Saturday, March 1, 2014

March 2014

Administrative Updates & Announcements


Kate Klosterman, administrative staff member in the Department's Central Office, has accepted an administrative position with the School of Statistics. As she starts her appointment in Statistics, she will continue to assist Psychology in the Central Office until her replacement is hired. We thank Kate for her service and wish her well in her new appointment.


Awards & Accomplishments


Professor Emeritus Irv Gottesman will receive the Joseph Zubin Award on March 6 in New York City. The award is granted by the American Psychopathological Association (APPA) and is awarded to psychologists who have made seminal contributions to psychopathology research and who have stimulated the work and thinking of others. A description of the award can be found on the APPA's website: http://www.appassn.org/awards.html. A list of past winners can be found here. Congratulations to Irv on this prestigious honor!

An upcoming article in Psychological Science by Graduate Student Michal Reifen Tagar, Associate Professor Christopher Federico, alum Steven Ludeke, and Associate Professor Melissa Koenig was reviewed in the Huffington Post.


Graduated


Congratulations to our January 2014 Ph.D. graduates!

Cornelia Iucha
Area: Clinical 
Advisor: William Iacono
Dissertation Title: Risk of Adolescent Depression in Youth with ADHD: a Longitudinal Twin Investigation.

Upcoming Events


Dr. Kory Floyd, Arizona State University
"The Importance of Being Prosocial: Communication, Health, and Well-Being"
Monday, March 24, 2014
1:00 - 2:00 p.m.
N639 Elliott Hall
Abstract:
This presentation explains the connection between interpersonal communication and the health of individuals and relationships. Dr. Kory Floyd of Arizona State University has spent several years exploring how prosocial communication, such as the expression of affection, benefits physical and mental health and the stability of close relationships. He will describe how positive, intimate communication leads to personal and interpersonal wellness and how individuals can use this information to maximize well-being in their own lives and relationships.

Dr. Patricia Frazier, Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota
"Control Your Stress!"
Thursday, March 27, 2014
4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
402 Walter Library
Abstract:
This talk with provide an overview of Dr. Frazier's translational program of research on the role of perceived control in coping with stressful life events from initial theoretical work to the recent development of an online intervention to increase perceived control. Much of the talk will focus on the online intervention, which has now been tested with more than 1,000 students and found to be effective in reducing perceived stress and symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Dr. Eli Finkel, Northwestern University
"The Suffocation of Marriage"
Thursday, April 3, 2014
4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
N639 Elliott Hall
Abstract:

This presentation distills insights from historical, sociological, and psychological analyses of marriage to develop the suffocation model of marriage in America. According to this model, contemporary Americans ask their marriage to help them fulfill their physiological and safety needs much less than in the past, but they ask it to help them fulfill their esteem and self-actualization needs much more than in the past. These changes require increased investment of time and psychological resources to foster the relational bond, but most Americans are investing less in their marriage, not more. As a result, mean levels of marital quality and personal well-being are declining. 

Saturday, February 1, 2014

February 2014

Administrative Updates & Announcements


Nate Helwig has accepted the offer to join our faculty. He will be joining us as an Assistant Professor in the Fall of 2014, splitting his time between the Department of Psychology and the School of Statistics. Psychology will serve as his tenure home. If you would like to contact Nate, his email address is: nhelwig2@illinois.edu. We are thrilled at this very positive outcome! Thank you to everyone who participated in the search and hiring process. Special thanks to Niels Waller, Chris Federico, and Paul Sackett, who were Psychology's representatives on the search committee.

Psychology Undergraduate Advising is pleased to welcome a new staff member for Spring Semester 2014! Rima Ali, a junior psychology honors major, will be joining our team as a Student Office Assistant. Welcome, Rima!

Available RA Database
If you are looking for an undergraduate research assistant, check out the Available RA Database. The database contains information about undergraduates who are interested in conducting research in the department. You can examine students' interests, backgrounds, and previous experience to find someone who is a good fit for your research. The database contains only names and information collected since the end of the Fall 2013 Semester. Contact Mark Stellmack (stell006@umn.edu) to obtain a copy of the database.


Awards & Accomplishments


Professor Paul Sackett and his collaborator Professor Filip Lievens, of the University of Ghent, Belgium, have been selected as the 2014 recipients of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology's Jeanneret Award for Excellence in the Study of Individual or Group Assessment for their paper "The validity of interpersonal skills assessment via situational judgment tests for predicting academic success and job performance", published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

Graduate students Jack Kostal and Brenton Wiernik, and Professor Deniz Ones, received the Best International Paper award from the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Their paper is entitled, "Developing cross-cultural personality norms: Which grouping method is appropriate?". The paper was written in collaboration with Minnesota Ph.D. alumna Dr. Joy Hazucha.

Graduate students Jack Kostal and Brenton Wiernik received the John C. Flanagan award for best student paper from the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Their paper is entitled, "Developing cross-cultural personality norms: Which grouping method is appropriate?" The paper was written in collaboration with Professor Deniz Ones and Minnesota Ph.D. alumna Dr. Joy Hazucha.


Graduated


Congratulations to our December 2013 Ph.D. graduates!

Adam Beatty
Area: Industrial/Organizational 
Advisor: Paul Sackett
Dissertation Title: A Critical Review of Empirical and Rational Strategies for Item Selection and Keying for Biographical Data Inventories.

Stephanie Cantu
Area: Social
Advisor: Jeffry Simpson & Traci Mann
Dissertation Title: When are women especially attracted to attractive men?: Human mate preferences in a pathogen prevalent ecology.

Steven Nydick 
Area: Quantitative/Psychometric Methods
Advisor: Niels Waller
Dissertation Title: Multidimensional Mastery Testing with CAT.


Grants


Congratulations to Associate Professor Yuhong Jiang who was recently awarded funding by the National Institute of Mental Health for her project, "Attentional guidance by implicit learning and explicit goals."

Assistant Professor Moin Syed, faculty member in the Counseling Area, was chosen to receive a 2014-15 Imagine Fund Annual Award in the amount of $5,000. The Imagine Fund awards were established to provide competitive financial support for faculty in the arts, design, and humanities, but social scientists are also able to apply. Congratulations to Moin on this achievement!

The Minnesota Center for Twin and Family Research recently received a 5-year renewal of their R37 grant from NIH. This grant supports the MCTFR's longest-running longitudinal study entitled A Twin/Family Study of Vulnerability to Substance Abuse, which began in 1987. The award is over $3.5 million which will be implemented through the end of 2018. The award will be used expand this longitudinal study to include both males and females who will undergo a MRI scan at the U's CMRR, and the renewal will also be used to continue the use of psychophysiology lab and interview protocols.

The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) provides grants of up to $1,700 for undergraduates either to work with a faculty member on her/his scholarly or creative project or to carry out a project of the student's own design in close collaboration with a faculty sponsor. UROP projects are an ideal way to bring together the University's research and teaching missions, and the program is well funded, providing over 100 grants for CLA students every year. CLA's UROP contact is Wendy Nicholson-Kotas (nicho421@umn.edu or 612-624-4368), who is willing to speak with groups of faculty and/or students about this program and can serve as a resource to answer questions. Students submit their electronic application at www.urop.umn.edu. The due date for UROP applications for summer and fall 2014 projects is February 24, 2014.


Upcoming Events


Assistant Professor Moin Syed will present a talk titled "The Cultural Psychology of Storytelling" at CLA's "A Brighter U" alumni event on Saturday 2/22/14 at Coffman Memorial Union. This year's signature alumni event will open with a lunch buffet and three of CLA's superstar faculty in a panel discussion on human rights. Guests will then attend two small group sessions, selecting from an array of intriguing topics. Professor Syed will discuss how we explore the form and content of the stories that people tell about their lives, and how these culturally grounded stories are indicative of the psychologies of the individuals, groups, and societies who produce them. Register online by Friday 2/14/14.

This year's Welcome Weekend will be February 27th - March 1st, 2014. We are excited to be inviting 45 students to visit our campus. Our visiting students will be hosted by current Ph.D. students and faculty. This is a great opportunity for visiting students to experience what it's like to live in Minnesota, and get to know all that the Department of Psychology and Twin Cities have to offer. Our visitors will spend all of Friday, February 28th on campus visiting faculty, students and labs. In the evening, students will take the visitors out on the town for dinner.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

January 2014

Administrative Updates & Announcements



Instructions - Psy 5993 Undergraduate RAs
Faculty/graduate students sponsoring undergraduates for credit-bearing research experience should be aware of the registration procedures posted at this link http://psych.umn.edu/ugrad/researchcontract.html. These instructions apply to undergraduates only (graduate students registering for Psy 5993 are not required to complete a contract). Questions may be directed to Holly Hatch-Surisook, hhatch@umn.edu.

Recruit Research Participants at the 2014 Minnesota State Fair 
The University is excited to announce the launch of a new research facility on the Minnesota State Fairgrounds with support from the Office of the Vice President for Research, the School of Public Health, the School of Medicine, and the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences. The "Driven to Discover" Building will be a University-wide resource for both faculty and student researchers who wish to recruit research subjects from among the fair's 1.7 million yearly visitors. The request for brief, two-page applications to use the space can be found online.


Awards & Accomplishments


Professor Gene Borgida was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Gene was the only University of Minnesota - Twin Cities faculty to achieve this honor and the only social psychologist in the United States within this year's round. In all, the AAAS Council elected 388 members as Fellows across scientific disciplines. These individuals will be recognized for their contributions at the Fellows Forum to be held on 15 February 2014 during the AAAS Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois. Congratulations to Gene on this much-deserved honor!

Professor Rich Lee recently accepted an invitation to serve as the next Editor for Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, which is the official journal for APA Division 45 (Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity, and Race). It is considered the premier psychology journal for ethnic studies. Rich will begin his editorial duties on January 1, 2014.

Professor Jeff Simpson has been elected incoming president of the International Association for Relationship Research (IARR). His 2-year term begins in July of 2014.

Assistant Professor Michael Burman from the University of New England (Department of Psychology CAB area Ph.D., 2006), at the invitation of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, participated in 'Super NEUROScience Saturday' on November 23, 2013 at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. Through demonstrations and hands-on activities, Super NEUROScience Saturday aimed to foster a better understanding of the brain and how it functions, improve student study skills, promote improvements in neurological health, and boost general science literacy among young people. Attendees included students as well as legislators, policymakers and scientists. See this website for details.

An article on the "Name Letter Effect" by graduating senior Max Hui Bai and staff member Kate Briggs that was published in Sentience, the Department of Psychology's undergraduate journal, has been cited in the New Yorker Magazine's "Elements" blog. The blog covers science, technology, and "the things that make up our world." To read the blog. To read Bai and Brigg's article in Sentience.

Staff members Orbe Stricherz and Esther Maruani have been selected to receive CLA Outstanding Service Awards for 2012-13. This recognition includes a monetary award and a certificate of appreciation. Orbe and Esther will be honored at the CLA Staff Appreciation Ceremony on Wednesday, January 22, 2014.


Graduated


Congratulations to our November 2013 Ph.D. graduates!

Marianna Gasperi
Area: Clinical
Advisor: William Iacono
Dissertation Title: Child Maltreatment and Adult Psychopathology: Elucidating the Relationship Though Developmental and Biometric Research

Jana Lynn Higdem
Area: I/O
Advisor: Nathan Kuncel 
Dissertation Title: Making Feedback Compelling: Examining the Format of Written Development Feedback to Promote Feedback Insight and Retention.


Grants


Associate Chair Jonathan Gewirtz, Professor Richard Lee, and Assistant Professor Moin Syed are Fall 2013 Grant-in-Aid Award Recipients.

Grant-in-Aid Information Session
The spring deadline for the Grant-In-Aid is February 10, 2014. Please join us on Tuesday, January 14, 2014 from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. in Room 101 Walter Library for a discussion of the requirements and review process of the Grant-in-Aid program for general (i.e. non-medical) proposals. Any questions about the event can be directed to Anna Brailovsky, CLA Grant Coordinator for the Social Sciences, abrailov@umn.edu. If you are planning to apply for the GIA this spring and plan to attend the information session, please fill out the form.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

December 2013

Administrative Updates & Announcements


Mortensen Travel Awards of up to $500 per student per academic year are available for undergraduate psychology majors who are presenting a poster or paper at an undergraduate research conference or professional psychological conference. Awards are granted on a rolling basis until the available funds are exhausted. Information and application materials are available at http://psych.umn.edu/ugrad/mortensen/travelandresearch.html. Please encourage eligible undergraduates to apply!

New Room Scheduling System 
The University has replaced their old room scheduling system (R25) with Astra Schedule. To view room options within Elliott Hall, click here. Rooms will either have a link to Astra Schedule (which you must use to schedule that room), a link to a Google form, or contact information for a Psychology staff member who will reserve the room for you. The room scheduling page also contains a guide to using Astra Schedule. If you have questions, please contact the Central Office at psymain@umn.edu or (612) 625-2818.

Volunteer Appointments
If you plan to offer anyone a volunteer appointment within our Department, please inform Guillermo De Paz or Heidi Wolff. Due to University legality issues, completion of forms, and in some cases a background check, is required before volunteers may start work. The process – which Guillermo or Heidi will help you with – is detailed at http://cla.umn.edu/intranet/hr/VolunteerAgreements.php


Awards & Accomplishments


Andrew Oxenham's lab is part of the Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience (ACN) network that has been selected for a second time for the European Union's Erasmus Mundus scheme – http://www.uni-leipzig.de/~acn/ – to facilitate exchanges of PhD students and postdocs between European and North American labs. The funding is designed to support stays of between 1 and 10 months in partner labs on the other side of the Atlantic.


Graduated


Congratulations to our October 2013 Ph.D. graduates!

Jeff Jones 
Area: Quantitative/Psychometric Methods 
Advisor: Niels Waller
Dissertation Title: Fungible Weights in Logistic Regression


Visiting Scholars



Yuthika Girme, graduate student in the School of Psychology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand has been invited by Professor Jeff Simpson to visit our Department from January 2014 - May 2014. Ms. Girme will join Professor Simpson's Social Interaction Laboratory and Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaption Laboratory.

Friday, November 1, 2013

November 2013

Administrative Updates & Announcements



Central Office Key Request Procedure Change
The key request form is now online! Students, staff, and faculty can complete and submit the key request form via the Department of Psychology Intranet. The form can be found at here.

To use the electronic form, an x.500 is required. If anyone is requesting a key but does not have an x.500, they will need to complete a paper form. The paper forms will continue to be located in the Central Office (N218).
Supervisors Please Note: Every day the Central Office will look at the key requests submitted and email the corresponding supervisors for approval. Supervisors will only receive one email per day, so please respond promptly. If the Central Office does not receive a response within two business days, they will send another approval request.
If for any reason you will be unable to respond to the approval request emails for an extended period of time, please contact the Central Office to work out a solution.


Awards & Accomplishments



Professor Christopher Federico in the news...
"Gov't Shutdown Science: Why Human Nature Is to Blame" Christopher Federico explains, "People are less likely to compromise and bend when they think that fundamental moral concerns are at stake." (Yahoo! News)

Congratulations to Social Psychology area graduate student Patrick Dwyer (advisor - Professor Mark Snyder) who is the recipient of a Greater Good Science Center Dissertation Research Award in the amount of $10,000 for his project, "Gratitude as Persuasion: Understanding When and Why Gratitude Expressions Facilitate and Inhibit Compliance." This Dissertation Research Award program is part of a larger project at UC Berkeley, Expanding the Science and Practice of Gratitude, funded by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. More information about Patrick's research can be found at here.


Graduated


Congratulations to our September 2013 Ph.D. graduates!

Tiana Bochsler 
Area: CAB 
Advisor: Gordon Legge
Dissertation Title: Perceiving Properties of Indoor Layouts with Impaired Vision

Sandra Shallcross
Area: Counseling
Advisors: Patricia Frazier and Jeffry Simpson
Dissertation Title: Social Support Mediates the Relation between Attachment and Responses to Potentially Traumatic Events

Kara Simon
Area: I/O 
Advisor: Paul Sackett 
Dissertation Title: Team Intelligence and Team Personality Predicting Team Performance

Upcoming Events


Office for Conflict Resolution
Departmental Cultures:
Turning Challenges into Opportunities
November 15, 2013 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
University Campus Club / Rooms A,B,C
How do we create departments that are stimulating, productive, and respectful workplaces?
Celebrating twenty years addressing faculty and staff employment concerns with respect and skill, the University's Office for Conflict Resolution presents a special program focused on practices and strategies that distinguish thriving departments. Following opening remarks by President Eric Kaler, the program offers a panel discussion and audience participation.
Representing departmental, college-wide, and central administrative perspectives, our panelists are:
  • Katrice Albert, Ph.D., Vice President, Office for Equity and Diversity
  • Eugene Borgida, Ph.D, Professor of Psychology & Law, former Department Chair and CLA Associate
  • Dean Nancy Raymond, M.D., Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, Medical School, and Professor of Psychiatry
Join us to learn more about practical, straightforward strategies to promote engaged, productive environments for research and teaching. Attention will be given to customizing practices for academic cultures across the University. While designed for faculty and chairs, the program is open to all and will be live streamed.
Lunch will be provided. To RSVP, please email ocr@umn.edu and inform us of any food allergy, dietary, or other special needs. Co-sponsored by the Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, the College of Liberal Arts, the Office for Equity and Diversity, the Office of Human Resources, and the Student Conflict Resolution Center.


Visiting Scholars



Marion David, graduate student at the University of Lyon in France, has been invited by Professor Andrew Oxenham to visit our Department from December 2013 - May 2014. Ms. David will be participating collaboratively with department researchers in the areas of human auditory perception and neuroscience with particular emphasis on auditory scene analysis.        

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

October 2013

Awards and Accomplishments


Professor Mark Snyder was the invited keynote speaker at the meetings of the social psychology section of the German Association of Psychology, held September 2-4, 2013 in Hagen, Germany. The title of his address was "Caring, Concern, and Community Connection: New Directions in the Study of Pro-Social Action". For media coverage (in German) of his speech, visit here:

Former graduate student Brenton W. McMenamin and Professor Chad J. Marsolek won the 2013 award for Best Article in Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience (a Psychonomic Society publication), for their paper "Can theories of visual representation help to explain asymmetries in amygdala function?"

Tiana Bochsler, a graduate student in the cognitive and brain sciences area, successfully passed her PhD oral defense on September 12th, 2013. The title of her thesis is "Perceiving Properties of Indoor Layouts with Impaired Vision". Her advisor was Gordon Legge. Her dissertation committee included Professors Koutstaal, Kersten, Legge and Yonas. Congratulations to Tiana!


Graduated


Congratulations to our August 2013 Ph.D. graduates!

Samuel M. Hintz
Area: Counseling
Advisor: Patricia Frazier
Dissertation Title: Evaluating an Online Intervention to Increase Present Control over Stress

Reiko Hirai
Area: Counseling 
Advisors: Patricia Frazier and Moin Syed
Dissertation Title: Longitudinal Adjustment Trajectories of International Students and Their Predictors

John Smithe Kim
Area: Social 
Advisors: Jeffry Simpson and Mark Snyder
Dissertation Title: The Influence of Local Sex Ratio on Romantic Relationship Maintenance Processes

Oh Myo Kim
Area: Counseling 
Advisor: Richard Lee
Dissertation Title: Writing the Unknown: An Expressive Writing Intervention for Adopted Korean American Adults

Amanda Koch
Area: I/O
Advisor: Paul Sackett
Dissertation Title: Predicting Undergraduates' Persistence in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Fields

Stephanie Pituc
Area: Counseling 
Advisor: Richard Lee
Dissertation Title: Foreigner objectification, bicultural identity, and psychological adjustment in Asian American college students

James Porter
Area: CSPR 
Advisor: Monica Luciana
Dissertation Title: Cortical and Subcortical Correlates of Emotional Control Across Adolescent Development

Maryhope Howland Rutherford
Area: Social
Advisors: Jeffry Simpson and Traci Mann
Dissertation Title: Attention and Support Visibility in the Receipt of Social Support

Grants


Congratulations to the following for their recently awarded grants!

Bill Iacono
National Institutes of Health
2013-2018 $3,237,730
Adult consequences of youth substance use: Twin study enriched for SUD risk

Bonnie Klimes-Dougan (2 grants)
Mayo Clinic Rochester, Marriott Foundation for People with Disabilities
2013-2014 $31,140
The Pediatric Bipolar Biobank Program

Rich Lee
Wilder Foundation, Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood Initiative
United Way SIF Grant
2013-2014 $16,000
Promise Neighborhood SIF Grant

Angus MacDonald
National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health
2013-2017 $939,577
5/5 Cognitive Neuroscience Task Reliability & Clinical Applications Consortium (renewal)

Andrew Oxenham
National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders 
2013-2018 $1,580,519
Spectro-temporal interactions in electric and acoustic processing and auditory perception

Paul Schrater
Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET)
2013-2015 $98,892
Cognitive Foundations of Economic Microfoundations

David Vachon, Minnesota Center for Twin Family Research
Bob Krueger, Bill Iacono & Matt McGue - Mentors
National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse
NRSA Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Award
2013-2015 $104,733
Identifying modifiable pathways to chronic substance use

Krista Wisner, Clinical Science and Psychopathology Research Program Graduate Student
Angus MacDonald and Kelvin Lim - Mentors
National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health
National Research Service Award (NRSA)
2013-2015 $72,070
Neural Nature of Persecutory Ideation in Schizophrenia

Upcoming Events


Department of Psychology Colloquium
Thursday, October 24, 2013
4:00 – 5:00 p.m. (followed by a short reception)
Mississippi Room, Coffman Memorial Union
Speaker: Stephen Chew, Ph.D.
Why Do Academics Do Research Like Scholars but Teach Like Dummies?
A strange discrepancy exists between how we academics typically think about research and how we think about teaching. When we conduct research, we understand the importance of reviewing the relevant literature and insist on rigorous methods and convincing evidence. When we teach, however, we often act as if there is no literature on teaching, there are no methods for evaluating teaching, and evidence doesn't really matter. Too often we are perfectly content to base our teaching on intuition, untested assumptions and little or no evidence. If we were to conduct research in the same way, we would be guilty of poor scholarship. I will argue that we should approach teaching like we approach scholarship. We should see teaching as an area of applied research, especially those of us in psychology and the social sciences. I will discuss examples of how this approach can advance teaching effectiveness and improve student learning.
About the speaker (from his website):
Stephen L. Chew received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in experimental psychology. He has been professor and chair of psychology at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama since 1993. Trained as a cognitive psychologist, one of his primary research areas is the cognitive basis of effective teaching. He is a recognized authority on teaching research, theory and practice. He has received local and national awards for the quality of his teaching. He is a leader in the scholarship of teaching and learning. His research interests include the use of examples in teaching, the tenacious misconceptions that students bring with them into the classroom, and the role of questions in learning. He regularly serves as a keynote speaker and workshop leader at conferences on teaching in general and on the teaching of psychology in particular. In 2011, Professor Chew was named the 2011 U. S. Professor of the Year for Master's Universities and Colleges by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

2014 Psychology Undergraduate Celebration
Save the Date!
Friday, May 9, 2014
4:00 - 5:30 p.m.
Campus Club, Coffman Memorial Union
Please mark your calendars and plan to attend the annual recognition celebration for psychology undergraduate students. This annual event recognizes our outstanding undergraduate achievements and graduating seniors.
Additional details and RSVP directions will follow later in the academic year.
If there are student accomplishments you believe warrant recognition at this event, please forward details (and/or any questions) to Holly Hatch-Surisook (hhatch@umn.edu). Recognitions may include co-authors on published papers.

Thank you for your support of our undergraduate students

Sunday, September 1, 2013

September 2013

Administrative Updates & Announcements


In 2013, the Clinical Science and Psychopathology Research (CSPR) area of the department (headed by Bob Krueger) applied for and was awarded accreditation by the Psychological Clinical Science Accreditation System (PCSAS). As described on the PCSAS website, "PCSAS was created to promote superior science-centered education and training in clinical psychology, to increase the quality and quantity of clinical scientists contributing to the advancement of public health, and to enhance the scientific knowledge base for mental and behavioral health care." PCSAS is an exciting new approach to accreditation that aims to advance clinical psychology as a discipline based in the scientific method. The accreditation process entailed preparation of an extensive self-study report and a rigorous review process, including a two day in person site visit. CSPR joins a small handful of first-rank doctoral programs in clinical psychology that are now accredited by PCSAS (see http://www.pcsas.org/accredited-programs.php).

Professor Gordon Legge has been appointed Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of Psychology. Although Gordon will serve as DGS for 2013-14, John Campbell will assist in the transition by providing background support as needed. Starting on 9/16/13, please address any DGS-related matters to Gordon at legge@umn.edu. Robin Peterson and Rachel Goeller will continue to assist Gordon in the day-to-day operations of the department as they relate to graduate education.
Psychology Undergraduate Advising is pleased to announce that Kayla Kelsey, who previously served as a peer advisor during her undergraduate career, has returned to their unit. She re-joined the Department in the role of Psychology Advisor in July. Following completion of her dual Honors degree (Psychology B.A., Youth Studies B.S.) in May 2012, Kayla spent a year as an Americorps volunteer at Humboldt High School, working with students on college admissions attainment. Kayla will be bringing her new perspectives on access and success for low income, first generation and underrepresented students to bear in her work with Psychology undergraduate students. Please welcome Kayla back to Elliott Hall!


Awards and Accomplishments


Professor Gene Borgida is the 2013 recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI, Division 9 of APA). This well-deserved award reflects Gene's many contributions to SPSSI, including serving as its President from 2009-2010. Please join us in congratulating Gene on this wonderful acknowledgement of his generous service to the profession.

Professor Gordon Legge has been awarded the Charles F. Prentice Medal by the American Academy of Optometry (AAO). AAO is the academic and research wing of the optometry profession. The Prentice award is the highest award of AAO and recognizes lifetime achievements in vision science. A description of the award and a list of previous winners can be found here: http://www.aaopt.org/About/Prentice. Gordon will receive the award and will deliver a lecture at the awards ceremony at the AAO's annual conference in Seattle in October. Congratulations Gordon! We are very proud of this achievement.

Rachael Klein, a Ph.D. student working with Deniz Ones, had her paper recognized as the best in its stream at the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Conference in Athens, Greece. The paper was titled, "Gender Differences in Environmentally Sustainable Behavior and its Determinants". Rachael also presented her paper, "Cognitive Predictors and Age-based Adverse Impact among Business Executives," at IPAC's annual conference as the recipient of the 2013 James C. Johnson Student Paper Competition Award.


Visiting Scholars


Laura Mezquita Guillamon, Professor at Universit at Jaume I in Spain, has been invited by Professor Bob Krueger to visit our Department from August 2013 - December 2013. Dr. Mezquita Guillamon will be participating collaboratively with department researchers on the studies of personality, psychopathology, structural equation modeling and twin studies.

Asbjørn Nørgaard, Professor at the University of Southern Denmark, has been invited by Professor Matt McGue to visit our Department from August 2013 - July 2014. Dr. Nørgaard will be participating collaboratively with department researchers on personality, human abilities, political psychology, and behavioral genetics research.

Alper Sahin, postdoc at Cankaya University in Turkey, has been invited by Professor Dave Weiss to visit our Department from September 2013 - August 2014. Dr. Sahin will be participating collaboratively with department researchers on the implementation of the important methodology of computerized adaptive testing (CAT) to the improvement of tests used in Turkey for a wide range of applications in education, government, and industry.

Ohad Szepsenwol, postdoc at IDC Herzliya in Israel, has been invited by Professor Jeff Simpson to visit our Department from August 2013 - August 2015. Dr. Szepsenwol will be participating in research projects conducted by the Social Interaction Laboratory and as part of the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation project.