Patricia DiBartolo ’89 returned to Smith to join the faculty after earning her doctorate in clinical psychology from SUNY-Albany. Her long standing research interests focus on investigating the definition and phenomenology of perfectionism across development and race, work first begun while she was an undergraduate. In the last 10 years, DiBartolo’s scholarly interests expanded to include research on effective and equitable programs and pedagogy in higher ed. She has given more than 100 scholarly and poster presentations and published two books and 45 articles and chapters on these topics. Her research has been featured in mainstream media venues, including Time, Health, Redbook and Psychology Today, and published in a variety of scholarly outlets, such as Behavior Therapy, Psychological Assessment, CBE-Life Sciences Education, Clinical Psychology Review, Cognitive Therapy and Research, and Scholarship and Practice of Undergraduate Research.

One essential teaching commitment of DiBartolo’s research program is mentorship and collaboration with undergraduates, resulting in a significant number of student co-authors on publications and professional presentations over the years. Beyond this mentorship, DiBartolo teaches several courses, including research methods, developmental psychopathology, and seminars in advanced research methods as well as child and adolescent anxiety disorders. In 2008, she was the recipient of Smith’s Sherrerd Prize for Distinguished Teaching.

DiBartolo has provided considerable service to the college, chairing her department as well as faculty council. From 2013 to 2017, she served as the inaugural faculty director of the sciences. From 2017 to 2020, she was the associate dean of the faculty/dean for academic development. As associate dean, she oversaw strategic curricular initiatives and operations and coordinated diverse faculty professional development programs, ranging from new faculty onboarding to emeriti/ae matters, with the goal of building equity and inclusion. In her administrative roles, she organized a series of institutional grant-supported efforts leading collaborative teams that secured funding to support faculty development and curricular innovation from the Council on Undergraduate Research, the Davis Educational Foundation, the Creating Connections Consortium/Liberal Arts Diversity Officers (C3/LADO) and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. While faculty director, she also served as the program director for the college’s Howard Hughes Medical Institute grant to build curriculum and programs that foster inclusive excellence in the sciences.

Selected Publications

Wadsworth, L.P., Burgess, A.M., & DiBartolo, P.M. (2021). Examining psychometrics of the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale in children ages 8-12 using child and parent report. Child Psychiatry and Human Development. doi: 10.1007/s10578-021-01167-w

DiBartolo, P.M., Aloisio, K., Lamb, M., Ly, M., & Rowen, C. (2018). Pivoting toward the future: Fifty years of summer research fellowship success catalyzes institutional change. Scholarship and Practice of Undergraduate Research, 2, 55-63. doi: 10.18833/spur/2/2/4

Burgess, A.M., DiBartolo, P.M., & Rendón, M.J. (2017). Can the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale assess perfeccionismo? Psychological Assessment, 29, 857-867. doi: 10.1037/pas0000374

Katz, L.A., Aloisio, K.M., Horton, N.J., Ly, M., Pruss, S., Queeney, K., Rowen, C., & DiBartolo, P.M. (2017). A program aimed toward inclusive excellence for underrepresented undergraduate women in the sciences. CBE-Life Sciences Education, 16:ar11, 1-9. doi: 10.1187/cbe.16-01-0029.

DiBartolo, P.M., Gregg-Jolly, L., Gross, D., Manduca, C., Iverson, E., Cooke, D., Davis, G.K., Davidson, C., Hertz, P.E., Hibbard, L., Ireland, S.K., Mader, C., Pai, A., Raps, S., Siwicki, K., & Swartz, J.E. (2016). Principles and practices fostering inclusive excellence: Lessons from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Capstone Institutions. CBE-Life Sciences Education, 15:ar44, 1-11. doi: 10.1187/cbe.16-01-0028.

Burgess, A. & DiBartolo, P.M. (2015). Anxiety and perfectionism: Relationships and mechanisms. In F. Sirois & D. Molnar (Eds.), Perfectionism, health, and well-being (pp. 177-203). New York: Springer.

Hofmann, S.G., & DiBartolo, P.M.  (Eds.). (2014). Social anxiety: Clinical, developmental, and social perspectives (3^rd ed.). Waltham, MA: Academic Press/Elsevier.

Rudnitsky, A., Ellis, G., DiBartolo, P.M., & Shea, K. (2013). Developing a faculty learning community grounded in the science of how people learn: A year-long, faculty-led teaching and learning seminar.  In Groccia, J.E., & Cruz, L. (Eds.), To improve the academy: Resources for faculty, instructional, and organizational development, Vol. 32 (pp. 127-143). Jossey-Bass: San Francisco.

DiBartolo, P.M., & Rendón, M.J. (2012). A critical examination of the construct of perfectionism and its relationship to mental health in Asian and African Americans using a cross-cultural framework. Clinical Psychology Review, 32, 139-152. 

DiBartolo, P.M., & Varner, S.P.  (2012). How children’s cognitive and affective responses to a novel task relate to the dimensions of perfectionism. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy, 30, 62-76.

Albano, A.M., & DiBartolo, P.M.  (2007). Cognitive-behavioral therapy for social phobia in adolescents: Stand up, speak out—Therapist guide. New York: Oxford University Press.—Also translated and published in Korean (2013).

Albano, A.M., & DiBartolo, P.M.  (2007). Stand up, speak out: Youth workbook. New York: Oxford University Press.

DiBartolo, P.M., Frost, R.O., Dixon, A., & Almodovar, S. (2001). Can cognitive restructuring inoculate against perfectionistic concerns? Behavior Therapy, 32, 167-184.           

Hofmann, S.G., & DiBartolo, P.M. (2000). An instrument to assess self-statements during public speaking:  Scale development and preliminary psychometric data. Behavior Therapy, 31, 499-515.

Frost, R.O., & Marten, P.A. (1990). Perfectionism and evaluative threat. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14, 559-572.

Frost, R.O., Marten, P.A., Lahart, C., & Rosenblate, R. (1990). The dimensions of perfectionism. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14, 449-468.