Continuing my deep interest in the area emotional well-being and it’s influence on personal health and wellness practice, I have accepted invitations to work with students enrolled in the Psychology Department Honors Program and Graduate Thesis committees.
According to MU Psychology Department marketing literature: “This [undergraduate honors] program provides an opportunity for superior and highly motivated students to pursue a specialized area of interest intensively and independently. Upon successful completion of the program, students are recognized for their achievements at graduation with the designation of Departmental Honors on their diploma and University record.”
The honors program spans a period of at least three semesters in which students attend seminars, explore their individual interests by working directly with a faculty mentor to create a research proposal, and finally collect and analyze data in order to publicly present and defend their theses. “Successfully defended theses receive the designation of Departmental Honors. The titles of successfully defended theses are published in the commencement program.”
During the 2012-13 academic year, I worked with a psychology student on her research titled: Media and Peer Influence on Body Satisfaction in College Men. Shown below is an e-mail message from the current director of the Psychology Department Honors Program Dr. Cook thanking me for this service. Four outside members (like myself) from across campus are also copied on this thank you message for serving in this capacity as as well psychology department members. The student’s faculty mentor for the Media and Peer Influence on Body Satisfaction in College Men research was Dr. Gallagher. I helped with the student’s literature review providing her sources she was unaware of, as well with her study design and with data collection in my Wellness classes.
In 2013, I worked with a psychology department student on research titled: The Effect of Parental Food Rule Perceptions on Young Adults’ Food Choices and BMI. The student’s mentor for this project is Dr. Foster-Clark. I helped with this student’s literature review by providing her new citations as well with the study design and data collection process recruiting students from my Wellness classes.
In late 2013, I began working with a master’s degree student in the Clinical Psychology program on research that will investigate The Effects of Low-Impact Exercise on Memory Cognition and Learning. The student’s advisor for the project is Dr. Cook. For this research, I am assisting with the study design and sharing new citations with the student from my field. We have discussed recruiting students from my classes for data collection and using my idea of an audio variable in the experiment.
The photos below depict one of the honor program students discussing her project and the data collection process with students from my Wellness classes. Also included below are several e-mail exchanges that document my continual involvement with the students at various stages of their research process.
