Houston Wins 2026 SEPA Mentor Award

Psychology professor John Houston, who will retire this year after more than three decades of service to Rollins, has earned SEPA’s Mentor Award, which recognizes psychologists who demonstrate exceptional dedication to fostering the professional development of students and younger professionals.

In their nomination letter, psychology professors Rachelle Yankelevitz and Paul Harris shared, “Dr. Houston has published 25 peer-reviewed journal articles since arriving at Rollins in 1989, and 21 of those are with student co-authors. Of those, 38 percent are with three or four student co-authors, indicating he maintains an active research group. Across 76 conference papers and presentations while at Rollins, 62 include student co-authors.

He has collaborated with 105 student co-authors on SEPA presentations and posters and on average presented 1.73 presentations per SEPA conference (52 presentations across 30 meetings). He always sets his students up for success presenting their posters or presentations, giving them the full experience. Of the 53 undergraduate SEPA students Houston has mentored for whom we have post-graduation information, 74 percent have continued to graduate school and 19 percent have earned doctorates.

Houston’s mentees include both students and colleagues, and his leadership in mentoring sets a high bar. He has provided unquantifiable, invaluable mentorship to junior colleagues and has served on most of our standing college committees.”