Accomplishments for Academic Year 2006-2007
Some Recent Student Admitted to Graduate or Professional Schools
Cortney Baso, 2007, has been accepted into to the Masters program at the University of Wisconsin Stout in School Psychology
Alexa Hanus, 2007, has been accepted into to the Masters program at the Towson University in Counseling Psychology
Lexi Kvasnicka, 2007, has been admitted to the doctoral program at North Dakota State University in Social/Health Psychology.
Melissa Nitschke, 2007, has been accepted into to the Masters program at the University of Denver in Counseling Psychology
Karin Olson, 2007, has been admitted to the Specialist program at Minnesota State Moorhead in School Psychology
Elise Pforr, 2006, has been admitted to the graduate program at North Dakota State University in Couple and Family Therapy
Courtney Rust, 2006, has been admitted to the graduate program at North Dakota State University in Couple and Family Therapy
Shauna Reimche, 2007, has been admitted to the Specialist program at Minnesota State Moorhead in School Psychology
Brieanne Schmidt, 2007, has been admitted to the Specialist program at Minot State University in School Psychology
Jill Boltjes, 2006, has been admitted to the Masters program at the University of South Dakota in Counseling.
Student Publication
Elise Pforr, a recent 2006 graduate in Psychology, had a paper published in Modern Psychological Studies. Modern Psychological Studies (MPS) is a psychological journal devoted exclusively to publishing manuscripts by undergraduates. Elise’s paper titled "The Importance of Handedness for Females Solving Visual-Spatial Problems" was based on her student research project in Psy 430 (Advanced Experimental Psychology) under the supervision of Dr. Magdalene Chalikia. Elise also presented this project last year at the Spring 2006 Red River Undergraduate Psychology Conference and at the 2006 MSUM Student Academic Conference.
Student Research Award
Psychology undergraduate students Sherryse Mayo, Karin Olson and Brianne Brink have won a Regional Research Award from Psi Chi- the National Honor Society in Psychology- for their submission to the Midwest Psychological Association meeting to be held May 3-5 in Chicago. Their research project, “The development of depth perception from motion parallax in infancy” was one of more than 280 that were reviewed by a panel of three reviewers; only 20 received awards. The students will present their research at the conference during a regular poster session and a special awards session, where they will also receive a certificate and a $300 cash prize. Additional student researchers on this project not traveling to Chicago include Vida Murphy and Shauna Smykowski. The Child Development Lab is under the supervision of Dr. Lisa Nawrot.
Red River Psychology Conference 2007
The 22nd annual Red River Psychology Conference was held at Concordia College on March 25-26, 2007. The keynote speaker was Dr. Janet Shibley Hyde. The following 10 MSUM students presented at the conference.
- Kerry Tennant (Does a bigger belly equal a bigger tip? How tipping behavior changes when a server is pregnant)
- Karin Olson (Racial categorization and the consequences of misinformation on perpetrator identification)
- Katherine Klipfel, Raina Wald, Kim Olson, & Melissa Nitschke (Using relationship vignettes as a measure of relationship difficulty)
- Robert Olson (Correlations of artistic quality with personal liking and artistic skill)
- Kyle Sundberg (Emotional intensity and familiarity as factors in artistic judgments)
- Jason Laub, Christina Masters, & Robert Olson ( Artistic quality as a function of perceived beauty and skill)
Midwestern Psychological Association Conference 2007
Dr. Nawrot and seven students attended and presented at the Midwestern Psychological Association conference in Chicago in May 2007.
- Sherryse Mayo, Karin Olson and Brianne Brink (The development of depth perception from motion parallax in infancy) (Regional Research Award)
- Robert Olson , Jason Laub, & Christina Masters (Personally liking as a predictor of artistic quality)
- Jason Laub, Christina Masters, & Robert Olson ( Artistic quality as a function of perceived beauty and skill)
- Christina Masters, Robert Olson & Jason Laub (Symbolism and interestingness as predictors of Artistic quality)
MSUM Student Academic Conference 2007
The 9th annual Student Academic Conference was held at MSUM on April 11th, 2007. The following MSUM psychology students presented at the conference.
- Kerry Tennant (Does a bigger belly equal a bigger tip? How tipping behavior changes when a server is pregnant)
- Robert Olson (Correlations of artistic quality with personal liking and artistic skill)
- Brianna Johnson (Relations between complexity and quality in works of art)
- Jana Kekic (Correlations of complexity and levels of interestingness in artistic evaluations)
- Jason Laub (Perceived skill and beauty as predictors of artistic quality)
- Raina Wald (Using relationship vignettes as a measure of relationship difficulty)
Northern Lights Conference 2006
Several faculty and students attended and presented at the Northern Lights Conference in Grand Forks, ND in October 2006. The keynote speaker was Dr. Frank Farley.
- Melissa Nitschke, Lexi Kvasnicka, Raina Wald, Brieanna Johnson, & Katherine Klipfel (The Remade Man)
- Robert Olson, Christina Masters & Jason Laub (Perceived skill and liking as a predictor of artistic quality)
- Jason Laub, Robert Olson, & Christina Masters, & Robert Olson (Perceived skill and beauty as predictors of artistic quality)
- Christina Masters, Robert Olson & Jason Laub (Symbolism and interestingness as predictors of artistic quality)
Faculty Research
Dr. Gary Nickell was a co-author of a paper published in the June 2007 issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. The paper titled "The role of work habits in the motivation of food safety behaviors" was based on collaborative research with Dr. Verlin Hinsz from NDSU and Ernest Park who is now at Cleveland State University.
Dr. Gary Nickell was a co-presenter on three poster presentations at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology meeting in Memphis in January 2007. The title of these posters were “Friendly and positive or hostile and negative: Perceptions of interacting alone or together with unknown individuals and groups,” “Regulatory fit theory at work: The relationship between regulatory focus and food safety behavior,” and “Dispositional Disgust as a motivating emotion in food safety.” These research presentations were based on collaborative research with Dr. Verlin Hinsz from NDSU and his students.
Faculty Awards
Dr. Christine Malone was awarded an Excellence in Teaching Award and Dr. Gary Nickell was award an Excellence in Research Award by the Academic Affairs Council on September 26, 2006.