Psychology Newsletter 2023
Message from the Chairs
Department Chair through
June 2023
This year was marked with several challenges. Our majors grew to unprecedented levels leading our department to confer more bachelors degrees than any other program at the university. And as the university seeks to grow the overall size of the student body, we expect this to just be the beginning. Further, the post-pandemic era has been associated with high levels of mental health needs across campus and Utah more generally. Our department has stepped up to try to meet those needs. Much of what is reported in this newsletter is a byproduct of these efforts.
Interim Department Chair starting July 2023
Hello! I am a Professor in the Cognition and Neural Sciences area and have been a member of the faculty in the Psychology Department for over 20 years. I am very happy to step in and lead the department for the upcoming 2023-2024 year. We have some exciting opportunities happening this year including new faculty hiring, new interdisciplinary research grants awarded, increased undergraduate and graduate student courses, a growing honors thesis program, and equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives. The growth of our undergraduate major is both exciting and challenging and I hope to serve our students, faculty, and staff in advancing our educational, training, and research goals.
Continue reading chairs message
Message from the Chair
This year was marked with several challenges. Our majors grew to unprecedented levels leading our department to confer more bachelors degrees than any other program at the university. And as the university seeks to grow the overall size of the student body, we expect this to just be the beginning. Further, the post-pandemic era has been associated with high levels of mental health needs across campus and Utah more generally. Our department has stepped up to try to meet those needs. Much of what is reported in this newsletter is a byproduct of these efforts.
To meet these needs, we have grown our Behavioral Health Innovation and Dissemination Center (BHIDC) to provide mental health services, be a training ground for clinicians, and a unifying force for clinical research across campus. Through our honors program we have strived to connect students with labs across campus to receive hands on experiences. Our faculty have continued to network pushing for interdisciplinary science collaborating with computer science, the medical school, and health promotion just to name a few. Further, we have continued to hone course offerings which seems to be paying off as we were ranked #9 for the best online bachelor’s degree in Psychology from University HQ and #8 by EDUMed.
At the same time, we have begun to grow our faculty in kind. Starting in the fall we have six new faculty joining our ranks in Utah (three tenure-track and three career line) and two more at our Asian Campus. Monika Lohani, Kara Moore, and Jared Branch all add to our cognitive neuroscience program. Samantha Moore-Berg and Katherine Pagano add to our social program. Mona Yaptangco joins the ranks of our clinical faculty serving at BHIDC. Finally, Hannah Myung and Jaewon Oh will be joining in Songdo. I want to take a moment to thank all the faculty and students who actively participated in these searches. These are the kinds of efforts that set our department on a good trajectory for years to come and I suspect we will continue to grow to meet this era of unprecedented needs.
We also finally had our APA Accreditation which had been repeatedly delayed due to COVID. I am pleased to announce that we received some of the highest marks our department has ever received and APA has given us the longest window they provide before our next review. This really was a culmination of years of work due to those repeated delays and is a clear signifier of the thoughtfulness our clinical area manages the clinical training program.
This time has also not been without its costs. I want to wish a fond farewell to Liz Conradt, Trafton Drew, Trisha Weeks, and Ilse Dekoeyer-Laros all of whom will be leaving our faculty this year. Liz and Trafton have decided to return to North Carolina, closer to family. Trisha has chosen to lean into clinical work here in Utah and Ilse has decided to turn her attention to a non-profit for which she has worked with for several years. They will all be sorely missed.
And some of us have turned our attention towards service roles in the university: our own Monisha Pasupathi has agreed to step in as interim dean for the honors college. Monisha has been serving as the associate dean for several years and is a perfect choice while the university can then take the time to search for a new dean. I have no doubt that Monisha will do an amazing job as she is truly committed to ways we can provide a high-quality experience for our undergraduates.
I look upon the coming year with great excitement. I cannot think of a time where the messages of psychology were more relevant nor a time when psychology was a gateway to more jobs. Our heightened pace of growth, I believe, is just the beginning as I expect the coming year will again be marked by several hires and many discussions of how we can best train individuals at the graduate and undergraduate levels for the post pandemic era. I am stepping down from department chair at the end of June 2023 to pursue a 1-year sabbatical. Sarah Creem-Regehr will be acting department chair staring July 1.
Hello! I am a Professor in the Cognition and Neural Sciences area and have been a member of the faculty in the Psychology Department for over 20 years. I am very happy to step in and lead the department for the upcoming 2023-2024 year. We have some exciting opportunities happening this year including new faculty hiring, new interdisciplinary research grants awarded, increased undergraduate and graduate student courses, a growing honors thesis program, and equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives. The growth of our undergraduate major is both exciting and challenging and I hope to serve our students, faculty, and staff in advancing our educational, training, and research goals.
