Chair Communications
I have good news to share with the department this month, which once again highlights the success and accomplishments of both of our faculty and our graduates.
To begin with, Professor Rich Lee has been awarded a McKnight Distinguished University Professorship for his outstanding programs of research on diversity issues. This is one of the highest research-based honors that can be bestowed on a faculty member at the university. In addition, Professor Marti Hope Gonzales is the recipient of the Arthur “Red” Motley award. This honor is one of the highest honors that can be given to exceptional teachers who have consistently excelled in our undergraduate education mission. Please join me in congratulating both Rich and Marti for these major accomplishments!
On the “graduates” side, our 2019 Distinguished Undergraduate Alumni Award winner is Dr. Scott Plous, who is a professor at Wesleyan University. Dr. Plous will receive his award and speak at the Undergraduate Celebration on the afternoon of May 3. Our 2019 Distinguished Graduate Alumni Award winner is Dr. Ronald Petersen, who works at Mayo Clinic. We are hoping that Dr. Petersen will be able to attend the Graduate Celebration on May 2 to receive his award. Further information about these two events is shared below.
I'd like to thank Professor Mark Snyder and the Alumni Awards Committee for all the work they did to identify these award winners.
Finally, with regard to the staff, our long-time Grant and Contract Administrator, Liz Gates, retired in March. Liz will be deeply missed and we thank her for the many years of service she devoted to the department. Also, we are excited to announce that Anjeanette Roy is joining us as our new Grant and Contract Administrator. Anjeanette most recently worked at Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA) at the University and was, in fact, their designated Grant Administrator for our department. Welcome Anjeanette!
Jeff
Administrative Updates
Effective Monday, April 1, the roles of three department staff members will change. First, Amy Kranz will transition to serve as area support for the Counseling and Quantitative and Psychometric Methods (QPM) areas. For now, Amy will continue to office out of N555. Second, Siobhán Swiderski will transition out of the Central Office into area support for the Cognitive and Brain Science (CAB), Industrial/Organizational (I/O), and Social areas. Siobhán's new office will be in N307. Finally, Amanda Schmit will transition from area support to the Central Office in N218 to serve as our new Office and Communications Manager. We are currently interviewing candidates to replace Amanda as area support for Clinical Science and Psychopathology Research (CSPR); Personality, Individual Differences, and Behavior Genetics (PIB); and Biological Psychopathology (BP). Amanda will continue to assist with support for those three areas until a new staff member is hired and trained. Questions? Contact Holley Locher, loche007@umn.edu.
Awards and Accomplishments
Associate Professor Moin Syed (PIB) has received a CLA Talle Faculty Research Award for the project, "Facilitating Open Science in Ethnic Minority Psychology." The project will involve archival analysis, new data collection on current practices, and the establishment of an online network for data sharing.
Emeritus Professor Gloria Leon gave the leadoff presentation at the A Brighter U, CLA in Space event at the Bell Museum on February 28, 2019. The title of her talk was Enhancing Human Performance in Space.
CAB grad student Nilsu Atilgan has been awarded a Science Communication Fellowship from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO). This fellowship aims to train young scientists to become more effective communicators of vision research to all audiences. The recipients of this fellowship participate in several science communication events during the one-year program and are invited to be a trainer for next year's class. The first event will be held on April 30 in Vancouver at the ARVO annual meeting.
Featured Profile for the Graduate School
Jill Fish Ph.D. candidate in Counseling Psychology in the College of Liberal Arts on the Twin Cities campus and 2018 Scholarly Excellence in Equity and Diversity (SEED) Award winner is featured on the Graduate School website.
PSYIT
ZOOM Video Conferencing
Today, April 1, OIT released the video-conferencing tool ZOOM. Here are the 5 reasons for everyone at the U of M to use zoom.umn.edu:
- ZOOM replaces WebEx. Compared to WebEx, ZOOM is very intuitive yet very powerful.
- ZOOM provides high-quality video streaming and recording
- ZOOM scores high in usability and accessibility. It even offers live captioning.
- ZOOM will be integrated into Canvas and our Google Calendars (with one click ZOOM invitations can be added to any event).
- Psychology IT received a small grant from the college to purchase webcams for use by small groups -
- research lab meetings
- project huddles
- meetings with international partners
- online office hours for students
On Thursday, April 25, at noon we will facilitate a D2T (Driven to Tech) to experience ZOOM and learn more about its unique features. Join us in person or online. Invitations will follow via email.
For questions, please contact Carla Bates or Silke Moeller <psyit@umn.edu>, N211 Elliott.
Upcoming Events
Research in Psychology Fair
Thursday, April 11, 2019, 1:00 pm- 3:00 pm
Cost: Free
Location: Elliott Hall 6th Floor
Psychology undergraduate students, stop by the 6th Floor of Elliott Hall anytime between 1:00- 3:00 pm on Thursday, April 11th to learn about psychology research opportunities! Representatives from psychology research labs, UROP, and Psychology Advising will be available to answer your questions. This event is specifically recommended for Psychology BS majors planning to complete the capstone during the 2019-20 academic year, but all students interested in learning more about psychology research opportunities are welcome.
Psychology Undergraduate Celebration in May!
Friday, May 3rd, 2019 from 4:00pm - 6:00pm
Campus Club - Coffman Memorial Union
May 2019 Graduates, Award Winners, and the 2019 Distinguished Undergraduate Award winner, Dr. Scott Plous.
Official RSVP invitations will be sent out next week to all members of the Psychology Department - please come recognize and celebrate our Psychology Undergraduates with us!
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Sent by Department of Psychology Chair's Office to all Psychology Faculty, Staff and Graduate Students.