Psychology
Tamera Murdock (Chair, Psychology) chose to approach our request differently and sent the following item to highlight both a teaching and a research high point of 2009. She also included a link to a site where the interested reader can find everything that happened in the department in the past year or so.
See: http://cas.umkc.edu/psyc/newsletter/contributions_2010.asp
New Undergraduate Psychology Offering a Big Success
Ethnic and Minority Perspectives in Psychology is a new undergraduate course that was offered this fall by Dr. Janette Berkely-Patton. Students gained a broad understanding of methods, theoretical concepts and applications of psychology relevant to ethnic minorities. For one of the course activities, students worked in groups on a class presentation and paper based on a topic and a related theory discussed in the course.
Student Feedback
Some of the topics for the students’ group projects included neighborhood disorganization and Latino communities, mental health and Asian Americans, and spirituality and health among African Americans. Here are just a few of the students’ comments about the class:
“I think all of us have learned something new about other cultures, heard from peers about their thoughts on multicultural issues, and it’s one step in a direction in bringing ethnic groups together. It has been an honor to be apart of the first class here at UMKC and I hope to use many concepts of multiculturalism that I have learned as I continue my educational professional career.” Carmen Benn
“Not only did Dr. Berkley-Patton present multicultural information that is much needed throughout our society, but she offered an environment promoting open communication and critical thinking. This class should be mandatory for all psychology majors in order to better understand and serve others.” Emilie Mendala
“This class has been very inspiring. Dr. Berkley-Patton, as well as other students in the class, helped open my eyes to certain multicultural topics. The structure of the class made us all comfortable to speak freely about our opinions and concerns. I feel this course should be mandatory for any undergraduate degree because the topics covered will help in any profession.” Jenni Branham
Dr. Catley receives $1.5 million NIH award to facilitate smoking cessation
The Department of Psychology is extremely proud of Associate Professor Dr. Delwyn Catley, who is the primary investigator on a $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study methods of enhancing smokers’ motivation and readiness to quit tobacco smoking. Tobacco smoking remains one of the most significant preventable causes of death in the U.S. And although most smokers are interested in quitting, only one in five are ready to make a quit attempt at any point in time. The study will test the effectiveness of a method of motivational counseling for motivating quit attempts among smokers not yet ready to quit. It will also determine the effect of the motivational counseling on smoking cessation rates.
The study will take place over three years and involves collaborators from the Department of Psychology (Dr. Kathy Goggin), the School of Dentistry (Dr. Karen Williams), KU Medical Center (Dr. Kimber Richter), and the University of Montana (Dr. Kari Harris). Congratulations to all. Dr. Cately will be promoted to the rank of full professor on September 1, 2010.
