Butler Center for Research

Research staff

Valerie Slaymaker, Ph.D., L.P., Chief Academic Officer
and Provost of Hazelden's Graduate School of Addiction Studies

Valerie Slaymaker, Ph.D., L.P. is Chief Academic Officer and Provost of Hazelden's Graduate School of Addiction Studies, a world-class provider of graduate-level counselor preparation. She also serves as the Executive Director of Hazelden's Butler Center for Research. She presents research results at regional and national conferences and publishes in scholarly journals and books. She holds doctorate and master's degrees in clinical psychology and trained as a scientist-practitioner.  Dr. Slaymaker's scholarly and research interests include addictions treatment research, academic program evaluation, and the implementation of evidence-based practices into clinical programming.

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Audrey A. Klein, Ph.D., Director, Butler Center for Research

Dr. Klein received her Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Case Western Reserve University in 1999. She completed her Master's degree in Cognitive Psychology (also from Case Western) in 1997 and received her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Kenyon College in 1994. She also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in alcoholism research at the Research Institute on Addictions, University at Buffalo (SUNY). As an experimentalist, much of her early research focused on elucidating the processes underlying cognitive functions such as memory and attention.  More recently, she has examined cognitive processing in persons with substance use disorders using a wide variety of information processing methodologies.  Prior to joining the Butler Center for Research in October 2007, Dr. Klein was an assistant professor of Psychology at Knox College, a small liberal arts college in central Illinois. In her current role as director, Dr. Klein oversees key data operations throughout Hazelden, including collection, analysis and reporting of patient outcomes and satisfaction. She regularly conducts multivariate statistical analyses of institutional data and disseminates the results. She also oversees clinical research studies involving Hazelden patient samples. She serves as an adjunct faculty member in the Hazelden Graduate School of Addiction Studies and teaches the Research Design and Statistics course.

Publications:

• Tussing, A. A., & Greene, R. L. (1997). False recognition of associates: How robust is the effect? Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 4, 572-576.
• Tussing, A. A., & Greene, R. L. (1999). The effects of similarity on frequency judgments of presented and nonpresented words. American Journal of Psychology, 112, 259-275.
• Tussing, A. A. & Greene, R. L. (1999). Differential effects of repetition on true and false recognition. Journal of Memory and Language, 40, 520-533.
• Greene, R. L. & Tussing, A. A. (2001). Similarity and associative recognition. Journal of Memory & Language, 45, 573-585.
• Greene, R. L. & Tussing, A. A. (2004). Does recognition of single words predict recognition of two? American Journal of Psychology, 117, 215-227.
• Klein, A. A. (2007). Suppression-induced hyperaccessibility of thoughts in abstinent alcoholics: a preliminary investigation. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45, 169-177.
• Klein, A., A., Stasiewicz, P. R., Koutsky, J. R., Bradizza, C. M., & Coffey, S. F. (2007). A psychometric evaluation of the Approach and Avoidance of Alcohol Questionnaire (AAAQ) in alcohol dependent outpatients. Journal of Psychopathology & Behavioral Assessment, 29, 231-240.

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Patricia Owen, Ph.D., M.H.A., Director Emeritus

Patricia Owen, Ph.D., Director of the Butler Center for Research, is a clinical psychologist who was a member of the Hazelden Foundation staff for over 20 years. In addition, she was a Clinical Professor at the University of Minnesota Department of Psychiatry.  In previous years, Dr. Owen served as Hazelden's vice president for Professional and Community Services. She also has served the Foundation as manager of Employee Assistance Services and as Senior Research Psychologist.  Dr. Owen earned her BA summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota, with membership in Phi Beta Kappa. She obtained her doctorate in psychology in 1984, and a masters degree in health services administration in 1992, from the University of Minnesota.  She is the author of several articles and a book entitled I Can See Tomorrow: A Guide for Living with Depression, and has appeared on several radio and TV shows, including the Bill Moyers' series Close to Home.