Madelynn Shell Profile

Photo of Dr. Madelynn Shell

Madelynn Shell, Ph.D.


Dr. Madelynn Shell is an Associate Professor of Psychology in the Counseling and Psychology Department at Texas A&M University - Central Texas. She also serves as the BS Psychology Program Coordinator and the Counseling and Psychology Student Success Coordinator. She completed a bachelor’s degree in psychology at McGill University, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She earned a Masters in Experimental Psychology and a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Dr. Shell teaches a variety of undergraduate courses at Texas A&M University - Central Texas including Psychology Major Seminar, Writing in Psychology, Human Lifespan, Social Psychology, and Behavioral Science Research. She also teaches graduate-level Human Development.

Dr. Shell’s research takes a developmental perspective on college student success and social and emotional adjustment. Her current work explores how various risk and protective factors, such as shyness, friendship, and college belonging, can influence students. A complimentary line of research focuses on the ways in which academic and social factors and classroom experiences can promote student success during college. Dr. Shell welcomes student participation in research, and encourages students interested in these areas to contact her at mshell@tamuct.edu


Selected Publications:

Schwegler, A. F, Shell, M. D., & Clark, D. A. (in press). Using Guidelines 3.0 to support program and course learning outcome alignment. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology.

Shell, M. D. & Moore, C. J. (in press). Flipping the first year: A case study in co-teaching first-year seminar as a community of inquiry. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Shell, M. D., Strouth, M., & Reynolds, A. M. (2021). Make a note of it: Comparison of longhand, keyboard, and stylus note-taking techniques. The Learning Assistance Review, 26(2), 1-23.

Shell, M. D., Shears, D., & Millard, Z. (2020). Who am I? Changes in identity development during college. Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research, 25, 192-202. https://doi.org/10.24839/2325-7342.JN25.2.192

Shell, M. D. & Absher, T. N. (2019). Effects of shyness and friendship on socioemotional adjustment during the college transition. Personal Relationships, 26, 386-405. https://doi.org/10.1111/pere.12285

Gazelle, H. & Shell, M. D. (2017). Behavioral profiles of anxious solitary children: Predicting longitudinal peer relations trajectories from third to fifth grade. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 63(2), 237-281. https://doi.org/10.13110/merrpalmquar1982.63.2.0237

Moore, L. & Shell, M. D. (2017). Effects of parental support and self-esteem on internalizing symptoms in emerging adulthood. Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research, 22, 131-151. https://doi.org/10.24839/2325-7342.JN22.2.131

Shell, M. D., Gazelle, H. & Faldowski, R. A. (2014). Anxious solitude and the middle school transition: A child × environment model of peer exclusion and victimization trajectories. Developmental Psychology, 50, 1569-1589. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035528