The University of St. Thomas

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 Psychology Department
Notable Accomplishments

  • In 2008-2009, we were able to send 6 students to national or regional conferences to report on research undertaken with faculty mentors; the overall number of students who co-authored conference papers with our faculty this year was 16. 
  • John Tauer and John Kingsbury (now in a PhD program at Dartmouth) published their work:  Kingsbury*, J.H., & Tauer, J.M. (2009).  The ESPN Effect:  How Slam Affect Individualism, Competitiveness, and Optimism.  International Journal of Sport Communication, 2, 21-35.  
  • Elise Amel, Britain Scott and Christie Manning had their article published as the lead article in the new journal Ecopsychology: Amel, E.L., Manning, C.M. & Scott, B.A. (2009).  Mindfulness and sustainable behavior:  Pondering attention and awareness as means for being green.  Ecopsychology, 1 (1), 14-25. 
  • A paper co-authored by Dr. Ann Johnson and Dr. Elizabeth Johnston of Sarah Lawrence College (Johnston, E. and Johnson, A., 2008, "Searching for the second generation of American women psychologists") and published in the journal History of Psychology was recently selected as best article to appear in that journal in 2008, awarded by APA Division 26, the Society for the History of Psychology. 
  • In May, three psychology faculty members and four current and former students, presented collaborative research at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science in San Francisco,  Dr. John Tauer, philosophy professor Dr. Steve Laumakis, former psycholgy major John Kingsbury and current student Sara Padley presented their study:  "The Effects of Inquiry-Based Learning and Achievement Goals on Student Motivation and Performance."  In addition, Dr. Mary Anne Chalkley presented her collaborative study with former student Erin Droege, "Head Start's Short-Term and Long-Term Impact on Material Attitudes," and student Annie Gatto was first author on a paper co-authored by Dr. Chalkley and Dr. AnnMarie Thomas of Engineering, "as Parents Age:  A Qualitative Examination of Communication in Healthy Families."  Finally, Dr. Ann Johnson was an invited member of a symposium panel on the "History of Women ini Psychology" and presented a paper, "Women in the History of Psychology:  The Classic History."  The symposium is summarized here:  http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/getArticle.cfm?id=2521
  • In addition, our faculty worked with 3 student recipients of Young Scholars awards, one student with a Luann Dummer Center for Women research grant, and 3 McNair Scholars on various research projects.  Finally, 48 majors presented their research at the annual Minnesota Undergraduate Research Conference held at the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, MN this Spring.