On Monday, September 30 from 4:30 – 6:30 PM there will be an Internship fair held in the Colket Center. This is a wonderful opportunity to find out more about internships offered for the Spring, Summer, and Fall of next year! Internships are a great way to immerse yourself into your field and possible future jobs.
For psychology majors, an internship can be used for credit to fulfill one of three electives. If you are interested in more information regarding how to count an internship for credit check out this link!
No matter for credit or experience, internships are a great way to apply the knowledge you have already learned to a new and different setting, as well as grow a social network that can lead you to possible future careers.
So stop on by the internship fair and learn more about what the Salem and Roanoke area has to offer for students!
Take part in Mindful Mondays On Monday afternoons from 3:00-3:45 in THE WELL (Alumni 216). If you are feeling stressed and looking for a way to relax for a little, this is the place for you! Ms. Laura Leonard will be leading these weekly group sessions to offerinsight on mindfulness-based practices. If you are interested in learning more about mindfulness or are interested in finding new ways to handle stress stop on by! All are welcome and we hope to see you there!
On April 3rd, high achieving students at Roanoke College were presented with awards from their departments as part of the 2019 Academic Awards Ceremony.
“The Academic Awards Ceremony is a time to celebrate some of our top Psychology Majors, as well as leadership in student groups and our two concentrations: Neuroscience and Human Development. We have a lot of hardworking and talented students in our program and I am proud of this year’s award recipients,” said Dr. Buchholz.
This year, the Psychology Department distributed awards to seventeen students overall. These students were:
Cody Dillon-Owens (Senior Scholar; The Jan H. Lynch Human Development Concentration Award; Psi Chi Achievement Award; and the Karl W. Beck Memorial Prize)
Thomas Thomas (Outstanding Junior Psychology Majors)
Kestrel Thorne-Kaunelis (The Charles E. Early Award)
Noelle Warfford (Karl W. Beck Memorial Prize)
Molly Zydel (The Jan H. Lynch Human Development Concentration Award)
When asked for a statement, Dr. Osterman added that “We are all so proud of the accomplishments of our students. It was a pleasure to be able to celebrate all of their hard work and dedication with them at the awards ceremony. We can’t wait to see what they do next.”
On behalf of the Psychology Department, congratulations again to all of our students. You have worked hard and done well and we look forward to seeing what you will achieve in the future!
Earlier this month, newly declared Psychology majors attended the New Majors Orientation and “officially” signed in to the department! If you are a newly declared Psychology major and you have not attended an orientation yet, be sure to lookout for New Majors Orientation dates this upcoming Fall 2019!
Dr. Findley-Van Nostrand was recently able to speak to teachers and students at Andrew Lewis Middle School about bullying and teenage aggression as part of a guest speaker series called “One Book, One School Community.”
As part of a statement, Dr. FVN said:
On Friday, March 29, I spoke to Andrew Lewis Middle School (here in Salem) students and teachers about adolescent aggression and bullying. I was invited to be a speaker as a part of their “one book one school” program. I addressed research on non-traditional forms of bullying, consequences of bullying (for victims, bullies, and others exposed to but not directly involved), individual differences in adolescent aggression, and several common misconceptions about bullying and aggression. Students had great questions and hopefully learned a thing or two!
Riker Lawrence ’21 discusses her experience presenting at the Mid-Atlantic Undergraduate Research Conference below.
Attending the Mid-Atlantic Undergraduate Research Conference last weekend was an interesting experience for me. In the past, I have attended conferences that mainly focused on behavioral science. This conference included multiple different fields of research, so I learned many new concepts in fields such as physics, wood science, and chemistry. I enjoyed learning about information that I wouldn’t normally research on in my specific field. My poster presentation focused on Psychological Capital (PsyCap) and workplace attitudes. Specifically, my lab mate and I examined associations between PsyCap, well-being, and how employees write about their jobs. We also explored the usefulness of Maslow’s (1943) Hierarchy of Needs in coding participants’ writings about their jobs, because his theory can be used to explain human needs. Overall, I thought the conference was well organized and provided a good research experience to undergraduates.
Congratulations to Lawrence for her successful presentation on Psychological Capital and workplace attitudes!
Do you want revenge on your professors? Maybe you just like a bit of fun. Quite possibly, you even like raising money for a good cause.
If any of the above apply to you, then take heed! April 11th at 4 pm on Colket Patio you will get to see 9, yes 9, of our esteemed psych professors get a pie in their face! The kicker? You could be the one that delivers it!
So all professors will be pied regardless, but like last year, the professor with the most donations in their name will get a giant pie. If you make a donation of at least $5, you will get to personally pie the professor of your choice. Instead of one charity this year, there will be 3 charities with each professor being assigned to a team. The team with the most money overall has the profits donated to their charity.
Whether you donate based on professor or charity, revenge or generosity, we hope to see you there! Cash donations can be made to the lock box on the 5th floor and Venmo can be sent to @rcpsych! We will also be tabling in Colket the week prior.
Team 1: Brain Injury Services of SWVA
Dr. Wetmore
Dr. Buchholz
Dr. Allen
Team 2: St. Francis Service Dogs
Dr. Osterman
Dr. Hilton
Dr. Nichols
Team 3: Children’s Trust
Dr. Powell
Dr. FVN
Dr. Carter
If you have any questions, please contact Cody Dillon-Owens, president of Psi Chi.
Beth Macy, Fintel Library on 5 February 2019 (c) Brittney Rowe
On Tuesday, February 5th in Fintel Library as part of Psi Chi’s Q&A, Beth Macy, author of Dopesick, spent some time answering questions and talking with students and faculty.
Snacks and drinks were provided.
The video encapsulates the event, but read on to learn more from Dr. Angela Allen’s perspective.
Beth Macy, the author of the 2018 nonfiction book Dopesick, visited the Roanoke College community for several days in early February. Dopesick is a compelling read about the impact of opioid addiction in several communities and the struggle of those who try, often repeatedly, to cease use. Much has been written about addiction, but this book really brought home the human impact and reminded the reader that the addicts are sons, daughters, parents, siblings who are loved and valued. The book also illustrated how frustrating the treatment process is for the users and their families, especially given that medication-assisted treatment has demonstrably the best outcome but yet meets with a great deal of opposition from many quarters. As a mom myself, I really felt for the parents of users who loved their children and wanted to help them, yet often found themselves overwhelmed and feeling helpless in the process.
Beth Macy talking with group about the opioid crisis, Fintel Library, 5 February 2019 (c) Brittney Rowe
Beth met informally with a group of our psychology students on February 5. She presented a heartfelt account of the opioid crises and how it has impacted the lives of so many Americans. She spoke about the fact that opioid addiction is something that can and does happen to people from every background, illustrating this point with stories of a young local woman from a well-off family who became addicted after taking opioids medicinally and ultimately met a tragic end. She spoke passionately about how misconceptions of addiction and of medication as treatment for addiction are limiting the options for people who are addicted, and that it is often literally a life or death situation. Students asked her what they could do to help, and she talked about being politically involved, educating people about medication as a treatment for addiction, and even learning how to carry and use the opioid antagonist Narcan. My own students later commented that they had not realized how difficult treatment can be to access and that drug courts and needle exchanges could have real benefits to users as well as the communities around them. While reading about these addiction and treatment is very informative, it was a great experience to hear directly from Beth and to be able to ask questions. It would be fantastic if the community can use the information from this experience to improve the lots of users and their families.
Beth Macy and a student, Fintel Library on the 5 February, 2019 (c) Brittney Rowe
Last semester, psychology students gathered on the first floor of Fintel Library to present their research findings as well as to discuss their internship experiences from that semester.
The first floor was packed with students and professors milling around, listening to students’ presentations during the open block.
Student Lauren Furlow reported that all sixteen boxes of pizza disappeared within eleven minutes of the event’s start.
Mrs. Ellen Dyer, secretary of the Biology and Psychology Departments, confirmed this report.
Overall, the Fall 2018 Psychology Research Poster Session was a great success! Thank you to everyone who presented or came to listen. We look forward to seeing what interesting projects will be presented in the semesters to come!
Interested in psychology, human development, or neuroscience?
Then an upcoming talk at the nearby Virginia Tech Research Institute (VTCRI) on November 29th at 5:30 pm might be of interest to you!
The talk, titled “Synapses Lost and Found: Developmental Critical Periods and Alzheimer’s Disease”, is part of the VTCRI Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture series, will be given by Stanford’s Dr. Carla Shatz.
As the talk relates to neuroscience and human development, the psychology department is encouraging and organizing students in multiple classes and in the Neuroscience Concentration and the Human Development Concentration to attend.
The psychology department can provide transportation for students or faculty who need to or are interested in carpooling for the event but we need to know by the end of the day on November 26th (TODAY) regarding whether or not we will take a van.
If you plan to attend the talk on November 29th, please fill out the Doodle poll at: https://doodle.com/poll/cupicv2v6qqmdprv. Feel free to send the survey link to other students or faculty that you think would be interested in attending.
Take part in Mindful Mondays 
