Career Readiness Education Quality Enhancement Plan

I’m excited to be a part of the UGST teaching cohort for 2018-2019. In addition to helping freshmen transition to college, the UGST program will be participating in the Career Readiness Education Program. In preparation for our training session, I completed a Career Assessment Test. The results were pretty accurate; my top two areas of interest were Investigative and Social. I couldn’t agree more! I think the UGST students will enjoy taking similar assessments, and having better insights into their strengths and possible career options. 

High Impact Practices Symposium

It was a pleasure attending the UNTD High Impact Practices Symposium. There were many great faculty presentations, but here are a few that I had the privilege of learning about in detail. Dr. Holmes described the process she takes her students through to gain first hand experience with research and real world applications. She also describes how students are made ready at the freshmen level for upper level research based courses. Dr. Chandler had an engaging project about how to simplify difficult mathematical problems into manageable components. Dr. Coleman shared how his students were able to experience a real life simulation of the White House Situation Room, and the decision making process of emergency situations. Finally, Dr. Chaney discussed how his students developed cultural competence through exposure to various cultures and world practices. This was a fascinating symposium that faculty from all discipline could benefit from.

Student Research Symposium

The third annual UNT Dallas Student Research Symposium showcased original research by UNT Dallas students. Our very own Psychology students won an award! Their project examined attitudes toward guns, and their catchy title started with, “Say Hello to My Little Friend…” Needless to say, they are a creative bunch! No photos were allowed, as they were fiercely protecting their study, and rightly so. This research has a very good chance of being published. Congrats on winning the People’s Choice Award!

I did manage to capture a few photos of another interesting project that examined color themes of a children’s animated movie. They mapped trends in the gradual mood shift of the story line and character’s emotions based on the dominant color of various characters and scenes. They also incorporated a cross-cultural analysis of color meaning within western vs. eastern cultures.

These students clearly have great ideas and dedicated faculty mentors. I’m proud to see such innovation across all disciplines!

APA Technology, Mind & Society Conference

I had such an amazing time at the APA Technology, Mind & Society 2018 Conference! This is the first conference (that I’m aware of) to blend my two favorite subjects: Psychology and Technology. The hardest part was deciding which sessions to attend. Some of my favorites involved research related to human/machine interaction, designing social learning machines, encouraging empathy through robotics, social robotics in general, ways to enhance learning and health through technology, and (the most lofty goal of all) improving humanity through relational AI. All so very fascinating… I’m still noodling ideas for future student research projects. I will certainly attend next year’s conference! Big thanks to all of the speakers and organizers!  

Movie Night: Get Out

The Psychology Club hosted a screening of Get Out (2017), followed by a very lively discussion about race, interracial dating, cultural appropriation, slavery, generational norms surrounding race, and symbolism in cinema. I had no clue that there were so many layers to this movie, but these students went deeeeeeeeeeep… Needless to say, it was a fun night! I especially enjoyed watching the reactions of those watching the movie for the first time – they were on the edge of their seats, and very disturbed. Big thanks to club officers Morocco & Jocilynn for your help moderating!   

World IA Day

I attended my very first World Information Architecture Day (WIAD, 2018) with the DFW WIAD group. I met so many nice and talented people, and learned a great deal about UX, IA, and UI. I also had an opportunity to watch a production by ProjectUX (@projectuxtv) of a start-up company called Noise Aware (@NoiseAwareDotIO). They really demonstrated what the design brainstorming process looks like from the perspective of a UX team and the product developer. I left the conference extremely excited to learn more, and to get as much hands on experience as I can. Thanks to everyone who sponsored and supported this event, so grateful to have attended!  

Annual Love Talk

I was honored to present the annual Love Talk hosted by the UNT-D Psychology Club. It was a lot of fun talking about adult attachment styles, and how we react to various relationship changes. One attendee was even brave enough to do a live self-assessment (attachment style survey), sharing her results with the group. Her results highlighted the reality that we are normally combinations of attachment styles, and rarely one style exclusively. We also had a chance to watch a clip from the original Dating Game Show, and relate the contestants to each of the major attachment styles. The attendees were amazing, and made the talk very memorable. Thanks to everyone who attended!  

Psychology Club Bake Sale

The Psychology Club hosted a Valentines Day bake sale to help raise funds, so that our students can explore the world of psychology through community events and educational experiences. So proud of these guys! 

Fall Commencement

We want to congratulate all of the 2017 Fall UNT-D Graduates! We are so proud that one of our very own Psychology graduates was selected to perform the student commencement speech. Ruhama Tollossa did an amazing job, and demonstrated how wise she is beyond her years. We are lucky to have many stellar students in our program, just like her. So proud to be a part of the UNT-D family!

True Blue Event

The UNT-D Fall 2017 True Blue event was a success! Pictured is the Psychology Club president, Cynthia Thomason, helping to represent the Psychology major. Thanks for all of your help!