Staff
Matthew J. Blusewicz, Ph.D., ABPP
Director
Dr. Matt Blusewicz has been the Director of Counseling Services since September 2007. He earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Wisconsin (Madison) and his master’s and doctoral degrees in clinical psychology from the Pennsylvania State University (University Park). He is a board-certified clinical psychologist (American Board of Professional Psychology) and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association. In addition, he is a licensed psychologist in Nevada and California and has been in part-time private practice for much of his career, with particular interests in neuropsychology and geropsychology.
Matt has held faculty appointments at the University of Nevada School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science and Department of Psychology, the California State University (Long Beach), the Fuller Graduate School of Psychology (Pasadena), and the University of California, Davis School of Medicine (Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology).
Until his “retirement” a few years ago, Matt’s major career was with the Veterans Administration. For over 30 years he worked at the VA Medical Centers in Reno, Long Beach, California (Director of Neuropsychology), and Martinez/Sacramento, California (Chief Psychologist and Associate Chief of Staff for Mental Health). He is very happy to be back in Reno and back on the UNR campus. His goal is for Counseling Services to constantly improve services to students.Loretta Fiddler, MFT, LADC
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (State of Nevada, 1997) Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor (State of Nevada, 2000)
Loretta has lived in the West since 1975, enjoying both the culture and the natural beauty of the area. Originally from Oklahoma, Loretta earned her Masters in Counseling and Educational Psychology from UNR in l994. She worked in the medical field as a psychotherapist, both inpatient and outpatient, for a decade prior to returning to UNR and the Counseling Center. She is the mother of a college graduate, and a UNR junior.
Loretta’s areas of specialty include: Marriage and Family Therapy, Dual Disorders, Addiction, Grief/Loss, Trauma, and mood disorders.
Dave Kemppainen, Ph.D.
Counseling Psychologist
Dr. Dave Kemppainen is an enrolled member of the Keweenaw Bay Band of Chippewa in Upper Michigan on Lake Superior. He has been a Psychologist with UNR Counseling Se
rvices since August 1, 2006. He earned his doctorate in 1995 in Counseling Psychology from the University of Oklahoma, Norman. Dave also has a Master in Public Administration degree (with a Native American Studies minor) from Montana State University and a Bachelor’s degree from East Texas State University, Commerce. He is the University Faculty Representative for the UNR Native American Alumni Chapter and an active Powwow Committee member. Dave has been married for 18 years, as of 12/23/2007 (married w/o children). Dave enjoys officiating volleyball and basketball, running regularly, and golfing. Most recently, he has been handcrafting Native American drums and rattles.
Cynthia Marczynski, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Cindy Marczynski came to UNR Counseling Services in June 2007, from Washington State University Counseling Services, where she worked for the previous ten years. Originally from the Midwest, Cindy has a B.S. degree from Black Hills State College in Spearfish, SD, an M.A. from the University of South Dakota, and a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Washington State University.
In addition to previous specializations in clinical training and in testing and assessment, Cindy’s professional interests include working with grief and loss, anxiety-related disorders, and suicide prevention. She and her husband have both a son and a daughter currently in college. Cindy is especially enjoying the Reno area for its variety of activities involving snow, dirt, or water (but not mud). Not that she’s really phobic about mud, unless it’s really squishy…
Diane Moyle Phenix, MSW, LCSW
Licensed Clinical Social Worker (University of Nevada, 1994)
Diane has lived most of the last thirty years in the Sierras and the Reno area, having originally resided on the Northern Californian coast just north of San Francisco. She is an avid outdoors person who delights in exploring nature with a particular love of water, the high mountain areas, and organic gardening. Music and reading are passions as are all life experiences that nurture growth and also a positive connection with others. Having a wide range of clinical experience with diverse individuals and groups in both the San Francisco Bay Area and the Reno Area, her counseling approach tends to be strength-based, holistic and integrated in nature. She works with students individually, in couples, and in groups and enjoys working with a variety of personal growth issues. She also assists students in linking and networking resources in the off-campus community.
Jacque Pistorello, Ph.D.
Counseling Psychologist
Jacqueline Pistorello, Ph.D., is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, who completed both her undergraduate and graduate degrees here at UNR, with her internship being conducted at Brown University. Dr. Pistorello is well known for her expertise in two third wave cognitive-behavioral approaches: Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). She has spent the last decade as a practitioner-scientist on staff at Counseling Services, conducting therapy and supervision with, as well as investigating the utility of, these two approaches to the treatment of college students. She was awarded a half a million dollar grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to study the treatment of college students struggling with suicidality and self-injury and has recently focused her efforts on understanding the prevention of mental health problems in college students. Dr. Pistorello is enthusiastic about helping our UNR students follow their goals and lead value-based lives, empowering students from traditionally underprivileged backgrounds, and supervising trainees as well. Some of the groups she has run at CS in the past include coping skills groups on mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, emotional regulation, and distress tolerance, as well as groups focused on getting the life you want through acceptance and values clarification.
Garry Rubinstein, M.A., LADC
Coordinator, Substance Abuse Treatment Programs
Garry grew up in the “east coast,” and moved to Nevada in 1974.He began providing alcohol 
and other drug prevention, education, and treatment services for UNR and its students in 1979, and has been a part of Counseling Services since 1989.He enjoys outdoor and athletic activities, and has a strong interest in health and science. His counseling style is “integrated,” and it is his intention to provide each student with a safe and confidential opportunity to discuss her/his concerns in regards to alcohol and other drugs. He provides intervention, assessment, individual and group counseling services.
Masao Tsuru, Psy.D.
Clinical Psychologist (The Wright Institute in Berkeley, California, 2004)
Masao is a newcomer to the Reno area as he joined Counseling Services in 2005. Outside of 
Nevada, he has lived in California and New York, but was born and raised in Japan. While in Japan, Masao was involved in competitive surfing. Although he won’t be able to surf in Reno, he is excited about the opportunity to snow board, ski, and kayak. Masao enjoys working on the UNR campus. His counseling interests include personality and character styles; mind and body; self-identity and relationship issues; separation, loss and grief; expectation, self-esteem and confidence; dissatisfaction, disappointment and self-indulgence; intense emotion, ruminative obsession and impulsive acting-out.
Shernaaz M. Webster, Ph.D., MFT
Ph.D. Educational Psychology (University of California, Berkeley, 1988)
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (State of Nevada, 2000)
Shernaaz has been a therapist at Counseling Services since 2002. She has broad counseling interests, including working with students from diverse cultural backgrounds. Shernaaz herself is the product of many cultures. She grew up in a small town in India, and first came to the US as a student in 1980. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in Educational Psychology, with a specialization in personality and stress management
. From Berkeley she moved to Cambridge, England where she taught and counseled for six years. She moved to Reno in 1994 and since then has been a frequent lecturer at the university for courses in Psychology. In her free time, Shernaaz loves the outdoors, travel, photography, and cooking gourmet health foods. She has experience and interests in stress management and holistic health, ADD/ADHD, relationship and family issues, motivation and personal growth, as well as expertise in diversity and intercultural issues. Shernaaz uses an integrative approach that draws on eastern and western perspectives in counseling, and believes in helping students to build on their intrinsic strengths to reach their full potential both academically and personally.
