The Department of Psychology held its annual Class Day event on Monday, June 4, 2018, to celebrate graduating seniors, honors recipients, and award winners.
Festivities were held in the Frist Campus Center where graduates, families, and friends congratulated this profound accomplishment.
Photographs of Class Day 2018 are available online.
Honors Recipients
During the celebrations, the Department recognized the following Class of 2018 Honors recipients.
Highest Honors
Julia Fitzgerald, Hila Ghersin, Christin Park, Shriya Sekhsaria, David Weiner
High Honors
Andres Castillo Quintana, Katherine Giordano, Maggie Pecsok, Lily Zhang
Honors
Megan Curham, Shelby Edmondson, Laura Herman, Nicholas Hoang, Gracious Obiofuma, Nitasha Siddique, Tara Watumull
Phi Beta Kappa Society
The following Honors recipients were also elected into the Phi Beta Kappa Society (the oldest national honorary scholastic society, founded in 1776): Julia Fitzgerald, Maggie Pecsok, Shriya Sekhsaria, David Weiner
Awards and Prizes
Department of Psychology Graduate Teaching Award
Each year, the Department of Psychology sponsors a teaching award to recognize and honor a graduate student who has made significant contributions to undergraduate teaching in the Department. We are happy to report that this year, Jessie Schwab, has been recognized by the faculty as the 2018 recipient of the Department of Psychology Teaching Award.
The Miller-Schroeder Memorial Prize
The Miller-Schroeder Memorial Prize is given in memory of the two psychology majors killed at Kent State University in the spring of 1970. It is awarded to the graduating senior whose thesis best exemplifies the application of the psychological methods to the study of a problem of social significance. Class of 2018 member Lexi Quirk’s thesis, advised by Professor Nicole Shelton and entitled "Racial Inequality in Education: An Examination of the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity, an Academic Racial Integration Initiative" was selected as the 2018 winner of this prize.
The Edward E. Jones Memorial Prize
This prize is awarded to the graduating student whose senior thesis is judged to be the most outstanding work in social psychology, broadly construed. In keeping with Professor Jones' own interests, special consideration is given to theses that report innovative empirical research, although theses of a purely theoretical character are also considered. Class of 2018 member Shriya Sekhsaria's thesis, advised by Professor Emily Pronin and entitled "Let’s Start with Forever: Counterintuitive effects of writing and reading own and others’ memories" was selected as the 2018 recipient of this prize.
The George A. Miller Prize in Cognitive Science
This prize is given annually to the best interdisciplinary senior thesis in cognitive science. Class of 2018 member Laura Herman's thesis, advised by Professor Alex Todorov and entitled "The Art of Seeing: How Does Artistic Visual Experience Modulate Perceptual Reorganization Abilities?" was selected as the 2018 winner of this prize.
Senior Thesis Prize in Clinical Psychology
The Department of Psychology’s Senior Thesis Prize in Clinical Psychology is awarded to the graduating senior or seniors whose thesis is judged to be the most outstanding thesis in clinical psychology, broadly construed. Generally, it will be awarded to the student(s) whose thesis best exemplifies the application of empirical methods to the study of psychopathology or the prevention or treatment of psychopathology. Class of 2018 member Charlotte Jeppsen's thesis, advised by Professor Adele Goldberg and entitled "Polysemous Word Learning in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder" was selected as the 2018 recipient of this prize.
The Howard Crosby Warren Prize in Psychology
Funded by an endowment established by the bequest of Catherine C. Warren, the Howard Crosby Warren Prizes are awarded annually to the senior concentrators in Psychology that are selected by the Department as the most worthy recipients on the basis of scholarly attainment and good character. The following Class of 2018 concentrators have been selected to receive this award for 2018: Julia Fitzgerald, Hila Ghersin, Christin Park, Maggie Pecsok, Shriya Sekhsaria, and David Weiner.
The Department of Psychology would like to thank award and prize recipients and all Class of 2018 members for a fantastic year and a job well-done. Congratulations and best wishes for all the future brings!