Author Archives: johnsojg

Seriously, you must do the ethics survey

All faculty should have received an email (from General Counsel) about the annual Ethics Questionnaire and External Services. The dean has made very clear that faculty will need to complete the ethics survey, as we need 100% compliance as an institution.

Also, in this email was a link to report external services for things you do for outside entities (even journal service, publisher contracts, etc.). You need to complete this form as well, unfortunately for each such activity that you do (due to lawyers making surveys). Note that many of us have something here–things like serving on an editorial board are included. See the clarification on the matter in MUPIM here. It’s essentially trying to protect the “university’s time” by making sure we aren’t overcommitted to outside activities, but may be quite pro forma.

There are no survey links here as the emails are specific to each of you, to my understanding. Please see me if you did not receive this email or have any questions.

Do you use open access materials in class?

The Open Educational Resources/Affordability committee is looking to promote and facilitate the adoption of affordable course texts, including open sources. The week of October 23 is Open Access Week, and during that period, the University Libraries and Provost Office would like to recognize those faculty who are using open educational resources in their classes. If any of you currently use these materials, please let me know so I can pass your information on to Carolyn Haynes, Associate Provost and committee co-Chair.

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship panel

If you are considering the possibility of your graduate students competing for predoctoral fellowships, you may be highly interested in this panel discussion. This has been announced in ProSem and the first-year students have been encouraged to attend in preparation for the grant training they will receive this year. From Anne Schauer, OARS:

The Office for the Advancement for Research & Scholarship will host a panel discussion on the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Wednesday, September 27, from 3:00 to 4:30 pm in the ORU space of King Library (First floor- Suite 134).

In addition to covering basic information about applying for the NSF GRFP, the discussion will offer participants an opportunity to ask questions of recent fellows and mentors.

Apollo Astronaut lands at Miami next week

The Astronaut Scholarship is a $10,000 prize awarded annually to Miami students in STEM, awarded this year to Jana Cable (MBI) and Avnika Bali (CHM). Each year, an astronaut visits Miami to present the award and give a public lecture. This year we are honored to host Charles Duke, Jr., Brigadier General, USAF, Retired. He was the lunar module pilot for Apollo 16, and the tenth and youngest person to walk on the moon.

As an aside, dinner with an astronaut is by far the best perk of any committee service (National Fellowships Committee)! Hope to see some of you at the lecture.

CTE and Howe Center listservs

I would recommend those interested in faculty development and writing subscribe to email updates from CTE and Howe Center, respectively. You can visit their websites to subscribe or contact either office. CTE in particular covers an extensive range of issues beyond “just” teaching that may be of great interest.

I am a member of both of these lists, but will no longer regularly post about CTE or Howe events here to prevent duplication for those that also subscribe. I may occasionally post about events or announcements that are particularly relevant. Otherwise, if you are interested in that content, go to the source!

Goldwater scholarship nominations

I serve on the National Fellowships Committee which provides support and institutional endorsement for the nation’s most prestigious fellowships and scholarships. We are currently seeking nominees for the Goldwater Scholarship; see eligibility criteria here.

Although typically focused on students in the natural sciences and engineering, the program specifically identifies psychology as one of the sciences for which students are eligible to apply. Nominees must be U.S. citizens, and currently sophomores or juniors. Competitive applicants typically have a 3.8+ GPA, significant research activity, and a desire to pursue a Ph.D. and research-related career.

Please send me the names of your best students that you think might be interested and competitive for this award.

 

Doctoral students’ diversity-related research

Two separate awards from Miami’s Grants to Support Research in Social Justice, Human Rights, Diversity, and Inclusion feature doctoral students in the department. Sarah Dreyer-Oren (clinical), Anjali Jain (clinical), and Tessa Benson-Greenwald (social) are working on a project to examine how stigma of mental illness and social support relate to mental health help-seeking among domestic and international students at Miami. The project is supervised by their mentors, Elise Clerkin, Vaishali Raval, and Amanda Diekman, respectively.

Psychology graduate students Tessa, Sarah, Anjali, and Amy (L-R) receive funding for diversity and inclusion research.

Amy McConnell’s (clinical) project investigates risk factors for sexual victimization among bisexual women using a mixed methods approach that empowers the stakeholders in the research. The goal is to develop a better understanding of bisexual women’s perceptions of risk factors as well as the effect of minority stress. She is mentored by Terri Messman-Moore.

Doctoral student wins NIMH award!

We have exciting news to share regarding Anne Kalomiris, a doctoral student in the clinical area working with Liz Kiel. Annie has received the prestigious and highly competitive Ruth L. Kirschstein Institutional National Research Service Award (F31) from the NIMH to fund her doctoral studies! According to Anne Schauer, this is the first F31 at Miami.

Anne Kalomiris, F31 award recipient

Annie’s research project is titled “Parenting, Physiological Reactivity, and Neurological Risk for Anxiety in Kindergartners.” The research implements a differential susceptibility framework to investigate how physiological reactivity in toddlerhood changes the association between early environmental factors and neural markers of anxiety in kindergarten-age children. Specifically, the project will identify how this neural marker is predicted by specific parenting behaviors (i.e., overprotection, appropriate support) that place children at an increased or decreased risk for anxiety. It is expected that only those children who display greater physiological reactivity will be susceptible to the parenting that they receive. By determining the interaction of specific parenting behaviors and the child’s openness to their environment on neurological activity, we can determine the type of parenting behaviors in toddlerhood that are optimal for neurological development to reduce the risk of anxiety in kindergarten-aged children.

Please join us in congratulating Annie and Liz for this amazing accomplishment!

Opportunities for your female students

There are two opportunities that might be of interest to your female undergraduates. From Monica Schneider, POL:

I am part of a group of people bringing Elect Her to Miami’s campus on November 11. Elect Her is a training program that trains college women to run for student government on their college or university campuses. Research has shown that women who run for student body elections in college are more likely to run for office as adults. The training addresses the disparity between the high percentage of women in colleges and universities and their low percentage in student governments (and in government more generally).

The daylong Elect Her training teaches college women why more women are needed in student government and provides them with the skills to run successful student body campaigns. Students learn how to create campaign messages and communicate them effectively as well as how to reach out and mobilize voters on campus. They will also meet with student government and an elected official. The organization is geared towards student government elections, but the skills will still be relevant for seniors or those thinking of a political career after Miami.

If you know a student that you believe would benefit from the program, please provide their information in this form. They will receive a personalized invitation to attend the workshop, which is free for students. Research shows that women need to be asked – and asked several times! – before they think they will be good enough to run for any type of office. If you know of an excellent student, please don’t hesitate to contact them directly (in person/by email) in addition to submitting their name.

Thanks for helping me get a great turnout for this exciting event! I’m hoping that everyone I know can invite 4-5 women – especially since I know you know a lot of great students on this campus!

And in case you missed her email, from April:

We are very excited to be starting the second year of the Miami Body Project. The Body Project is a cognitive dissonance-based body-acceptance program designed to help college-age women resist cultural pressures to conform to the thin ideal and reduce their pursuit of unrealistic bodies. The Body Project is well supported by research as an effective prevention program for disordered eating (more details here).

We will be offering multiple Body Project workshops this semester and I could really use your help to get the word out. I created a PowerPoint slide that provides information about upcoming Body Project workshops, and I would be very grateful if you would consider showing this slide in your classes, lab meetings, etc. [See April’s email or contact her for the slide].

Please let me know if you have any questions. Also, please consider “liking” our Facebook page and/or following us on Instagram #MiamiBodyProject.

April is also looking for peer leaders for the Miami Body Project. Peer Leaders will be expected to attend a training (that will take 1.5 days) and run 1-3 Body Project workshops over the course of this semester. The 1.5 day training will take place on Friday, September 29 (9am-5pm) and Saturday, September 30 (9am-1pm). Please have students contact April by Monday, September 25.