Baker, Lauren

Foster, Garett

Jones, Daniel

Lee, Kerry

Spalding, Kelsey

Turner, Andrew Kirby

The Psychology Department congratulates the following faculty members for their recent recognitions for their outstanding teaching and mentoring!

Dr. Fred Shaffer (Outstanding Research Mentor of the Year), Dr. Rob Tigner (ODK’s Faculty Hall of Fame), Dr. Teri Heckert (finalist, Educator of the Year), Professor Sal Costa (semi-finalist, Educator of the Year)

Six oral and seven poster presentations were given at the Student Research Conference on Tuesday, April 16th. Psychology major, Sarah Jo David is pictured here presenting her poster titled “How Much Does Quality of Life Improve for Panic Disorder Patients Receiving Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy? A Meta-Analysis”  Dr. Jeffery Vittengl served as Faculty Mentor.

Recently, psychology professor Dr. Sherri Palmer served on a panel on the future of LGBTQ rights sponsored by the Students For Social Change. Other members of the panel were Dr. Anton Weisstein (biology), Dr. Paul Parker (political science), Dr. Mike Ashcraft (philosophy & religion), Aaron Malin (executive director of Missourians for Equality and president of Student Government), and Brandon Eychaner (president of Prism).

Psychology students Jabari Allen, Evan Fluty, Joseph Gregory, Daniel Jones, Alexander Kane, Max McDermott, David Schultz, Teresa Vodopest, and Chris Zerr presented three oral papers and three posters at the 44th Annual Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback Conference in Portland, Oregon March 14-16, 2013.

One of the studies, ‘Can Heartfelt Emotion Facilitate Autonomic Recovery from a Math Stress?’ was selected as one of four citation papers during the conference. In addition, students presented ‘Do the Left and Right Hands Differ in Responsiveness to Experimental Stressors?’ and ‘Can Heartfelt Emotion Attenuate the Autonomic Effects of a Math Stressor?’.

Additionally, Dr. Shaffer served as the program chair for the conference.

The psychology department is offering many exciting classes this summer and during May and August Interim! A majority of these classes are completely online, meaning that students can take them even if they don’t plan on spending their summer in Kirksville. The course catalog for the Summer can be viewed here.

Join psychology club on the following dates this semester! All meetings are at 7PM in MG 1000.

February 27th – Abnormal Psychology
March 6th – Forensic Psychology
March 20th – The Psychology of Parenting
April 10th – The Psychology of Lying
April 24th – Psych Game Night and Elections

Top: Dr. J. Vittengl, Dr. T. Palmer, Dr. Conner, Dr. Hatala, Dr. S. Palmer
Bottom: Dr. K. Vittengl, Dr. Tigner, Prof. Costa, Dr. Heckert, Dr. Breault, Dr. Shaffer

The psychology department faculty wish all students, prospective students, and alumni a happy holiday season. To all students-good luck on your finals!

Truman student, Erin Land, is currently interning with Mental Health America-Eastern Missouri, an organization that helps those living with mental illness. She describes the internship as being the greatest experience that she could possibly ask for and highly recommends it to other Truman students. Congratulations to Erin on her success in this position!

Truman student Erin Land thrives while working at MHA