School Psychology Program

Alumni Notes and News

PsyS

The Psychology Department has approved the use of "PsyS" as the official abbreviation for the Specialist degree.

Since we are not an education program, EdS really has never been a correct abbreviation, but "Specialist" is awkward for use in signatures, etc. The degree is still a Specialist, but the appropriate format for signatures on reports or for business cards for those who have completed the Specialist degree will now be:  Jane Doe, MS, PsyS, or more simply, John Doe, PsyS.  If you have your national school psych certification, NCSP would follow the degree (e.g., Tracy Doe, PsyS, NCSP).  In case you are wondering, according to the APA Manual, one does not need to include periods in degree abbreviations.

Congratulations!

2004

  • Mary Dosch and her family have moved back to the Fargo/Moorhead area from Iowa. Paul is assistant to the president at the North Dakota School of Science in Wahpeton and Mary will be teaching the Assessment/Intervention I class for us this fall while Lisa Stewart is on leave.
  • Tawny Markuson married Bob Anderson on May 29, 2004. Tawny is now Tawny Anderson. She will be working full-time as a school psychologist in Fargo. They are building a house on the Moorhead/Dilworth border. 
  • Tammi Fortney married Jonathan Judd (J.J.) in June, 2004. Tammi will still by Tammi Fortney and continues to serve as the School Psychologist at Moorhead High.

2003-2004

  • Sara (Brunkow) Williams moved back to Fargo-Moorhead after her husband accepted a job with the Fargo Planning office. Sara is working full time for the Moorhead Public Schools.

2002-2003:

  • Chad Lent is moving from Kentucky to the St. Louis, Missouri area.
  • Meagan Stromswold Retterath accepted a job with the Wayzata School District.
  • Casey Coleman was hired by the Minot State University as a faculty member in its School Psychology Program. This year Casey is THE full-time faculty member for that program. Casey completed his doctorate at the University of South Dakota. 

2001-2002:

  • Janet Mohr, formerly school psychologist at Detroit Lakes, was named the school superintendent of the Frazee-Vergas School District.   Jan has held a variety of administrative positions over the years, along with stints as a school psychologist.  We'll miss her as a supervisor, but we wish her the best!
  • Sarah Jensen-Fritz took the school psychology position that Jan Mohr is leaving in Detroit Lakes.  Sarah has been in Thief River Falls the past several years.

Completing the Master's degree

2003-2004:

  • Jamie Berg-Gramer: The Effectiveness of a Phonological Awareness Intervention with Kindergarten Native American Children
  • Realene Olson--A Case Study Review of Social Skills and Language Development in Children with Autism
  • Eric Singer--The Effects of Goal-Orientation, Goal-Setting and Visual Feedback on Academic Performance and Study Strategies

2002-2003:

  • Anderson, Steven J.  Cross-Informant Reliability Between Parents and Teachers on the Social Skills Rating System: A Study on Low Readers.
  • Martinson, David J.  The Relationship of Adult Impulsivity and Inattention to Measures of Processing Speed.
  • Mattke, Amanda M.  Exploring the Bilingual Advantage: Phonological Awareness Skills Among Native English-Speaking Kindergarten Students in a Spanish Immersion Program.
  • Osborn, Christopher T. Concept Mapping and Its Facilitative Influence on Timed-Writing Essays.
  • Welch, Jason L.  Predictive Validity of DIBELS on Oral Reading Fluency for American Indian Students in First Grade.

2001-2002:

  • Peggy Zacher--Thesis topic: "Relationship of English and Spanish Vocabulary with Reading Fluency for Native Spanish Speaking Third Through Fifth Grade Students"
  • Kecia Peters--Thesis topic: "Of Sound Mind: Affective and Evaluative Responses to Music"
  • Theodore Miron--Thesis topic: "An Examination of Curriculum Bias Between Basal Reading Curricula and Standardized Achievement Tests"
  • Kristen McIntyre--Thesis topic: Understanding Children's Firearm Safety Knowledge and Responses to an Unsecured Firearm"
  • Chris Belmont--Thesis topic: "An Investigation of Curriculum-Based Measurement in a Spanish Immersion Program"
  • Jodi Cordes--Thesis topic: "Evaluating the Effectivenenss of Reading Recovery with American Indian First Grade Students"

2000-2001:

  • Meagan Stromswold--Thesis topic: "The Long-Term Effects of Vision Therapy on Students' Academic Achievement," May 2001
  • Gretchen Hagemann--Thesis topic: "Evaluating Early Literacy Assessment Measures for American Indian Elementary Students," April 2001
  • Jessica Rick--Thesis topic: "The Effects of a Self-Monitoring Procedure on the Academic Performance in a General Education Setting Classroom with Adolescents with Disabilities," April 2001
  • Amy Pearson--Thesis topic:   "Predicting Minnesota School Psychologists' Use of Computers:  An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior," December 2000

Completing the Specialist degree

  • Steven Anderson, May 2004
  • David Martinson, May 2004
  • Amanda Mattke, May 2004
  • Christopher Osborn, May 2004
  • Jason Welch, May 2004
  • Chris Belmont, August 2003
  • Jodi Cordes, May 2003
  • Kristen McIntyre, May 2003
  • Kecia Peters, May 2003
  • Peggy Zacher, May 2003
  • Lynnette (Bailey) Borree, October 2002
  • Tammy (Strandberg) Hemmah, October 2002
  • Gretchen Haisman, May 2002
  • Tawny Markuson, May 2002
  • Meagan Stromswold, May 2002
  • Jessica Rick, May 2002
  • Chad Lent, April 2002
  • Amy Pearson, December 2001
  • Marsha Greenmyer-Wagner, May 2001
  • Sara Brunkow, May 2001
  • Michelle Larson, May 2001
  • Jill Roper, May 2001
  • Julie Watkins, May 2001
  • Joel Bartholomay, December 2000
  • Roxana Skokin Uttermark, December 2000

New Babies :)

  • Bailey and Jackson Borree have a new little sister,  Chloe Ann, born March 2, 2005. Proud parents are Lynnette and Karl Borree.
  • Roxana Uttermark and her husband had a baby girl, Sophia Isabella, in September 2004.
  • Lisa and Cooper Stewart travelled to China to pick up their new daughter, Mia Grace, in July, 2004
  • Sara and Mark Williams welcomed a little girl to their family in April, 2004. 
  • Kailey Jean  joined big brother Jared in the Hemmah household on July 16, 2003. Proud parents are Jon and Tammy (Strandberg) Hemmah.
  • Katie (Bakken) Firman and husband, Scott, have a new son. Jack Curtis Firman was born on March 4, 2003. 
  • Dwight Von Schriltz and his wife also have added a Jonah to the family (see Heather Davis below...) as of fall 2002. They are still in the Billings, Montana area.
  • Luke Andrew Larson, son of Michelle (Fredrickson) and Andy Larson was born on August 28th, 2002
  • Heather (Peterson) Davis and husband, Jim, now have a son, Jonah Michael, born May, 2002. They live in Brainerd, MN
  • Adeline Ziegler-Johnson and husband Phil added a daughter, Paloma Rae, to their family as of April 24, 2001.
  • Sarah How and her husband Mark have a new son, Justin Allen, as of March 24, 2001.
  • Katie (Willis) Olson and her husband, Jerry, are happy to announce the birth of their son, Samuel Willis Olson, May 2000.
  • Julie (Hanson) Proehl and her husband, Matthew, a welcomed Joshua to the family on February 13, 2000.

Interesting Tid-bits:

Note: NASP 2005 is in Atlanta from March 29-April 2, 2005.  If you go, let us know!

  • Sources tell us that Jessica Rick and her Army Reserve unit have returned from  service in the Persian Gulf region. 
  • Peg Potter, Lisa Stewart and graduate students Mandy Mattke, Naomi Simonson, Jamie Berg-Gramer, Realene Olson, and Jill Caroline attended NASP 2004 in Dallas. Jamie and Lisa did a presentation based on Jamie's thesis project which involved a phonemic awareness intervention with American Indian kindergarten students. Peg did a presentation (co-authored with Olivia Melroe) on our program's approach to cultural diversity. She also served on an panel discussing NASP accreditation procedures. 
  • Three first year, 4 second year and 1 third year student, along with Olivia Melroe, Peg Potter, and Lisa Stewart attended MSPA in St. Cloud February 27th and 28th, 2003. There also was a good turnout of MSUM alums at the conference. Olivia and Lisa were invited presenters and did a session on the American Indian Education Project based on the presentation they had done earlier this year at MSUM for the Dean's Lecture Series. Milt Dehn '87 did a half day workshop on the new Stanford-Binet 5th Edition. Milt is Director of the School Psychology program at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse. Student registration fees were underwritten in part by MSPA and by the MSUM School Psych Fund. Lisa and Olivia also donated their speakers' fee to future support of student attendance at MSPA.
  • All first and second year students, along with Drs. Rice, Stewart, Nickell, Nawrot, and Potter, and Peg Racek, attended the 2002 Nobel Conference at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter. Also attending was recent grad Gretchen Haisman. The topic of the conference was The Nature of Nuture. Presenters were Jerome Kagan, Eleanor Maccoby, Robert Plomin, Judith Rapport and Nobel Prize winner, Eric Kandel. 
  • NASP 2002 in Chicago:  (taken from the MSUM faculty/staff newsletter) 
    Olivia Melroe, Peg Potter, and Lisa Stewart, along with second year graduate students Chris Belmont, Jodi Cordes,  and Kecia Peters, third year student Gretchen Haisman, and recent graduates Marsha Wagner and Amy Pearson, attended the national conference of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) in Chicago. Potter hosted a discussion session, "Assessment of Culturally Diverse Students: What do YOU think?" Melroe and Stewart did two presentations; the first, "Understanding Language and Pre-Literacy Skills of American Indian Students: Implications for Intervention and Referral" included Cordes as a co-presenter; the second, "Early Literacy and Language Skills of American Indian Students: Measurement Issues and Outcomes" included Haisman as a co-presenter, and was based in part on her Master's thesis. Wagner and Pearson did poster sessions based on their Master's theses. Wagner's poster was, "The Use of a Classroom Contingency System to Decrease Impulsivity Related to Social Skills Performance in Children With ADHD." Pearson's poster (co-authored with Gary Nickell, Psychology) was "A Comparison of Past and Present Use of Computers by School Psychologists." Earlier this semester, the school psychology faculty along with all 13 of the first and second year graduate students attended the Minnesota School Psychologists Association annual conference in Bloomington.  Registration fees for students at both conferences were supported in part through the MSUM School Psychology Fund. Students attending NASP also received support from the President and from the Student Activities Board.
  • Mark Everson, '95, was named the MSPA 2000 school psychologist of the year. 
  • Kevin McGrew, '75.   After years of providing technical support and research on the Woodcock-Johnson, Kevin is now a co-author of the   Woodcock-Johnson Psychoeducational Battery-Third Edition. He also has published extensively on the Gf/Gc model of intelligence and on cross-battery assessment.
  • MSUM was well represented at the annual NASP convention in Washington, DC in April 2001.  Lisa, Olivia, and Peg were there along with three second year students (Gretchen Hagemann, Tawny Markuson, and Jessica Rick) and third year intern Michelle Larson. We did six presentations/posters among us and all went well. We also enjoyed the sights and some fine dining!
  • Marti Vanderpan, '76.'90, and Kathleen Johnson Ness, '83, '90, from East Grand Forks were contributors to the NASP publication, "Crisis Prevention and Response: A Collection of NASP Resources."  Marti and Kathleen put together an excellent piece on the Grand Forks/East Grand Forks flood of 1997.
  • Where's Elizabeth?

Elizabeth Danielson left the program in 1994 to coordinate the university's transition to semesters (among other tasks) as Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs  Three years later she became the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College at Concordia. Elizabeth submitted her resignation to Concordia effective June 2001 in order to join her husband, Scott, who has a position with Arizona State University in Tempe. As of Fall 2002, Elizabeth is once again working as a school psychologist. She is employed by the Mesa school district. Also working as school psychologists for Mesa are Allen Quie ('91, '97), Diane Bartsch ('89) and Melodee Nowatzke ('94).

School Psychology Fund

The next time you get an appeal from the Alumni Association for a contribution, please remember the School Psychology Discretionary Fund.  This is a small fund we've started that we use to help students pay for such things as conference registration fees and some thesis expenses.  For example, in 2000 we awarded $20 each to 12 students to help pay for registration for the MSPA Mid-Winter conference.  In 2001 we were able to grant $35 each to 11 students to attend Hector Ochoa's two day workshop on bilingual assessment at MSPA.  In 2002 we were able to give over $500 distributed among 13 students to help with registration costs for MSPA and NASP. Over the last ten years we've been able to distribute just over $1500 to students.

The fund is totally dependent on faculty and alumni contributions at this point, so any size donation is most welcome.  Contributions may be sent to the MSUM Alumni Foundation, MSUM Box 36, Minnesota State University, Moorhead, MN 56563.  Be sure to specify that the contribution is to go to the "School Psychology Fund."  Please remember us when the Alumni Association calls during their annual phonathon.

Our thanks to those of you who have helped support this fund.