychology, The University of Southern Mississippi, Funding: $50,000
Co-Investigator, PI: Charles Brody, Ph.D., Tulane University, Funding: $47,123 Agency: NIA Pilot, Title: Religion, Health, and Aging: Quantitative Issues
National Institutes of Health Post-Doctoral Grant #DK09194-02, A Meta-Analysis of Cognitive and Social Aspects of IDDM, Fall 1994 to Fall 1996, Tulane University
National Institutes of Health Minority Pre-Doctoral Grant, Fall 1993 to Summer 1994, Tulane University