News & Events

FALL 2012

Blog Entry on "Teaching Tips" Recognized by Johns Hopkins University

A blog entry written by Dr. Jeannie Loeb, one of our Senior Lecturers, was recently featured by Johns Hopkins University Libraries.  The Johns Hopkins article mentions UNC's Center for Faculty Excellence blog on 100+ Tips for Teaching Large Classes. The CFE blog includes Dr. Loeb's "Tip #27: Discourage Cheating by Providing Moral Reminders and Logistical Obstacles," which is chock full of solid suggestions of ways to discourage cheating.

Professor Acknowledged for Involvement in Faculty Engaged Scholars Program

Dr. Patricia Garrett-Peters, Research Assistant Professor in Psychology and an Investigator at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, was recently recognized for her graduation from the Carolina Center for Public Service Faculty Engaged Scholars Program.  Eight scholars, representing various disciplines across campus, were honored at the ceremony for their engaged scholarship and community partnerships.

Click here to view the full article by the Carolina Center for Public Service.

Graduate Student Awarded 2012 Lyle V. Jones Award

James McGinley, quantitative graduate student, was recently presented with the 2012 Lyle V. Jones Award in recognition of outstanding scholarship and citizenship as a graduate student in the L.L. Thurstone Psychometric Laboratory.  Congratulations James!

Phi Beta Kappa Inducts 12 Psychology Students as Members

Phi Beta Kappa membership is open to undergraduates in the College of Arts and Sciences and professional degree programs who meet stringent eligibility requirements.  Less than one percent of all college students qualify, therefore, invitation to membership in Phi Beta Kappa is a reflection of outstanding achievement.  We congratulate the following students on being inducted into this prestigious society this fall and are proud of their academic accomplishments.

Senior Honors Research Grants Awarded to 5 Undergraduate Students

The Department would like to extend its congratulations to the following students who were recent recipients of grants to continue their respective research interests in psychology.  Their demonstrated commitment to the field of psychology is valued.

SPRING 2012 

The American Psychological Foundation (APF) is pleased to announce that Christine Paprocki, M.A. is the recipient of the 2012 Randy Gerson Memorial Grant, which awards up to $6,000 for graduate student projects in family and/or couple dynamics, and/or multi-generational processes.

Christine Paprocki is a graduate student in the clinical psychology doctoral program. She studies the effectiveness of couple-based treatments for a variety of psychological disorders and physical health conditions. Ms. Paprocki will use her Gerson grant to fund dissertation research that will focus on excessive relationship-based reassurance-seeking (e.g., repeatedly asking a partner for affirmations of positive regard in order to reduce anxiety), and developing a brief intervention to address this maladaptive communication pattern in couples.

Congratulations, Christine!

Professor David Penn has been awarded the Linda Wagner-Martin Distinguished Professorship, effective July 1^st. Congratulations, David!

The College of Arts and Sciences has awarded more than $50,000 in grants for Interdisciplinary Initiatives in 2012-13. Jennifer Arnold (Associate Professor, Psychology) and Mark Klinger (Health Sciences) were awarded $10,000 for their project: Speaking Naturally: The Production and Comprehension of Prosody in Individuals With and Without Autism. This project will identify specific language mechanisms that are impaired in children and adolescents with autism. This experiment will support a broader proposal to be submitted to NIH.

The Department of Psychology would like to welcome and introduce our new faculty!

Dr. Steven Buzinski, Lecturer and Director for Undergraduate Research in Psychology, received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Maryland in 2011. An award-winning graduate teaching assistant and Lilly teaching fellow at the University of Maryland, Dr. Buzinski subsequently secured a one-year post-doctoral teaching fellowship at Lebanon Valley College. He now joins the Department of Psychology as a lecturer and the Director of Undergraduate Research. A social psychologist by training, Dr. Buzinski has research interests in self-regulation, prejudice, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. His personal interests in food and travel were facilitated by his love of basketball. After his college basketball career, Dr. Buzinski spent a year as a Washington General, battling the irrepressible Harlem Globetrotters across Europe, Asia, and the United States, amassing a professional record of 0-176 before returning to his academic pursuits.

Dr. Kurt Gray, Assistant Professor, grew up in Canada, completed his undergrad at the University of Waterloo and his Ph.D. at Harvard. He was almost a geophysicist instead of a social psychologist, but a cold night stranded and stalked by lynx in Northern Alberta convinced him otherwise. Unsurprisingly given the title of the lab, he is interested in mind perception and morality. He enjoys surfing and photography, but if forced to choose, would rather do research than either.

Dr. Desiree Griffin, Lecturer and Psychology Club Advisor, is originally from Mobile, Alabama, and she was raised a die-hard Alabama fan. Therefore, it was only natural that she attend the University of Alabama for her undergraduate education. She decided to pursue a doctoral degree in clinical psychology, and stayed at the University of Alabama to work with Stan Brodsky because of his significant contributions to the field of forensic psychology. She and her husband, Michael, moved to Durham, North Carolina in 2010 so she could complete her clinical internship through the UNC Department of Psychiatry. After falling in love with this area they decided to stay and raise their son, Andrew, to be a Tar Heel fan. She took a clinical position with Southern Virginia Mental Health Institute where she worked with individuals receiving treatment after being found not guilty by reason of insanity. Now, she is very excited to begin working as a lecturer in the Psychology Department at UNC where her teaching focus will be on clinical and forensic psychology.

Dr. Kristen Lindquist, Assistant Professor, is a social psychologist with training in social cognition, psychophysiology and neuroscience methods. She received her B.A. from Boston College in 2004 and her Ph.D. from Boston College in 2010. From 2010-2012 she was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University and the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging/Massachusetts General Hospital. She is broadly interested in the basis of human emotion—in answering what emotions are, how they are created by the brain, and how they shape social behavior. Her on-going lines of research are united by the hypothesis that emotions are constructed of more fundamental psychological “ingredients” that are general to all mental states. In this view, emotions arise from the combination of basic affective responses, concept knowledge, and attention. She is interested in how these more basic psychological ingredients interact during the experience and perception of emotions, and in how emotions alter with variation in any ingredient. Her other research interests include questions about the embodied representation of emotion knowledge, how language shapes emotion perception and experience, individual and sex differences in emotional experience, how attention during emotion shapes experience and behavior, and how, more generally, the ingredients that constitute emotions can be mapped to the brain.

Dr. Lilly Shanahan joined the Department of Psychology as an Assistant Professor in the Developmental Program in January. She received her PhD in Human Development and Family Studies at the Pennsylvania State University, and completed post-doctoral work at the Center for Developmental Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Center for Developmental Epidemiology at Duke University. Prior to joining the Department, Lilly was an Assistant Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Dr. Shanahan’s NIMH-funded research focuses on integrating models of psychosocial and biological risk factors in the development of depression and anxiety from childhood to young adulthood.

Jones awarded Ford Fellowship!  
Gaskin, Lee, and Gonzalez get Honorable Mention!

Over 1300 applicants apply to the Ford predoctoral competition for 60 awards across all disciplines.  This national competition recognizes applicants from a broad range of disciplines who have "demonstrated superior academic achievement, are committed to a career in teaching and research at the college or university level, show promise of future achievement as scholars and teachers, and are well prepared to use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students."  Congratulations to Shawn Jones for receiving this prestigious award, and to Daniel Lee, Ashly Gaskin, and Michelle Gonzalez for receiving Honorable Mention!

Abigail Panter, Professor in Quantitative Psychology, was featured in Meet a Tar Heel.

Recent UNC grads present research at UNC-CH's Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research Symposium

Alicia Mullis presented her research at UNC's Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research Symposium on April 16, 2011.  Her poster was selected as one of the four posters to be displayed at the Undergraduate Library. Alicia's project is entitled, "Applying Chaos Theory: Chronic Pain, Music, and Cognition."

Katherine Cullen's poster was also one of the four selected for display at the House Undergraduate Library. She also presented her research at UNC-CH's 13th Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research Symposium on April 16, 2012. Katherine’s project is entitled “Attentional Bias for Food Cues: Differences between Obese and Normal-Weight Individuals.” Congratulations on this fine achievement, Alicia and Katherine!

The RAISE project conducts filming at Evergreen, UNC Psychology Clinic

In January, there was a 5-day film shoot held at the UNC PsychologyEvergreen clinic, directed by Robert Griffiths of FireDancer Productions (Carbondale, CO) and produced by Sharon Shepard-Levine of Twin Start Productions (South Orange, NJ). The shoot was done as part of the Recovery After An Initial Schizophrenia Episode (RAISE) study. The RAISE project is examining the effectiveness of comprehensive treatment services (individual therapy, family therapy, supported employment, and medication management) compared to standard treatment for individuals who have just experienced an initial schizophrenia episode. This study is being conducted in 17 states and aims to recruit over 400 individuals.  It is the largest psychosocial treatment study for first episode psychosis ever funded by NIMH!

Dr. David Penn (Site PI; member of the RAISE executive committee; wearing tie), and Dr. Piper Meyer (Research coordinator; first row on left), with the film crew.  Drs. Penn and Meyer completed the film shoot with members of their lab (Elizabeth Bowman, Ben Buck, Kelsey Ludwig, Charles Olbert and Adrienne Nye).  The aim was to create training videos for the therapy program (Individual Resiliency Therapy; IRT) developed by Drs. Penn and Meyer, and colleagues from RAISE. Hopefully, these videos will be available on the NIMH website, which should facilitate the dissemination of IRT to clinicians around the country.

Audrey Wells’ (Fuchs Lab) recently published paper, "Interaction between the basolateral amygdala and dorsal hippocampus is critical for cocaine memory reconsolidation and subsequent drug context-induced cocaine-seeking behavior in rats" (Learn Mem 2011 Nov), has been selected for a Member of the Faculty of 1000 (F1000) review, which places this work in the top 2% of published articles in biology and medicine. Audrey was also selected for a Society for Neuroscience travel award to attend the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies' annual meeting in Barcelona, Spain. She is one of fifteen students from across North America who were chosen to receive this award. Congratulations on your accomplishments, Audrey!

Jon Abramowitz, Editor-in-Chief, just launched a new journal, Journal of Obsessive Compulsive and Related Disorders.

Heather Lasseter (Fuchs Lab) was awarded a 2012 Dean’s Distinguished Dissertation Award in the area of Social Sciences from The Graduate School.  This is only the second time a graduate student from Psychology has received this award since the award was established. Heather will be honored at the Graduate School’s Annual Student Recognition Celebration on April 3, 2012. Congratulations, Heather!

Kristjen Lundberg (Social) received the 2012 Tanner Teaching Assistants Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.  She will be recognized on Saturday, February 11th during the half-time ceremony at the UNC-Virginia Men’s Basketball game, tip-off scheduled for 1pm in the Dean E. Smith Center. Congratulations, Kristjen!

FALL 2011

NRI scientist, Dr. Carol Cheatham, featured in international public education campaign

Carol Cheatham, Ph.D., developmental cognitive neuroscientist with the UNC Nutrition Research Institute (NRI), was recently invited to appear as featured speaker with an international public education campaign.  The campaign, sponsored by Abbott Nutrition, makers of Similac infant formula, was designed to establish greater awareness of proper nutrition for pregnant women in Vietnam and Singapore.  In her role at the NRI, Cheatham studies the effects of nutrition on memory and attention from prenatal months to preschool years, making her the ideal resource to share the science behind prenatal diet recommendations in this campaign.

Cheatham was warmly received as featured presenter in a lecture tour, which was a primary part of the broader, multi-national education campaign, with the ultimate goal of enhancing infant and child health levels in these countries.

On the tour, Dr. Cheatham addressed health professionals, including OB/GYN Physicians in Singapore and midwives in Vietnam, the primary healthcare support during pregnancy and delivery in that nation.   To help cascade the message even further to the public, Dr. Cheatham and the other lecturers spoke directly to the media in Vietnam, encouraging increased communication throughout the nation about nutrition.

To view the full press release, click here.

Eric Youngstrom, Professor, has been appointed as the Chair of the Child Bipolar Disorders Task Force of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders. Eric has also been designated as one of the three authors on the update of the Practice Parameters for Bipolar Disorder for the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Abramowitz and Prinstein named Editors in Chief

Jon Abramowitz has been named as the inaugural Editor of the Journal of Obsessive Compulsive Disorders, and Mitch Prinstein has been named as the Editor of the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology

Sara Algoe joins the Department as Assistant Professor within the Social Psychology Doctoral Program.

Jenna Clark (Social Program, advisor Melanie Green), Chris Foster(Cognitive Program, advisor Kelly Giovanello), and Nicholas Wagner(Developmental, advisor Martha Cox) are the 2011-2012 recipients of the Chase-Dashiell-Crane Award. This award is intended to be used for research expenses.  Congratulations!

Ryan Jacoby (Clinical Program, advisor Jon Abramowitz) and Elise Rice(Social Program, advisor Barbara Fredrickson) are the 2011-2012 recipients of the Knowles-Dashiell Award. This award is intended to be used for research expenses. Congratulations to you both!

Phi Beta Kappa to induct 18 Psychology students as new members

Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s oldest and most honored of all college honorary societies. New members receive certificates and Phi Beta Kappa keys, the organization’s symbol.  Listed below are 18 Psychology majors who will be inducted into Phi Beta Kappa on November 21^st.

Phi Beta Kappa membership is open to undergraduates in the College of Arts and Sciences and professional degree programs who meet stringent eligibility requirements.  A student who has completed 75 hours of course work with a grade-point average of 3.85 or better (on a 4-point scale) is eligible for membership. Also eligible is any student who has competed 105 hours of course work in the liberal arts and sciences with a 3.75 grade-point average. Grades earned at other universities are not considered. Less than one percent of all college students qualify. Each year, Phi Beta Kappa chapters and alumni associations across the country raise and distribute more than $1 million in awards, scholarships and prizes benefiting high school and college students. Invitation to membership in Phi Beta Kappa is a reflection of outstanding achievement. The Department congratulates the 18 students listed above on this excellent honor.

Hung-Yu Chen received the David Bray Peele Award to support his Honors project, “Interaction of stress and prenatal cocaine exposure on dopamine release and social behavior in adolescent rats.” Kent M. Leealso received this award to support his Honors project, “A psychophysiological investigation into the emotional effects of pain offset.” This research grant honors the memory of David Bray Peele, an Honors student in our Department many years ago. Congratulations to you both!

Barbara Fredrickson, Kenan Distinguished Professor and Director of Social Psychology, has been selected to speak at UNC’s December Commencement ceremony.

Click to view full article.

To view the full address, click here.

Gretchen Sprow (Behavioral Neuroscience, Dr. Todd Thiele, advisor) is the recipient of the 2011-2012 King Research Excellence Award. This award honors Emeritus Professor Richard A. King for his many contributions to our Department over the years, including his lifelong commitment to research excellence.

23 students from Psychology recognized as Public Service Scholars.

Click to learn more about the Carolina Center for Public Service.

Andrea Hussong, Professor, named Director of the Center for Developmental Science.

UNC Opens New Psychology Clinic

The UNC Clinical Program houses four Psychological Service Clinics, located in two buildings on campus, the new Evergreen House and the Finley Psychology Community Center. Our Clinics offer specialty services for Adults, Children/Families, Couples, and individuals with Anxiety Disorders.

Summer 2011

Launched in 2003, the Public Service Scholars Program encourages students to learn about and practice public service and engagement beyond the scope of traditional volunteerism, including organizational service, policy and advocacy work, fundraising and philanthropy. Listed below are the 23 students from the Department of Psychology included in this year's class of 194 students:

* Denotes a double major

To gain designation as a Public Service Scholar, participants must have a minimum grade-point-average, complete at least 300 hours of service, take one-service learning course and attend an orientation and four skills-training workshops. Most of the 2011 PSS graduates exceeded those requirements, on average completing more than 450 hours of service; 10 students reported more than 1,000 hours each, and one student recorded more than 2,000 hours.  These students' efforts are a testament to the difference Carolina students make in communities throughout North Carolina, the nation and the world. We are pleased these outstanding students from Psychology are well represented in this class!

Psychology Lab Manager named a Carolina Covenant Scholar

Teon Brooks, right, manager of the Language, Cognition and Brain Lab of Psychology Professor Peter Gordon, attaches electrodes to a cap worn by Matt Lowder. The electrodes feed electrical activity generated by the neurons of Lowder's brain into a computer, where it can be observed on a monitor.

Eric Youngstrom was appointed to the Review Committee of the Mood Disorders Work Group for the World Health Organization Task Force to produce the 11th Edition of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). This is the international counterpart to the DSM-5 system.

Spring 2011

Jaclyn Hennessey Ford, (Kelly Giovanello, Advisor) and Melissa Jenkins (Eric Youngstrom, Advisor) are the 2011 recipients of the Earl and Barbara Baughman Dissertation Research Award.  This award honors Earl and Barbara Baughman for their many contributions to our Department over the years, and provides partial summer support to these students as they continue their work on their dissertation.  Jaclyn’s research focuses on autobiographical memory retrieval in healthy older adults and older adults diagnosed with mild cognitive impairments (early Alzheimer’s). Jaclyn is specifically interested in identifying circumstances under which older adults do and do not exhibit impairments in their autobiographical memory retrieval relative to young adults. Melissa’s research includes developing and testing the effects of an intervention for improving clinical judgment. Specially, her study will investigate the impact of a new intervention on reducing cognitive-based errors that contribute to the misdiagnosis and over diagnosis of pediatric bipolar disorder.

The Clinical Psychology Program Awards Ceremony was held on Monday, April 25^th in Davie Hall. The Department congratulates each student and faculty member listed below on their achievements:

• John Guerry received the 2011 Martin S. Wallach Award for Outstanding Doctoral Candidate in Clinical Psychology. This award was voted on by faculty.
• Don Baucom and Laney Margolis received the M. David Galinsky Clinical Supervision Award. This award honors mentors who challenge us to think richly, deeply, and flexibly about the art of clinical work and those we aspire to serve. This award was voted on by the outgoing class.
• Carlye Kincaid received the 2011 Rosa Swanson Award. This award is presented annually to the student, staff or faculty member within the Clinical Psychology Program who has helped to foster a warm, supportive, nurturing and enjoyable professional environment. This award was voted on by the entire Clinical Psychology program.
• Ryan Jacoby was named the 2011 David and Maeda Galinsky Fellow. Ryan will begin the Clinical Psychology program in the fall, advised by Dr. Jon Abramowitz.

Robert MacCallum, Professor, is the recipient of the 2011 Division 5 Samuel J. Messick Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award. This award is presented each year to honor an individual who has a long and distinguished history of scientific contributions to Division-5-related areas. Evaluation, Measurement, and Statistics represent the American Psychology Association's Division 5.

Li Cai is the recipient of the Anne Anastasi Award for distinguished early-career contributions. Li worked with Professors MacCallum and Thissen and completed his PhD in the Psychometric Lab in 2009. Li is currently an Assistant Professor at UCLA.

Jeannie Loeb & Erika Bagley receive 2011 Tanner Awards

 Jeannie Loeb, Lecturer and Director for Undergraduate Research in Psychology, was awarded the prestigious 2011 Tanner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching for her outstanding contributions to undergraduate teaching. Erika Bagley, Developmental Graduate Student, was awarded the prestigious 2011 Tanner Teaching Assistants Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching for her outstanding contributions as a Graduate Teaching Assistant to undergraduate teaching. Both recipients were recognized at the February 6th basketball game during the half-time ceremony.

Fall 2010

Phi Beta Kappa inducts 21 Psychology students as new members

 Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest and most honored of all college honorary societies, recently inducted 154 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill students as new members.  New members received certificates and Phi Beta Kappa keys, the organization’s symbol.

Listed below are 21 Psychology majors who were recently inducted into Phi Beta Kappa:

The induction ceremony featured remarks by Carolina alumna Sue Walsh, a Phi Beta Kappa member and director of endowment and stewardship for the Educational Foundation Inc., also known as the Rams Club.

Phi Beta Kappa membership is open to undergraduates in the College of Arts and Sciences and professional degree programs who meet stringent eligibility requirements.  A student who has completed 75 hours of course work with a grade-point average of 3.85 or better (on a 4-point scale) is eligible for membership. Also eligible is any student who has competed 105 hours of course work in the liberal arts and sciences with a 3.75 grade-point average. Grades earned at other universities are not considered. Less than 1 percent of all college students qualify. Invitation to membership in Phi Beta Kappa is a reflection of outstanding achievement. To view the full article, click here.

Nisha Gottfredson awarded 2010 Lyle V. Jones Award

Quantitative graduate student, Nisha Gottfredson, was recently awarded the 2010 Lyle V. Jones Award in recognition of outstanding scholarship and citizenship as a graduate student in the L.L. Thurstone Psychometric Laboratory. Nisha's research focuses on the development and application of statistical models for the study of change over time.

S. Paul Shorkey awarded Rhodes Scholarship

S. Paul Shorkey is a UNC senior majoring in psychology with particular interest in clinical psychology and neuroscience.  His recent work has been examining nonsuicidal self-injury, including both interpersonal and psychophysiological correlates.  He was awarded the Rhodes Scholarship based on his excellent record of academic excellence, campus leadership, and innovation for the field.

Peter Ornstein gives New Student Convocation Address

On August 22, Peter Ornstein delivered the New Student Convocation address. To view the full article, click here.