Psych News
Accomplishments
Fourteen Psychology Majors Receive King O’Neal Scholars Awards at Spring 2023 Commencement
[May 20, 2023]
The USF Alumni Association awards the King O’Neal Scholars award every semester to graduating undergraduates who achieved a 4.0 GPA. The award was created in honor of charter USF graduates Lucas King and Evelyn O’Neal.
The psychology students receiving this award at the May ceremony were Laura Enciso, Sofia Fonseca, Isha Harshe, Kaitlyn Hennessy, Sela Keating, Chloe King, Anna Moffitt, Savannah Moore, Teresa Pham, Ana Rey, Karlene Rivera, Kylee Salvior, Cassandra Smith, and Julia Stryjewski.
Presley Camp and Karly Underwood received the 2023 OneUSF Undergraduate Research Awards
[April 25, 2023]
Presenter: Presley Camp, Social Science
Mentors: Alora McCarthy, M.A. & Dr. Edelyn Verona
Title: Trauma Incarcerated: Investigating the Link Between Adverse Childhood Experiences
and Adult Criminal Offending Behaviors
Research: This research sought to investigate the relationship between childhood trauma and
adult criminality in incarcerated individuals. Using data from 1000 participants incarcerated
at the Pasco County Jail, it was found that there were significant, positive correlations
between participants' Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) scores and frequency of
offenses, violent offenses, and lifetime arrests. These results allow us to infer
that experiencing more traumatic events in childhood is related to exhibiting more
criminal behaviors in adulthood.
Presenter: Karly Underwood, Social Science
Mentor: Dr. Christine Ruva
Title: Age and Accountability: The Effects of Defendant Age on Verdicts and Credibility
Research: We examined the effects of defendant age, victim age, and age-related stereotypes
on undergraduate mock jurors’ (N = 251) verdicts and defendant credibility ratings.
To address gaps in the literature we focused on the difference between young and older
adult victims and defendants. Overall, the current findings suggest that defendant
and victim age influence juror decisions and perceptions, and contribute to the gap
in the literature concerning age effects for older defendants.
49 Students Initiated into Psi Chi Honor Society
[April 18, 2023]
Candle ceremony during the spring 2023 initiation.Spring 2023 Psi Chi Induction Program | At the April 14 induction ceremony, 49 students representing all three campuses were initiated into Psi Chi, the international honor society in psychology. New officers were installed, and the 2022-23 officers were thanked for all their hard work.
Among the Top 10 Poster at SIOP 2023
[April 7, 2023]
With over 700 posters submitted, Lavanya Shravan Kumar's Master’s thesis poster was selected as among the top 10 Poster at this year’s national Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) Annual Conference. Lavanya is a third-year doctoral student in I-O Psychology at USF working under the guidance of Dr. Stephen Stark. Her research interests are in psychometrics and item response theory, specifically, in topics such as measurement invariance and dimensionality of forced-choice measures and corresponding applications. She is also interested in applications of newer machine learning methods in testing and assessment. She earned her M.S. in I-O Psychology from Florida Institute of Technology in 2020 and her Master’s thesis was recently published in Personnel Psychology.
Warm Welcome 2022
[December 19. 2022]
Thank you to everyone who made the Warm Welcome donation project such a success this year. The project benefits families in the local refugee community and this year we filled the wishlists of 5 families (21 individuals) with almost $2,500 worth of items. Thank you to everyone who participated and especially to OROD Visual Production LLS for providing superb photographic coverage. For the 21st year is a row, we did good. Thank you!
8 Psychology Majors Named King O'Neal Scholars at Fall 2022 Commencement
[December 13, 2022]
8 Psychology majors were named King O'Neal Scholars at the December 9, 2022, commencement ceremony. These scholars graduated with the highest possible grade point average, 4.0. They include Beatriz De Faria Sousa, Veronika Ghobrial, Melannie Laya, Anna Moffitt, Andrew Moore, Casey Stringer, Aerial Wilson, and Felicia Zito.
USF Psi Chi Inducts 33 New Members
[November 20, 2022]
The USF Chapter of Psi Chi, the international honor society in Psychology, inducted 33 new members at its ceremony November 18, 2022. New members are Walter Aye, Theresa Brown, EmmaLynn Calderon, Grace Calvello, Presley Camp, Julie Duong, Valentina Felipak, Abril Guevara Gamboa, Paulina Huntington, Sofia Lehovitis, Sydney Maringas, Brittney Mathis, Madison Monette-Waters, Allyana Musa, Madison Philio, Megan Proctor, Brianna Ralston, Ana Rey, Norma Reyes, Nicholas Romano, Emma Sadler, Samantha Salley, Kylee Salvior, Kaitlyn Serafin, Callie Sierra, Madison Smith, Emily Swank, Chrissy Terziu, Alexis Thaxton, Otilia Trejo-Soto, Emelina Vaughn, Bethany Warren, Madeleine Wiggins. Inductees represented all three campuses of USF.
USF Chapter of Psi Chi named a Model Chapter
[August 16, 2022]
The Psi Chi Board of Directors and the Central Office staff have designated the USF Chapter a 2021-22 Psi Chi Model Chapter. Psi Chi is the international honors society in psychology. Our chapter was one of only 28 to receive this recognition out of over 1,150 chapters worldwide. The chapter will receive $100 and a custom certificate.
47 Students Initiated Into Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology
[April 16, 2022]
Congratulations to the 47 undergraduate and graduate students who were initiated into the USF chapter of Psi Chi, the international honor society in psychology, during April 2022 initiation ceremonies. New officers for 2022-23 were also announced. New members are Baca, Myakka; Bassett, Kristen; Bell, Lauren; Blackard, Grace; Bostic, Jayda; De Faria Sousa, Beatriz; Eisenberg, Sabrina; Errig, Tyler; Espinet-Pizarro, Keven; Feld, Kyla; Fraleigh, Liana; Gordon, Jennifer; Green, Alanna; Halko, Amanda; Hanson, Tabitha; Hector, Brittany; Henao, Nicole; Henderson, Savannah; Javaid, Aqsa; Lane, Maya; Leon Romero, Alejandro; Monterde, Leilani; Mullins, Denaya; Murray, Connor; O'Neill, Gabrielle; Pham, Devlyn; Pramberger, Nina; Ramirez Pagan, Shakira; Sala, Matthew; Schenk, Jennifer; Schroeder, Brittany; Shaw, Mason; Silver Espinosa, Melody; Sinclair, Grace; Singh, Sushant; Skidmore, Ethan; Sood, Odeline; Stevenson, Jessica; Stringer, Casey; Surin, Mariell; Swaine, Lauren; Texter, Amy; Thakurdesai, Sanikaa; Thomas, Hannah; Trigueros, Allison; Upton, Rebecca; and Warden, Brittany. These students come from all three of our campuses.
USF Chapter of Psi Chi Recognized
[January 27, 2022]
The International Honor Society in Psychology, Psi Chi, has recognized the USF chapter for 55 years of excellence.
Warm Welcome 2021
[December 15, 2021]
The USF Department of Psychology has been supporting local refugee families during the winter holidays for 20 years and this year was our most successful to date. Through the Warm Welcome Donation Drive, the USF Psychology Student Diversity Committee and the USF Psychology Faculty Diversity Committee received $1142 worth of new donated items (everything that the families asked for!) and another $975 of monetary donations that were converted into gift cards. We are honored to be part of such a generous and caring community of scholars. Thank you to all who participated, including the awesome families.
Psi Chi Honor Society Inducts New Members
[November 20, 2021]
The USF chapter of Psi Chi, the international honor society in psychology, initiated 41 new members at its fall ceremonies in November. New members came from all three campuses. Magdelin Lopez served as Psi Chi President this fall. Faculty advisors are Dr. Judy Bryant (Tampa), Dr. David Robertson (Sarasota-Manatee), and Dr. Wendy Rote (St. Petersburg).
8 Psychology Majors Honored For Perfect Grades at Spring 2021 Commencement
[May 9, 2021]
At USF’s May 8 commencement ceremony, 8 psychology majors were named King O’Neal Scholars. These students were recognized by the Alumni Association for having earned 4.0 overall grade point averages. They are Sumeyye Erdem, Amanda Fritz, Christiana Hancock, Natalie Italiano, Dana Kellman, Jessica Newman, Joshua Nusekabel, and Nicole Ritenour.
Psychology Undergraduates Earn Academic Recognitions
[April 29, 2021]
Five Psychology students have been inducted into USF's chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.
They are Otttavio Barbanente, Siena Ho Shue, Nataliya Kuzmin, Brian Long, and Kendall
Paris. Thirty eight students have been inducted into USF's chapter of Psi Chi, the
Psychology honor society. They are Ashley Accius, Moet Bailey, Gabrielle Baudoin,
Asianna Blount, Nicole Brown, Rachel Bucek, Sachin Dhulipalla, Caleb Edney, Victoria
Estevez, Lewis Evans, Alexa Goldblum, Daimarelys Gonzalez, Vittoria Gonzalez, Kate
Gray, Owen Hastings, Margo Hebert, Milca Jaime Brunet, Avisha Jais, Emily LaLiberte,
Stephanie Lang, Magdelin Lopez, Kaitlyn Maxey, Courtney May, Miguel Mockabee, Taylor
Mosley, Jacey Napoli, Whitney O'Keeffe, Wren Orteneau, Abigail Piervil, Sebastian
Ponce Perez, Abriella Richards, Carolina Rittenhouse, Rebecca Rodriguez, Ellie Rowe,
Samruddhi Shinde, Priya Singh-Collins, Jeremiah Siplin, Ariel Skinner, Linnea Week