As Professor Glenn Geher digs deeper into his career teaching psychology, he has uncovered a strong connection to the origins of how the human mind has evolved.

In the fall, thanks to Geher’s initiative, classes for the college’s new evolutionary studies minor will begin. The new curriculum focuses on evolution psychology, the study of how and why human behavior has evolved over time.

Geher spent two years researching and developing the program by working closely with faculty members from across the disciplines on the Evolutionary Studies Program Development Committee. As a result, students in the 18-credit program will take courses in such subjects as anthropology, literature and psychology.

Through his work with the committee, Geher saw faculty apply evolutionary theories to other subjects. For example, Yaser Khalifa and his research team in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department used artificial intelligence methods – called evolutionary algorithms – for a range of applications, such as music composition, analog and digital circuits design optimization, and construction waste management.

“This program offers exactly the kind of critical, thought-provoking, multi-faceted, and important education that students of New Paltz – across all majors – deserve,” he said.

Geher also established the first NorthEastern Evolutionary Psychology Society (NEEPS), which held its first conference at New Paltz. The group is the first regional division of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, an international group of researchers and scholars from the social and biological sciences that use evolutionary theories to learn more about human behavior. Geher said more than 100 people from the east coast of the United States and even a few attendees from London participated in the conference, which was held last April. The collaborative environment led to the organization publishing The Journal of Social, Evolutionary and Cultural Psychology, which has put out two issues.

Geher, whose specialty is social psychology, has also been making a name for himself in the academic publishing world. He has edited two books: “Measuring Emotional Intelligence: Common Ground and Controversy” and “Mating Intelligence: Sex, Relationships and the Mind’s Reproductive System.”