Psychology Department

Pyschology Department

Psychology Department News

Fall 2009

  • October 20: On Wednesday, October 28, William H. Tucker, author of The Cattell Controversy: Race, Science and Ideology (2009) will present a lecture, “Measuring Intelligence or Measuring Persons: The Politics of Assessment.” Tucker will discuss racial and eugenic controversies in research on IQ. The lecture will be held in the Coykendall Science Building Auditorium at 5 PM. For more information, please contact Dr. Carol Vázquez at vazquezc@newpaltz.edu or (845) 257-3469.
  • October 12: Psychology MA students Ben Crosier and Kelly Donahue just had an article published in the Journal of Social, Evolutionary and Cultural Psychology, 3(3), 273-277. This article, titled "Buyer’s Remorse: A personal and revealing look into what we want and why we shouldn’t" reviews Geoffrey Miller's (2009) Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behavior.
  • Sep 16: The Institute for Disaster Mental Health at SUNY New Paltz just published a curriculum written by Jonathan Rust and KatySue Tillman, faculty members in the psychology department. This curriculum, titled "Disaster Mental Health: Assisting Children and Families," will be used by the New York State Department of Health.

Spring 2009

  • Apr 16: Social psychologist Shalom Schwartz (Professor Emeritus, Hebrew University of Jerusalem) gave a talk on campus entitled "Personal Values and Socially Significant Behavior." The talk was recorded and can be viewed here.
  • Apr 4: Several students, supervised by Doug Maynard presented their research at the 3rd Annual Mid-Hudson Psychology Research Conference on the campus of Mount Saint Mary College (Newburgh, NY). Anna Lange, Stacey Smiel (a Management major), and Jeffrey Cummins presented a poster entitled "The Effect of Applicant Nonverbal Behavior on Interviewer Judgments and Decisions." Adam Villela and Joanna Rousseau presented a poster entitled "The Anatomy of a Pilot Study." Pictures can be found at the Psychology Department blog here.
  • Apr 3: Viola Silvan, an undergraduate Psychology major, presented her independent research at the 7th Annual Mid-Year Conference on Religion and Spirituality, held on the campus of Loyola College in Maryland (Baltimore, MD). Her poster was entitled "The Effects of Belief in Determinism and Divine Omnipotence on Prosocial Behavior."
  • Feb 20: Glenn Geher (Director of Evolutionary Studies and Professor of Psychology) gave the keynote address at SUNY Albany's conference celebrating Charles Darwin's 200th birthday. The presentation, given February 13, was titled "Darwin's Bottom Line and the Nature of Human Intelligence: Understanding the Elements of the Mind's Reproductive System."

Fall 2008

  • Dec 31: A paper by Dr. James Halpern, Dr. Phyllis R. Freeman, graduate student David Anchin, and Dr. Tabitha Holmes, "Treating Veterans and Their Families: Are Practitioners Utilizing Evidence-Supported Practice?" was presented at the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies Annual Conference, on November 13, 2008, in Chicago, IL. It was also the subject of a report in in Clinical Psychiatry News in December 2008, entitled, "Knowledge Gap Exists on Best Practice for PTSD."
  • Oct 24: The Institute for Disaster Mental Health recently received a $48,125 federal grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration for its 2009 conference. "In the Wake of Disaster: Effective Mental Health Interventions" will be held on April 17 and will provide health and mental health professionals with the latest evidence-based research for caring for victims of natural and man-made disasters. The grant was written by IDMH Director Dr. James Halpern (Priniciple Investigator), IDMH Program Coordinator Karla Vermeulen, and Dr. Phyllis Freeman (former Chair of the IDMH Board). Outcome research will include assessing the impact of the event on the professional practice of the attendees.
  • Sep 17: The Psychology Department seeks a tenure-track assistant professor in cognitive/experimental psychology, to begin Fall 2009.
  • Sep 17: The Psychology Department offers a belated welcome to Jane Lehman, the department's new full-time secretary. Jane joined the department over the summer. The faculty is excited to have her join us. Welcome Jane!
  • Aug 27: Dr. Glenn Geher, Professor of Psychology, is the principal investigator on a grant that was recently awarded by the National Science Foundation in the amount of $211,387.00 to support the Evolutionary Studies program over the next two academic years. This grant was submitted in collaboration with Binghamton University - the total amount of the award is nearly $500,000. In collaboration with Dr. David Sloan Wilson (Professor of Biology at Binghamton), Dr. Geher and Dr. Jennifer Waldo (Assistant Professor of Biology at New Paltz) submitted the proposal for this project, titled "Expanding Evolutionary Studies in American Higher Education." In addition to supporting New Paltz and Binghamton's existing programs, monies from this grant will be used to help start new programs in evolutionary studies at more than a dozen other institutions of higher learning across the country - ranging from large research universities (e.g., Cornell University) to community colleges (e.g., Pomona College in California). At New Paltz, grant monies will be used (among other things) to support student research on projects dealing with evolution, support the development of new courses by faculty members across disciplines that pertain to evolution, and to develop an interactive online journal that will serve to connect this national consortium. For more information, please see: http://www.newpaltz.edu/evos
  • Aug 26: Dr. Tabitha Holmes will be the new Director of the Psychology Graduate Program. In this capacity, she will oversee the daily operations of the M.A. in Psychology degree. Similarly, Dr. Jonathan D. Raskin will be the new Director of the Counseling Graduate Program. In this role, he will oversee the M.S. in Mental Health Counseling and M.S. in School Counseling degrees.
  • Aug 26: Exciting news about curricular revisions in our psychology and counseling graduate programs:
    • A new 60-credit M.S. in School Counseling degree has been approved and will admit its first students for Spring 2009.
    • The M.S. in Mental Health Counseling degree has been expanded to 60-credits, in line with NY State requirements that say all such degree programs must be 60-credits by 2010. The 60-credit degree is also registered with NY State as meeting the educational requirements for licensure in mental health counseling. All students entering the degree starting Fall 2008 will complete the 60-credit requirements.
    • Revisions to the curricular requirements for the 36-credit M.A. in Psychology degree have been approved and take effect beginning with students entering the degree during the Fall 2008 semester.

Summer 2008

  • June 9: KatySue Tillman, a doctoral candidate in counseling psychology with an emphasis on school counseling, will be joining the faculty in the Fall 2008 semester. She anticipates completing her doctoral degree in August. The Department welcomes her.
  • June 2: The Psychology Department main office will be in Humanities 4 during the summer due to the closing of Faculty Tower for new air conditioner installation. We will return to Faculty Tower when it reopens for the fall semester.
  • May 31: Dr. Min Ju has left the university as of the end of the spring semester. The Psychology Department is sad to see her go, but wishes her much luck in the future.

Spring 2008

Fall 2007

  • Dec 31: M.S. in Mental Health Counseling student and swimming champion Michelle Coombs was featured in a Dec 25 article in the Times Herald Record.
  • Dec 28: Dr. Glenn Geher was selected to receive the Alumni Association's 2007 Distinguished Teaching Award, which is to be awarded at a ceremony on campus January 19.
  • Dec 20: Recent M.S. in Mental Health Counseling graduate Michael Reisner has been hired by Ulster-Greene ARC as an applied behavioral specialist.
  • Dec 7: Faculty member Jonathan Rust passed his doctoral dissertation defense on Nov 28. Congratulations, Dr. Rust!
  • Dec 5: M.S. in Mental Health Counseling student Michelle Coombs was selected the Division III ECAC Swimmer of the week after leading the Hawks to a fifth place finish at the Winter Championships. Details here.
  • Nov 12: Drs. James Halpern and Phyllis Freeman were awarded a $13,000 grant by the National Institute of Mental Health - National Institute on Drug Abuse for Health in support of the Institute for Disaster Mental Health's April 2008 conference, "Healing the Scars of War,' which will provide mental health workers with the best practices in assisting returning service personnel experiencing stress reactions. The award also will support research on the perceptions of training needs and research gaps of those providing mental health support for regional military personnel and their families. Assisting them are undergraduate psychology major Rachel Fish, and psychology graduate students David Anchin (M.A. Psychology Program), Diane Grimaldi, Meredith Johnson, and Jaymie Lowitt (M.S. Mental Health Counseling Program). The Conference also is supported by awards from the New York State Office of Mental Health and the SUNY New Paltz Campus Auxiliary Services.
  • Nov 5: Dr. Glenn Geher will be interviewed regarding Evolutionary Psychology on a show called "Mind Matters" on WWUH of Hartford, CT. This interview will taped Thursday, Nov 8, from 5:00-5:40 and broadcast later this year.
  • Oct 29: Second-year graduate students in the Psychology Department's Mental Health Counseling program Brandon Roman, Allison Trusso, Laura Caccavone, Diane Grimaldi, and Keith Rico volunteered with the American Red Cross as disaster mental health volunteers on Sept. 11 at a memorial ceremony at Ground Zero. Details available in NewsPulse.
  • Oct 15: Dr. Jonathan Raskin has been elected a fellow of the American Psychological Association. He was elected by Division 32, the Society for Humanistic Psychology.
  • Oct 4: Lecture: Dr. Donna Coch of Dartmouth College will present a lecture on "Mind, Brain, and Education: A New Science of Learning" on Oct 9 at 6:30 p.m. in LC 100.
  • Aug 23: The Psychology Department welcomes Dr. Corwin Senko to the faculty as a new assistant professor. Dr. Senko earned his Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research interests include achievement motivation and goal-setting processes, intrinsic motivation, and students' learning strategies. Welcome Dr. Senko!
  • Aug 22: Dr. Jonathan Raskin gave the address at SUNY New Paltz's Twenty-First Annual Convocation. His address was entitled "Overcoming That 'Sink'-ing Feeling."

Spring 2007

Faculty

  • The Psychology Department wishes a warm farewell to Dr. Jason Carter, who is leaving the faculty at the end of the spring semester. He will be missed!
  • Dr. Jonathan Raskin has been selected to receive a State University Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities.
  • Dr. Jonathan Raskin has been selected as a recipient of the 2007 SUNY Research Foundation Research and Scholarship Award. He received the award at a dinner reception in Albany on May 2.
  • Dr. Melanie S. Hill, along with her students Amanda Dixon, Meredith Johnson, Claire Lipton, Regina Musicaro, and Pashmina Rashad, presented their research "Exploring Women's Diverse Experiences of Sexual Objectification" at the 32nd Annual Association for Women in Psychology Conference in San Francisco, CA in March. The presentation included a series of four separate sub-projects: Powerful or Powerless? Diverse Emotional Reactions to Sexual Objectification Experiences; The Power of the Context: Positive, Negative, and Conflicted; Hooking Up: Objectification, Sexual Liberation, or Rape?; and Venturing Inward: The Experience of Women Interviewing Women.
  • Dr. Glenn Geher's research on Mating Intelligence is the focus of an article in the March 31, 2007 issue of The New Scientist written by Dan Jones and titled " The Love Delusion."
  • Dr. Jonathan Raskin has been selected to receive the Carmi Harari Early Career Award for Excellence in Scholarship from the Division of Humanistic Psychology of the American Psychological Association. He will receive the award at the 2007 APA Convention in San Francisco this August.
  • Dr. Glenn Geher's research on evolutionary psychology and romantic relationships was covered in the January/February 2007 Psychology Today cover article, "Love's Loopy Logic."

Students

  • Michelle Coombs, Heather Mangione, and Regina Musicaro have been awarded the Richard Panman Scholarship award. Congratulations to all three of them on this well-deserved honor.
  • Congratulations to the following students, who have been nominated by the Psychology Department to receive the honor of being recognized as Outstanding Graduates by the college at May commencement: Michelle Coombs, Heather Mangione, Regina Musicaro, Kimberly Stanistreet-Clouston, and Stacie Walker (undergraduate students); Justin Krass (graduate student)
  • Psychology majors Regina Musicaro and Kimberly Stanistreet-Clouston have been selected to receive the Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence. Congratulations to them both!
  • Psychology major Michelle Coombs was named the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Winter Chancellor's Scholar Athlete for women's swimming. She also became the first female SUNY New Paltz national champion as she claimed the 100 freestyle with a time of 50.84 at the 2007 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships held in Houston,TX.

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