I am so excited to be a part of the McNair Scholars program, as a faculty advisor. Donna, my current McNair scholar, gave a wonderful presentation of her original research proposal for a longitudinal study of polyamorous families, specifically examining the effects of romantic relationship choices in adult children of consensual non-monogamous families. It is a very ambitious project, and one that I’m sure will be continued into Donna’s graduate school career. I’m so grateful to be a part of her research journey! 

Shout out to UNT Mean Green! Football season is off to a wonderful start. I had the pleasure of watching their first game of the season, a victorious win and record breaking attendance at Apogee Stadium. A little trivia: the wind turbines generate energy for the stadium – green in every way! Proud to be a part of the UNT system.

I’m so honored to have been selected to serve on the Psychology Course Learning Outcomes Committee, led by the Academic Course Guide Manual (ACGM) group at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) in Austin, TX. I spent the day with Texas area Psychology academics, creating learning guidelines for foundational courses within the Psychology discipline. It was an intense, yet rewarding process. I appreciate the opportunity to contribute to the future of Texas Higher Education! Below are a few sketches from the very beginning of our brainstorming process.

Construction on the new Student Success Center is progressing nicely. There are so many exciting developments on the horizon!

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. 

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.

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!

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!  

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!