Sheila Fling, Distinguished Professor Emerita at Texas State University, passed away on December 29. She was 90 years old.
Dr. Fling was a native of Nachitoches, Louisiana. After initially teaching chemistry at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, Dr. Fling decided to pivot her career to psychology, ultimately earning her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Texas at Austin.
In 1975, Dr. Fling was hired as an assistant professor of psychology at what is now Texas State University. She achieved the rank of full professor in 1987. In addition to psychology courses, Dr. Fling also taught an honors course – The Japanese Psyche – inspired by her time living in Japan while on leave from Texas State. She was awarded the title of Distinguished Emerita Professor upon her retirement.
Dr. Fling established two scholarships at Texas State: the Fling Family Scholarship in Music and the Sheila Fling Endowed Scholarship. In retirement, she continued to study a wide range of psychology topics, including meditation.