Author Archives: mcconnar

PSY Alumni Advisory Board Virtual Career Panels

The Department of Psychology’s Alumni Advisory Board will be presenting three career panels on zoom in October to provide Miami undergraduates with programming to explore post-graduation career paths in clinical, nonprofit, and corporate sectors. Each panel will be hosted by a subset of the Alumni Board and cover specific topics fitting the panelists’ expertise (with each moderated by two psychology faculty members).

On Thursday, October 15, at 7 p.m. (US Eastern), Stacey Jaffe (Miami ’03; Vice President of Digital Services at Scholastic) and Matt Riesen (Miami ’02; Physician at St. Mary’s Medical Group) will present a panel (moderated by Drs. Robin Thomas and Paul Flaspohler) on how they took their Miami Psychology degrees and transitioned into Digital Marketing and Medicine, respectively. You may join this Zoom event on-line:

https://miamioh.zoom.us/j/89210246880?pwd=eG83aGhEMmk2WmgraU1KQkhrc2ZSUT09

Meeting ID: 892 1024 6880; Passcode: 920257

On Tuesday, October 20, at 1 p.m. (US Eastern), Tre’ Gammage (Miami ’15; Dean of Students and SEL Learning Consultant), Liz Niehaus (Miami ’86; Wealth Advisor & Principal of Truepoint Wealth Counsel), and Maureen Noe (Miami ’85; President and CEO of Indiana United Way) will present a panel (moderated by Drs. Vaishali Raval and Paul Flaspohler) on their career paths into the non-profit, finance, and entrepreneurial space. You may join this Zoom event on-line:

https://miamioh.zoom.us/j/83822290730?pwd=K280WjJqMnE5ckNKeDhDc3p6Z1Y4UT09

Meeting ID: 838 2229 0730; Passcode: 559282

Finally, on Monday, October 26, at 3 p.m. (US Eastern), Michele Grisez (Miami ’89; VP of Human Resources at Standard Aero), Jon Kies (Miami ’92; Director of User Experience, Qualcomm), and Erika Minnick (Miami ’11; HR Project Manager at Facebook) will present a panel (moderated by Drs. Brooke Cropenbaker and Paul Flaspohler) on their career paths into human resources and user experience with some graduate school stops along the way. You may join this Zoom event on-line:

https://miamioh.zoom.us/j/81763270827?pwd=enF2RG5BNnQ5TkVUM1pPRFh6aG1qUT09

Meeting ID: 817 6327 0827; Passcode: 169290

These panels will provide our undergraduates with an excellent opportunity to learn more about how their psychology degrees from Miami can launch one’s career in many directions, and our students will get a chance to meet and network with Miami PSY alums who are out in the “real world” doing great things with their degrees! Special thanks to our entire Alumni Advisory Board and to Dr. Paul Flaspholer (chair of the PSY External Relations Committee) for putting this programming together!


DIGging into Privilege teach-in

Please join members of the Department of Psychology’s Diversity Interest Group (DIG), which will sponsor a teach-in for the entire department on Friday, October 2, from 3-4 pm on Zoom. The program “DIGging into privilege” will provide a live-streamed virtual exercise that will invite attendees to examine their unique perspectives and consider why their peers may feel differently.

Special thanks to DIG members Akanksha Das, Rachel Geyer, and Kate Wargel for organizing this event (originally scheduled for March but postponed because of COVID).

PSY at Discover the Sciences

Each year, one of the most important recruitment activities in the College of Arts and Science is the Discover the Science event, which invites high school students interested in the sciences to learn more about biological, physical, and social sciences at Miami University. Because of COVID, this year’s Discover the Sciences event will be virtual (e.g., videos, slideshows, participation in live panels with prospective students).

I’d like to thank the following people for representing PSY at this year’s Discover the Sciences (and thank Elise Clerkin for coordinating our department’s engagement with this year’s event).

Faculty participating: Allie Farrell, Vrinda Kalia, Liz Kiel, Anna Radke, Jay Smart
Graduate students participating: Pankhuri Aggarwal, Feven Ogbaselase, Elizabeth Sneddon-Yepez, Shannon Thompson
Undergraduate students participating: Biragbara Dornu and Danielle Nabor (Wolfe lab), Maddie Hannapel (Kiel lab), Kate Turns (Clerkin lab)

Congrats to Anna Radke on receiving an NIAAA R15 grant

A big congratulations goes out to Dr. Anna Radke, who was awarded a R15 National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism grant to support her research project entitled, “Analysis Of Subcortical Networks That Promote Aversion-Resistant Alcohol Drinking.”

Dr. Radke’s RAD Lab uses animal models to study motivational brain circuits to understand how these neural circuits function in a healthy state as well as to uncover adaptations that contribute to maladaptive behaviors such as addiction. To address these questions, they study reward-seeking and compulsive behaviors in mice.

The grant will support her research for three years (September 2020 – August 2023) and is a $378K award.

Congrats to Anna and everyone in the RAD Lab!!!

2020 Diversity and Inclusion Conference at Miami on Oct 9

On October 9, Miami’s will be hosting its 2020 Diversity and Inclusion Conference. The conference runs all day (starting at 8:50 am and ending at 2:25 pm).

One of its sessions will feature a presentation by psychology faculty member Dr. April Smith, who will present, “Inclusive Classrooms and Departments: Evidence Based Strategies for Success,” starting at 1:10 p.m.

Michael Kraus SPRIG talk on Sept 18

On Friday, September 18, Yale University Professor of Management Dr. Michael Kraus will be presenting a talk in SPRIG entitled, “The Misperception of Racial Economic Inequality.” Kraus is a leading expert on inequality and its consequences.

The talk will be hosted on zoom, beginning at 12N, and can be accessed on-line:
http://tinyurl.com/DrHZoom

Here is the abstract of his talk: In one large-scale experiment using US respondents on MTurk (N = 2,899), we studied how subtle differences in framing and context impact estimates of the Black-White wealth gap. Across our 10 different experimental manipulations of framing and context, respondents consistently overestimated Black family wealth relative to White wealth. There was also substantial variation in the magnitude of these wealth estimates, which ranged from a low of 35 to a high of over 60 percentage points across the conditions. Overestimates were largest when respondents were asked about the Black-White wealth gap at both past and present time points and closest to accuracy when respondents used images as pictorial comparisons for White and Black wealth. Overall, while framing and context certainly affect the magnitude of misperception, the tendency to overestimate racial wealth equality is extremely robust.


PSY Virtual Open House — August 28

On Friday, August 28, 2020, the Department of Psychology will hold its regular Open House in a virtual format, with various student organizations, faculty labs, and others staffing “virtual tables” using Google Meet. The event will take place from 12 Noon until 2 p.m. As the event gets closer, more “virtual tables” will be set up (each one will have a URL so you can “visit” that table), but below is a list virtual tables that will be available:


Two PSY majors named Dean’s Scholars

Congratulations go to PSY majors Manuel Acuna and Brandon Arnold for being named Dean’s Scholars for the 2020-21 academic year. Acuna will be conducting research with advisor Dr. Jenn Quinn, and Arnold will be conducting research with advisor Dr. Anna Radke. Dean’s Scholars are competitive recognitions (only about 30 students in the entire College receive them each year) that provide high-qualified students and their mentors with professional expenses to support their scholarly work. Congrats to Manual, Brandon, Jenn, and Anna!

Graduate virtual hooding ceremony August 14

Miami’s Graduate School will be hosting an on-line August hooding ceremony for new Ph.D.s on Friday, August 14, at 4 p.m. A URL will be provided in the near future for the ceremony along with additional details. If you plan to participate or observe, please save the date.

Our August graduates in psychology include Dorian Dodd (April Smith, advisor), Lauren Forrest (April Smith, advisor), Annie Kalomiris (Liz Kiel, advisor), Julia Kaufman (Terri Messman-Moore, advisor), Amy McConnell (Terri Messman-Moore, advisor), Alex Nyquist (Aaron Luebbe, advisor), Ellen Parsons (Elise Clerkin, advisor), Rebecca Passarelli (Paul Flaspohler, advisor), Laura Sarfan (Elise Clerkin, advisor), and Keshia Wagers (Liz Kiel, advisor). Congrats to all of our newly-minted PhDs!

Center for the Study and Support of Children and Families of the Incarcerated established in department

We are very pleased to announce that Yvette Harris and Cricket Meehan received university approval for establishing the Center for the Study and Support of Children and Families of the Incarcerated (CSSCFI).

The mission of this interdisciplinary university center is that all children, caregivers, and families impacted by incarceration are recognized, valued, and supported without stigmatizing or stereotyping through solution-focused, evidence-informed research, practice, and pedagogy. Yvette will serve as the director of the center, and Cricket will serve as its associate director.

The importance of this center is clear, and recent events reflecting broader societal stereotypes and cultural biases only further underscore the value of this effort. We are excited about the opportunities to develop scholarship and community engagement on these important matters, and we’re proud of the vision that Yvette, Cricket, and the entire CSSCFI Working Group has provided that will further enhance Miami’s research and educational missions.