Matt Powless

Dr. Matt Powless, PhD, HSPP, CMPC

Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology

Room 54, Schroeder Family Bldg.
812-488-2310
mp346@evansville.edu

Dr. Powless earned his PhD in counseling psychology with a concentration in sport and performance psychology from Indiana University. He completed his doctoral internship at Illinois State University where he took part in the Sport Psychology and Eating Disorder rotation areas. He is a licensed psychologist in the state of Indiana as well as a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) through the Association for Applied Sport Psychology. Prior to coming to the University of Evansville, Dr. Powless was an Assistant Professor at the University of Southern Indiana for three years.

Dr. Powless has a wide array of research and clinical interests. With regards to research, the lion’s share of his research has been conducted in the area of sport psychology, but he has also taken on projects outside of this arena. Examples include (but are not limited to): evaluating the effectiveness of counseling for HIV/AIDS clients in Botswana, investigating the academic experiences of Women in STEM, and analyzing psychological outcomes associated with adverse childhood experiences in a variety of populations. In his clinical work, Dr. Powless provides sport and performance psychology services for a wide range of individuals (e.g., youth, high school, college, and professional athletes). Within the PsyD program, Dr. Powless serves as the Practicum Coordinator for external field placements as well as the Practica Supervisor for multiple sport psychology practica in the Evansville area.

Publications

  • Powless, M. D., Pilot, Z. A., Brown, E. R., Ealum, M. C., Back, K. N., Yamashita, S.*, & Mindiola, K.* (2025). Adverse childhood experiences and psychological correlates in college students: A comparison of student-athletes and non-student-athletes. Sports, 13(7), 194. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports13070194
  • Powless, M. D., Wilkins-Yel, K.G., Li, Y, Lau, P. L., Cheng, J., Wong, Y. J., & Biggers, M. (2024). “[He] gave me a 30-minute lecture on how I was a shitty grad student:” Examining how male faculty can eradicate systemic oppression and support women in STEM. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 17(1), 81-95. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000393
  • Pilot, Z., Daniels, K., Iron Rope, L., Pfingston, B.*, Powless, M. & Bouvier, V.* (2023). Cumulative risk models in social cognition: Severe risk group outperforms lower risk groups on ToM task. North American Journal of Psychology, 25(3), 577-597.
  • Powless, M. D., Pilot, Z. A., Bouvier, V.*, Brown, E. R., Ealum, M. C.*, & Iron Rope, L. (2023). College student depression throughout COVID-19: Fall 2019-Spring 2022. Midwest Social Sciences Journal, 26, 48-67. https://doi.org/10.22543/2766-0796.1091
  • Williams, C. & Powless, M. D. (2020). Ranger up. In Sachs, M. L., Tashman, L. S., & Razon, S. (Eds.), Performance excellence: Stories of success from the real world of sport and exercise psychology (pp. 141-143). The Rowman and Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
  • Powless, M. D., Steinfeldt, J. A., Fisher, S. E., McFadden, P., Kennedy, K. W., & Bellini, S. (2020). Utilizing video-based trainings to improve decision-making in high school quarterbacks. Sports, 8(18), 1-26. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports8020018
  • Gabana, N. T., Hutchinson, J., Beauchemin, J., Powless, M., Cawthra, J., Halterman, A., & Steinfeldt, J. (2019). A qualitative investigation of music use among amateur and semi-professional golfers. Sports, 7(3), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports7030060
  • Powless, M. D. (2019). A review of “Peak: Secrets from the new science of expertise.”  Journal of Sport Psychology in Action. 10, 1-2. https://doi.org/10.1080/21520704.2018.1563574
  • David, J. L., Powless, M. D., Hyman, J. E., Purnell, D. M., Steinfeldt, J. A., & Fisher, S. (2018). College student athletes and social media: The psychological impacts of Twitter use. International Journal of Sport Communication, 11, 163-186. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsc.2018-0044
  • Powless, M. D., Steinfeldt, J. A., & Beebe K. E. (2017). The leadership academy: Evaluation of the effectiveness of an adolescent leadership development program. Graduate Journal of Sport, Exercise and Physical Education Research, 6, 1-15.
  • Stockton, R., Paul, T., Mokalake, E., Morran, D. K., Powless, M. D., Goldberg, D., Li, S., Blackwell, N., & Sharma, R. (2017). Clients’ perceptions of HIV/AIDS supportive counseling in Botswana: A qualitative study. Journal of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, 4(1), 1-11.
  • Steinfeldt, J. A., Gabana, N. T., & Powless, M. D. (2014). Bullying among male athletes: A contextual examination. In Triggs, P. (Ed.), Handbook on Bullying: Prevalence, Psychological Impacts and Intervention Strategies (pp. 16-31).  Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers.

* denotes student contributors