Psychology

This regional conference is an excellent opportunity to hear some about the latest services, social issues and research in the areas of autism, psychology, special education, and other various fields.

These undergraduate students have been working hard over the past year:

• formulating their research questions
• collecting data
• organizing and analyzing data
• writing up their results

As a culminating experience for our undergraduate researchers, two students had the opportunity to complete the research process with the dissemination of their results at this conference. Both students received excellent feedback. We also enjoyed visiting Santa Fe, NM for the first time!

“It was an honor to present our research results at the Four-Corners Association for Behavior Analysis Annual Conference,” student Cheryl Robinson said. “As undergraduates, the conference gave us a glimpse of some of the discoveries behavior analysts have recently contributed to the field of psychology and the questions they wish to answer in the future.

Listening to the numerous presentations covering various disciplines of behavior analysis was enlightening and thought provoking. Presenting our research project, titled Animal-Assisted Therapy in Autism Treatment, was a unique experience that resulted in making the acquaintance of several interesting people through discussing our findings.

We had the opportunity to talk to the majority of the conference attendees and are proud to say that our feedback on the presentation was very positive. The conference was a great way to further our knowledge of behavior analysis and meet some of the leading members of the Association, while having a contributing role as well.”

Robinson, C., Renfro, C., Lugo, A., Schwalbach, J. & Gardner, A.W. (2011). Animal-Assisted Therapy in Autism Treatment. Poster presented at the 4th Annual Four Corners ABA Conference – Santa Fe, NM.

Ashli Benally 

Ashli Benally is from Klagetoh, Arizona, and came to the university for the psychology and criminal justice programs. While here, Ashli was involved in the Student Conservation Association and was a Native American Bible Study leader through the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship association.

In addition, Ashli is a Native American Peer Mentor. Ashli reports that her experience in the Department of Psychology has enhanced her knowledge of the human condition and has given her critical intellectual skills.

“NAU has changed my life,” she said. “Being a student here has given me so many opportunities to work with and reach out to many Native American students, and to encourage them to continue higher education. I became involved in many organizations, and this has opened my eyes to new experiences and perspectives. I completely value what I have learned at NAU, and I will forever use the tools that I have been provided.”

After graduation, Ashli will be fulfilling a life-long dream of moving to New York City. In New York, Ashli will begin preparing for entry into a graduate program. Her career goal is to obtain an advanced degree in counseling or clinical psychology and then to work in the mental health field on the Navajo reservation.

Nicole Greenough

For Nicole Greenough, Northern Arizona University offered a variety of new experiences. Coming from Laguna Hills, California, Nicole thought a medium-sized university in the mountains and forests would be a change from having grown up by the beach.

Beyond her double majors in psychology and criminal justice, Nicole was involved in assisting with the annual HIV testing program offered on campus through the Coconino County Health Department and with PRISM, including serving as the organization’s president.

During the fall 2010 semester, she completed an internship at Victim Witness Services.

Because of her time here, Nicole believes she’s become more independent and—through her experiences with academic course work and a commitment to service organizations that help others—she has been able to realize her own potential to affect change for causes she believes in.

Her commitment to excelling in both of her majors also has led Nicole to believe she’s become more organized; as she said: “It’s nearly impossible not to be organized when you’re taking five classes!”

After graduation Nicole will be entering a graduate program in forensic psychology at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia. Marymount’s highly regarded forensic program offers elite internships at the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department.

Nicole believes that her interests in both psychology and criminal justice can best be merged in a forensic psychology program where she will be trained in the psychology of criminal offenders. Eventually, Nicole would like to work for the Justice Department.

Both Nicole and Ashli graduated in May 2011.

Students were placed at a variety of sites around Flagstaff, including:

• the Guidance Center
• Parenting Arizona
• Victim Witness
• the Women’s Shelter at Northland Family,
• the Exodus Program of the Coconino County Sheriff’s Department

Students who enroll in Psychology 408 are placed in a variety of sites where both the client population and the daily tasks for an intern vary daily (and, sometimes, drastically!).

This semester, interns:

• worked on targeted interventions to prevent self-injurious behavior among children with autism
• provided structured activities and life skill development sessions for women who had experienced intimate partner violence
• taught gymnastics to children in a residential treatment facility

As their final exam, students presented to their peers, faculty from the Department of Psychology, and internship site supervisors, on their internship experience. The luncheon celebrates the many accomplishments that psychology interns have completed during an intense—and rewarding—semester applying their psychology course work into an applied setting.

For further information on Psychology 408C (Fieldwork Experience), contact Dr. Andy Walters.

She worked with four other graduate students on a master’s thesis project focused specifically on assisting a reservation community in Arlee, Montana, develop effective educational materials for a local river restoration trail.

She also worked as an intern at the Valles Caldera National Preserve in New Mexico, where she created interpretative stations for visitors to learn about experimental land management practices, local ecosystems and habitat restoration.

Upon graduation, Brittney plans to return to the Valles Caldera National Preserve and expand the environmental interpretation program she developed during her internship. Eventually she would like to return to school to earn a Doctorate in environmental education and interpretation.

Jen Christopher was accepted to the psychology doctoral program at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Jake Lackow will be attending the Ph.D. clinical program at Hofstra University.

Debra Marcus was accepted into the MA neuroscience program at Southern University of New York at Buffalo.

Jacob Miller was admitted into the European Graduate School MA communication program in Saas-Fee, Switzerland.

Justice Morath has been accepted to Utah State University. He will be pursuing his studies in the Experimental and Applied Psychological Science Program (EAPS) with an emphasis in Cognition, Brain and Behavior in Dr. Kerry Jordan’s Multi-sensory Cognition Lab.

Mike Purcell has been accepted into the Ph.D. program in Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Neuroscience at Colorado State University.

Skye Schenck was admitted to the MA Counseling program at Arizona State University.

Melissa Scott will be attending medical school at Scott University.

David Shade was awarded a FY’ 11-12 Hooper Undergraduate Research Award titled Studying Abroad: The Changes that College Undergraduates Experience in regards to Cultural Awareness and Environmental Sustainability.

Samantha Wells will be attending the industrial/organizational MA psychology program at Florida Institute of Technology.

Matthew Young, a 2010 graduate of NAU, is currently working on a MA Degree in Human Relations and Labor Relations at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. He has just been accepted as an intern with McQuay International as an HR Generalist Intern.

Virginia Blankenship Undergraduate Research Award 

Melissa Nadel won this award, which is given to high-achieving psychology students who have presented their research at a national or regional conference.

Dr. Blankenship, who received the President’s Award and college Outstanding Teacher Award, joined the Northern Arizona University psychology department in 1990 as the department chair and retired in 2009.

William Gibson Outstanding Student in Psychology and Public Service Award

Kaycee De Jong won this award, which recognizes a psychology student who has demonstrated high academic standards and desires to better the community through volunteer activity or public service.

Dr. William Gibson joined the psychology department in 1970 and retired in 2008. He has won the college Outstanding Teacher Award and is active in Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.

Vicki Green Thesis Award

Mike Getchis and James Murray won this award, which provides funds to support psychology graduate students’ thesis work. Vicki Green, an emeritus professor of psychology, served as department chair at the university from 1995 to 2000 and retired from in 2005.

Vicki Green Graduate School Travel Award

Angela Abbott and Kerisa Shelton won this award, which supports psychology majors who have accepted an invitation to interview for placement in a psychology (or closely-related field) graduate program.

Dr. Green desires to facilitate student success and ensure equal access to opportunities that would enrich student educational progress.

Edward C. and Mary E. Mills Scholarship

Lindsay Gardner was awarded this scholarship, which is intended to support a psychology major who has a distinguished record in scholarship and leadership.

Dr. Miller was awarded this distinction because of:

• her positive impact and influence on student learning in a diverse student population
• the reciprocal relationship between her teaching and scholarship
• her campus-wide leadership in undergraduate education

Congratulations and a huge thank you to Michelle for all the work she has done for undergraduate education.

University faculty’s commitment to continuously strengthening teaching is reflected in:

• high student appraisal of university faculty
• strong levels of student satisfaction in surveys such as the National Survey of Student Engagement
• involvement of students in research

Faculty who are designated as the President’s Distinguished Teaching Fellows are teacher scholars whose teaching represents the highest levels of excellence (Quoted from the President’s Distinguished Teaching Fellow).

Dr. Miller will start her term as departmental chair as departmental chair on July 1, 2011. We look forward to her leadership.

Laurie Dickson honored with the President’s Award

Dr. Dickson was honored with this award for her active participation in developing strategies to retain students and was awarded an Arizona Board of Regents Learner-Centered Education grant to redesign Psychology 101: Introduction to Psychology to:

• increase student engagement and achievement
• expand course capacity
• reduce costs

As psychology’s department chair, she took the lead on a major curriculum revision of our undergraduate program, linking important learning outcomes with curriculum structure and opportunity for our department’s undergraduate students.

This revision represented a total overhaul in the course sequence and also the overall vision for the psychology major, requiring the development of new course offerings and substantial expansion of existing course capacity, with no large-scale infusion of additional resources.

As department chair, Dr. Dickson has contributed to the psychology department by bringing about an unprecedented era of faculty engagement and productivity, including a mission to help faculty identify, develop and ultimately fulfill their professional potential.

Dr. Dickson is very active in the advisement of students and is a successful scholar because her research, teaching and service are closely aligned, which extends to multiple positive outcomes in her instruction, mentoring, and student/faculty collaborative research.

Dr. Sydeman and Dr. Miller awarded promotion to full professor

Dr. Sumner Sydeman was promoted to professor and was recognized at the President’s Award ceremony. Building upon his training as a clinical psychologist with expertise in clinical health psychology, Dr. Sydeman’s recent scholarly interests include:

• the impact of negative affect (i.e., anxiety) on health
• psychological factors associated with coronary heart disease
• and the association of behavioral variables (i.e., exercise regimens and smoking status) to clinical and co-morbid outcomes

Dr. Michelle Miller was also promoted to professor and recognized at the President’s Award ceremony. Dr. Miller’s current scholarly interests include:

• pedagogy
• instructional technology
• applied psychology

Her national reputation as a redesign scholar is supported by the integration of her knowledge of cognition and learning and her expertise in redesign efforts.