UGA Psychology Department

We are ready to celebrate our graduating seniors! #UGA21

Join us TODAY at 10:30am for our virtual celebration of our 2021 graduates! Live stream here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmYRLDJ28tR5BlWXCiOYkPA

Many congrats to the outstanding faculty, staff, and students who received awards at this year’s (virtual) Department of Psychology Annual Awards Ceremony! A list of our incredible award winners: Psi Chi Awards: - A.S. Edwards Award - Violeta Rodriguez - Graduate Teaching Award -Allison Skinner-Dorkenoo ... - Undergraduate Teaching Award -Trina Cyterski - Best Paper Award -Hannah Wise - Best Poster Award - Alexandra Sanders, Jackie Kimball Faculty & Staff Awards: - Geri Moon Staff Award for Exemplary Service - Tomeka Waller Department Wide Undergraduate Awards: - Judge Horace B. Russell Prize - Abby Knight - William T. James Award - Annabelle E. Armah - David R Shaffer Award - 1st place, Jahi Hamilton; 2nd place, Alex Hines Department Wide Graduate Awards: - Richard L. Marsh Student Mentoring Award - Matthew Gehr - Richard L. Marsh Faculty Mentoring Award -Stephen Miller - CTL Outstanding Teaching Assistants Awards -Brooke Jackson, Katelyn Sanders Clinical Program Graduate Student Awards: - Florene M. Young Award - Ariel Hart - Boardman-Forehand-Jackson Award - Lauren Quast, Kara West - Louise McBee Travel Award - Lauren Quast - Herbert Zimmer Research Scholar Award - Violeta Rodriguez - Turner Clinical Research Award - Molly Hale Clinical Program Faculty Awards: - Research Award - Isha Metzger - Teaching Award - Anne Shaffer - Clinical Supervision Award - Julie van Weelden Behavioral & Brain Sciences Program Graduate Student Awards: - Michael H. Kernis Research Award - Matthew Gehr - Outstanding Publication Award - Beryl Huang - Martha Jo Walker Johnson Memorial Award - Chloe Andre - Charles and Bette Smock Developmental Psychology Award - Kelsey Corallo - Herbert Zimmer Research Scholar Award - Andrew Farkas - Graduate Student Diversity Research Award - Dominique La Barrie - Graduate Student Diversity Leadership Award - Chloe Andre, Jacqueline Newbold, Apoorva Sarmal Behavioral & Brain Sciences Program Faculty Awards: - Outstanding Teaching Award - Drew Abney - Research Mentoring Award - Keith Campbell I-O Program Graduate Student Awards: - Dan Mack Award - Rebecca Harmata - Donald Grant Award - Jorge Lumbreras - Herbert Zimmer Research Scholar Award - Hayley Trainer I-O Program Faculty Awards: - I-O Psychology Organizational Citizenship Award - Lillian Eby - I-O Excellence in Teaching Award - Kristen Shockley

Congratulations to Violeta Rodriguez on her receipt of a P.E.O. Scholar Award! As recognition of her many research accomplishments, this award is given to women in doctoral programs in the US and Canada by the Philanthropic Educational Organization. Violeta J. Rodriguez, a Ph.D. candidate in Psychology at University of Georgia, is one of 100 doctoral students out of 847 nominees in the U.S. and Canada selected to receive a $20,000 Scholar Award from the P.E.O. Sisterhood. She... was sponsored by Chapter BL of Gainesville, Georgia. Violeta is originally from Nicaragua, moved to the US at the age of nine with her family as an asylee, and grew up in Miami, Florida. Violeta is currently a Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellow (2018-2021), a prestigious fellowship managed by the National Academies of Science, Medicine, and Engineering. Violeta’s research has resulted in numerous peer-reviewed manuscripts (74; 19 first author), with several others under review. Broadly, her research at the University of Georgia has focused on the psychometrics of parenting and family constructs, with an emphasis on making parenting and family measures more representative of diverse families. Her research at the University of Georgia has been recognized by the Psychological Association Division 53 (Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology) Student Achievement Award in Research, as well as the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students/Psi Chi Junior Scientist Fellowship. Violeta’s dissertation will focus on revising and validating the Multidimensional Assessment of Parenting Scale in a racially and ethnically diverse national sample. After graduation, Violeta plans to continue this line of research in a university setting. See more

Congratulations to two of our doctoral students for their recent awards from the UGA Graduate School! Kelly Rea received a Communication of Research and Scholarship Award from the Graduate School to support the development and dissemination of an eBook intended to reduce youth anxiety and promote positive coping with pediatric preventative care visits. Chloe Andre received the Dean’s Award to support research on how the sharing of videos of police-involved violence via soci...al media affects the emotional and psychological well-being of Black communities in the U.S. Best of luck to both these students in their important and impactful research projects!

Congratulations to these UGA psychology graduate students receiving their Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Science degrees during Fall 2020 graduation! We are so proud of you! Doctor of Philosophy - Yi Fan, A Method for Assessing the Dimensionality of Unfolding Responses (MP: Nathan Carter)... Master of Science - Brooke Jackson, Probing the Minimally Delayed OcularMotor Response Task in Psychosis (MP: Jennifer McDowell) - Joel Knowles, Daily Life, Depression, and Distancing: Is Nature Always Restorative? (MP: Leonard Martin) - Rose LeFevre-Levy, An Examination of Boundary Management Behaviors and Career Success (MP's: Kristen Shockley and Lillian Eby) - Theresa Reilly, Prevalence of Gambling among Rural, African American Adolescents in the State of Georgia (MP: Adam Goodie)

The Psychology Department was honored to host Dr. Monnica Williams of the University of Ottawa yesterday for a talk discussing her impactful research on microaggressions, and its implications for education and clinical interventions. Thank you for speaking with us! Read more about her important work: http://www.monnicawilliams.com/

We are sad to report that our long-term Psychology academic advisor, Tracey Villaveces, is retiring! Tracey has worked at UGA since *1991* and has been a fixture in our department for most of those 30 years. She has advised countless psych majors and brought much laughter to the 2nd floor. We can hardly imagine our undergraduate program without her! If Tracey has ever helped you with classes or other life issues, please send her an email of appreciation. Congratulations, Tracey! We will miss you.

Clinical psychology faculty member, Dr. Isha Metzger, was recently featured in a Q & A with UGA Research. Dr. Metzger discusses her commitment to helping minority populations cope with racial trauma and reducing mental health disparities within the Black community. Dr. Metzger and the EMPOWER Lab are addressing these issues through several research projects, including a $1 million nationally-funded research project, Project NaviGAte, focused on providing prevention, testing and treatment for trauma, HIV, and substance use in the Atlanta area. Read more about Dr. Metzger's incredible work: https://research.uga.edu//helping-minorities-navigate-rac/

Great feature on UGA Neuroscience graduate student, Colin Gardner, discussing his research on how video games stimulate your brain! Check it out: https://www.gamesradar.com/ive-noticed-a-massive-improveme/