Author Archives: johnsojg

International Education Week, Fulbright programs

Next week (Nov. 13-17) is International Education Week. In conjunction, Karla Guinigundo would like to remind you of several ways that Fulbright programs can enhance the international dimension of what we do:

International Education Week 2017 is right around the corner – November 13-17. This is a great time to think about your departmental and divisional goals for internationalization and consider how the Fulbright Scholar Program can help you achieve those goals.

Internationalize your departments and build partnerships by bringing in a guest speaker through the Fulbright Outreach Lecturing Fund, hosting a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence for a semester or academic year, or being a part of the Fulbright Junior Faculty Development Programs for Lebanon, Egypt or Iraq.
[Faculty can] gain or enhance their international expertise through Fulbright programs for U.S. Scholars such as the Fulbright Distinguished Chair Award, Fulbright Global Scholar Award, or short opportunities to teach or consult through the Fulbright Specialist Program.

Global Initiatives will host a breakfast on Monday, November 13, 2017 at 8am in Armstrong Student Center 1082 to share information on these and other opportunities with the Fulbright Scholar Program.

Seriously, now you must do the accessibility training

The Provost has asked me to remind those who have not yet completed the accessibility training to please do so. You should be getting reminder emails from the Provost’s Office, including another one Monday. Carolyn Haynes writes:

Please know that I am very aware of the demands that we are making of our faculty. Because we know how busy they are, we tried to make the training as easy to complete as possible.

Not only is this training related to our need to comply with the terms of our recent court case relating to working with students with disabilities, but it is also a critical need to ensure an inclusive learning environment for all of our students.

If you are not getting the reminder emails then you have already completed the survey (early October, mid-May).

Society for the Teaching of Psychology awards

We have many excellent and innovative instructors, both faculty and grad students, in the department who should consider applying for the STP teaching awards:

The Society for the Teaching of Psychology (APA Division 2) announces its 2018 program of awards for outstanding teachers of psychology. Teaching awards of $1500 and a plaque will be bestowed for outstanding performance in each of six categories: 4-year college or university (Robert S. Daniel Teaching Excellence Award), … first 10 years of full-time teaching at any level (Jane S. Halonen Teaching Excellence Award), graduate student (Wilbert J. McKeachie Teaching Excellence Award), and the Adjunct Faculty Teaching Excellence Award. STP encourages applications from colleagues who are from underrepresented groups and have diverse backgrounds and experiences. The deadline for submissions is January 15, 2018. For more information on specific criteria, what materials to submit, and guidelines for electronic submission visit the web site or contact: Krisztina Jakobsen, Chair of the STP Teaching Excellence Committee ([email protected]).

Graduate Research Forum this Friday

The ninth annual Graduate Research Forum will be held this Friday, November 3, 1:30 – 5:00 in Armstrong Student Center. Our department is represented by two oral presentations and five posters, and the complete program can be found here. If you have time, stop by and support our graduate students.

Distinguished Educator lecture, Nov. 9

Jason Rech, Geology, is the CAS Distinguished Educator and will present his talk “Climate Change and the Collapse of Societies,” on Thursday, 4:15 – 5:15, in Shideler 32.

Congrats to our Provost Fellow

Provost Callahan has selected Amanda Diekman as one of the inaugural Provost Fellows! Amanda will be working on a comprehensive faculty development plan, across all faculty ranks and stages. It will be daunting but something I think Amanda is highly and uniquely qualified to do. Join me in congratulating Amanda and thanking her for such an important task.

Panel, Nov 1: Applying psychology to business and industry

Ginger Wickline has organized a career panel for students interested in marketing, human resources, and industry. This event will be held in Middletown but it will be simulcast in the CPI, 12:00 – 1:00, Wednesday, Nov 1. Students can “learn more about marketing, human resources, statistical analysis, industrial/organizational psychology, business leadership including how psychology classes can help you get there!”

If the technology is willing, students attending in the CPI will have the opportunity to ask questions as well. Speakers include:

Mr. Tim Beatty, President, Bullen Ultrasonic
Mr. Brian George, Personnel Technician, Miami University
Mr. Justin Gregg, Manager, Predictive Analytics, CareSource, Inc.

Thanks to Christina Fitzpatrick for the simulcast and again to Ginger for arranging this great event!

Faculty development opportunity from OARS

From Heather Johnston, OARS:

OARS will be sponsoring a one-day visit by Professor Carl Batt (Cornell University) late in the current semester. On this day, Dr. Batt will present two workshops: one on early career/young investigator programs and one on general grantsmanship. To select a date that works for as many prospective participants as possible, we hope you will take a minute to register your availability in this Doodle poll.

Faculty interested in study abroad

Vaishali recently asked faculty interested in offering or considering study abroad opportunities to contact her, in response to the Global Initiatives call for proposals, due December 1. More information on study abroad can be found here.

Our department has some great experiences and it would be great to find ways to support more faculty offering these opportunities. If you have an interest in exploring this further, please see Vaishali to discuss and assist with your proposal. Ultimately, we might be able to sustain something programmatic involving several faculty.

Students considering departmental honors

From Heather Claypool, departmental honors coordinator:

Current juniors wanting to apply for PSY honors must submit their applications online by Dec 4, 2017. If you have talented first-semester juniors in your lab right now who you think would be good candidates for PSY honors, please talk to them about the program and encourage them to apply. The application is very short and can be filled out online at this link.

The application will ask students to list their PSY and overall GPAs (which will be verified for accuracy), the name of their thesis supervisor (and I will follow-up with you to ensure you have indeed agreed to supervise the student), and a very brief (1-2 sentence) description of their topic area. Students will also be asked if they want to take PSY 400 in Spring 2018 (which is STRONGLY encouraged, but optional). FYI–PSY 400 will be offered on Tues, Thurs from 11:40 AM-1:00 PM (in case students ask).

As in years past, students must have a 3.25 PSY and 3.25 overall GPA to be eligible. I encourage you to ask students about their grades before you encourage them to apply. We’ve had an increasingly high number of students with GPAs well below these targets apply in the last few years.

For students who meet requirements and indicate on the application that they want to take PSY 400, they will be force added to the course. Enrollment in PSY 400 is by force add only and open only to accepted PSY honors students who are juniors.

Please note this important information about the application deadline. If a student applies for PSY honors *after* PSY 400 has begun (i.e., on or after Jan 29, 2018), he or she may still be admitted to the program and be offered the opportunity to do a thesis, but he or she will have forfeited his/her opportunity to take PSY 400. Also, due to holiday travel, I will have very limited opportunity to process honors applications during winter break. Thus, if it is important to you or to the student that he/she takes PSY 400, please make sure he/she submits his/her application on time, by Dec 4, but absolutely no later than Dec 22.

If you have any questions, please stop by or email Heather.

Chair's Communication

Department of Psychology