Miami now has an institutional membership to the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity, which offers an impressive collection of resources for professional development. These are available to all Miami personnel including faculty at all levels, graduate students, and staff. Programming includes a slew of webinars, including multi-week short courses, on topics ranging from writing tips to “the art of saying no.” There is a 12-week Dissertation Success curriculum, discussion forums, and links to relevant events. You need to create an account using the link above in order to access the content.
Category Archives: News
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!
Suicide prevention week
Next week (Sept. 25 – Oct 1) is Suicide Prevention Week at Miami, sponsored by the Suicide Prevention Team and Student Counseling Services. Events include free fitness classes and mindfulness sessions, The Body Project workshop. and an Out of the Darkness 5k walk. You can visit the SCS website for more information and a complete schedule.
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!