Student and Faculty Awards

The Psychology Department has had a great start to the 2011 year with many students and faculty members being recognized for their achievements and receiving awards for these achievements.


Student Awards
Alisha Adams (Doctoral Student)-Preparing Future Faculty Fellowship and Women’s Council Graduate Assistant Fund
Sofie Champassak (Doctoral Student)-NIH funded R25 fellowship
Elizabeth Duval (Doctoral Student)-Women’s Council Graduate Assistant Fund
Chris Fowler (Doctoral Student)-Graduate Studies Minority Doctoral Fellowship
Laura Hancock (Doctoral Student)-Chancellor’s Doctoral Fellowship
Starlyn Hawes (Doctoral Student)-McNair Doctoral Fellowship
Amber Hinton-Dampf (Doctoral Student)-McNair Doctoral Fellowship (renewal)
Jessica Hamilton (Doctoral Student)- Preparing Future Faculty Fellowship (renewal)

Faculty Awards
Dr. Jenny Lundgren-2011 Chancellor’s Early Career Award for Excellence in Teaching. She received this award for her excellent teaching and her commitment to improving teaching within the department. She has taken over teaching the capstone course “History and Systems of Psychology” and has developed and chaired the Department of Psychology Teaching Excellence Committee. She consistently receives stellar teaching evaluations from her students who laud her for being highly-prepared, knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and committed to student learning.

Dr. Kathy Goggin-2010 N.T. Veatch Award from Distinguished Research and Creativity and the 2010 Trustees Faculty Fellowship Award. Kathy received this award in recognition of her “sustained nationally and internationally recognized record of research and her exceptional scholarly achievements at UMKC.” Dr. Goggin is a nationally known scholar who is well respected in her field and whose work is seen as having a national and international impact. Dr. Goggin’s expertise in the area of HIV/AIDS has been recognized nationally and has made her a valued contributor to UMKC.

Dr. Jared Bruce-2010 Trustees Faculty Scholar Award. Jared received this award in recognition of “his exceptional scholarly achievements at UMKC for their stage of professional development and has shown exceptional promise for outstanding future research and/or creative accomplishments.” Dr. Bruce is a neuropsychologist whose research focuses on the cognitive and emotional consequences of various types of brain illness including multiple-sclerosis, concussion, and degenerative disorders. Dr. Bruce has already published a total of 22 papers and has five either published or in press for 2010. He also serves as an ad-hoc reviewer for 13 different journals.

Dr. Jared Bruce also received the psychology students’ yearly choice for honors award at the Spring 2011 Psi Chi induction ceremony.

Congratulations to the students and faculty members for their hard work and dedication. The department is fortunate to have a great group of student and faculty members working to better the future of students and the field of psychology.

UMKC Psi Chi/Psychology Club Spring Induction Ceremony

Psi-Chi and Psychology Club Induction Ceremony
On the evening of Wednesday, April 6th, the UMKC chapter of Psi Chi and the Psychology Club had their Spring induction ceremony, welcoming 36 new members:

Psi Chi: Sophie Briend, Melissa Childress, Tiffany Clouse, Brittany Cole, Holland Davis, Amanda Duplissie, Kristen Flannery, Dillon Hall, Rachel Hampton, Evelyn Howatt, Abigail Judah, Shannon Miller, Josh Munyan, Mariah Phillips, Jedidiah Phipps, Ebony Rivera, Patrick Schmidt, Jane Vanliew, Brian Warman, and Will Yoder.

Psychology Club: Jacqueline Buchanan, Brittany Cole, Erynne Daigneault, Cierra Eaton, Daniel Folk, Angela Gutierrez, Robert Hanson, Kathleen Hipp, Matthew Keepes, Emily Kelly, Sarah Kelly, Natalie Mellem, Krystina Minor, John Osredker, Courtney Richards, and Nick Weiler.


New members in attendance recited the Psi Chi ‘Oath of Membership’ and participated in a candle lighting ceremony.

The 2011-2012 Psi Chi and Psych Club officers also were announced during the Spring Induction Ceremony. We are very excited to welcome the following officers:

Psi Chi:
President: Melanie Somogie
Vice President: Vyshnavi Reddy
Secretary: Holland Davis
Treasurer: Komal Dasani
Historian: Tiffany Clouse
Elections Officer: Josh Munyan

Psych Club:
President: Daniel Folk
Vice President: Jhankar Strozier

Finally, the clubs recognized Dr. Jared Bruce with the 2010-2011 PSYCH (Psychology Students’ Yearly Choice for Honors) Award.

Psi Chi is the international honor society in Psychology. Membership in Psi Chi is for life and you’ll enjoy benefits such as scholarship programs, research competitions, reduced dues for professional organizations like the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Association for Psychological Science (APS), and getting to know fellow psychology majors here on campus at UMKC. Please visit our web site for information about the eligibility requirements.

If you’d like to be involved in a student organization but aren’t yet eligible for Psi Chi, please consider joining the Psychology Club! Psychology Club is the sister organization to Psi Chi and is open to any students who are interested in psychology—there are no membership fees and no GPA requirements.

If you have any questions, please contact the Psi Chi and Psychology Club officers by email at umkcpsichi@umkc.edu, or the faculty advisor, Dr. Bennett, by email at bennettkk@umkc.edu.

"Global HIV/AIDS Workshop at the University of Missouri-Columbia"

On Tuesday, April 19, the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) will be hosting the “Global HIV/AIDS: Exciting developments in microbicides and adherence” workshop as part of MU’s 2011 Missouri Life Sciences Week, being held from April 18-23. The workshop will focus on the recent scientific advances in the biomedical and behavioral sciences outlining promising results of novel HIV prevention interventions. One of the guest speakers is Dr. Kathy Goggin, Professor of Psychology at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC). Dr. Goggin has dedicated her career to developing behavioral interventions that focus on primary and secondary HIV prevention in communities of color, both, nationally and internationally. Her presentation is titled “The role of behavioral interventions in improving HIV health outcomes” and will be part of the workshop on Tuesday, Aril 19th, 2011 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Dr. Goggin will be presenting from 10:30-11:20 a.m. The workshop is located in the MU’s Monsanto Auditorium in the Bond Life Sciences Center. If you are unable to attend the workshop, it is going to be broadcasted live via web cast at lifesciencesweek.missoui.edu
Please show your support for our fellow faculty member Dr. Kathy Goggin.