Tag: College of Psychology

NSU Receives Approval by Top University Accrediting Body

Dr. Belle Wheelan, President of SACSCOC with NSU President and CEO George L. Hanbury II

Nova Southeastern University received notification from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) that our Fifth-Year Interim Report has been successfully accepted with no additional reporting requested.

SACSCOC is the body for the accreditation of degree-granting higher education institutions in the Southern states. It serves as the common denominator of shared values and practices primarily among the diverse institutions in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Latin America and certain other international sites approved by the SACSCOC Board of Trustees that award associate, baccalaureate, master’s, or doctoral degrees.

The Commission also accepts applications for membership from domestic institutions in the other 39 states, as well as international institutions of higher education around the world.

Congratulations to all for this recognition of NSU as a preeminent university of quality and distinction!

Posted 12/05/23

FY2025 PRG and QOL Grant Cycles Now Open

The FY 2025 President’s Research Grant (PRG), formerly the Presidents Faculty Research Development Grant (PFRDG), and Quality of Life (QOL) grant cycles are now open! This year the application process will take place on Cayuse Sponsored Projects, NSU’s new grant management system. Applications are due via Cayuse no later than January 22, 2024, 5:00 p.m.. More information, as well as application instructions, can be found on the PRG and QOL websites, linked below. Through these programs, eligible faculty may apply for internal grants of up to $15,000 in support of a variety of research and scholarly activities. PRG and QOL are tremendous opportunities to obtain support for research and scholarship at NSU, and to build faculty research capacity that can be leveraged toward external funding pursuits.

For more information about how to apply and program guidelines, visit the PRG program website here and the QOL website here. For questions, please contact PRG@nova.edu or QOL@nova.edu.

Posted 12/10/23

Provost’s Research and Scholarship Award Winners

It has been 13 years since the Provost’s Research and Scholarship Award program first launched. This program expanded last year and now offers awards across two career stages and two disciplinary categories. There were many outstanding nominations this year, and from that pool of distinguished nominees, five NSU faculty were recognized on Monday, November 13 in the Levan Center. This year, an added recognition for each winner was provided by NSU Business Services; each winner received a one-year membership to the NSU Faculty Club, valued at $300.

Arts, Business, Humanities, Law, and Social Sciences

For the Assistant Professor Award, two faculty members are honored in this category.

Furiasse

Assistant Professor Award – Amanda Furiasse, Halmos College of Arts & Sciences is an Assistant Professor of Digital and Medical Humanities in the Department of Humanities and Politics. Her scholarly work is at the intersection of religion, artificial intelligence, and cybernetic medicine, with recent publications in journals of religion, social issues, and culture. Her scholarly efforts extend beyond academia in her role as senior producer and podcast director for the Political Theology Network’s Podcast and as Co-Director for the Contagion, Religion, and Cities Project at the Center for the Study of Religion and the City. A recent grant award from Florida Humanities features her podcast work again, this time to launch a futurist podcast called Florida 2100: Tales of Tomorrow.

Ellis

Assistant Professor Award – Amy Ellis, College of Psychology, is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology and Director of the Trauma Resolution and Integration Program. She seeks to understand the impact of trauma on underserved populations in regard to health disparities, such as affectional and gender minorities, as well as Latine individuals, and male survivors of sexual abuse. Her work in collaboration with external colleagues has been funded by the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and National Institute of Justice. In addition to academic publications, she disseminates her work through various news sources for broader audiences such as The New York Times, Psychiatric Times, Medium, and The Conversation. Her service to the NSU community includes training for campus units like the public safety department and Psychological Services Center as well as supervising students who see clients with various psychological difficulties.

Mujtaba

Professor Award – Bahaudin Mujtaba, H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship, is a Professor of Human Resources and International Management. He is the author and coauthor of books dealing with diversity, ethics, and business management, and his contributions to his field are significant. During the past thirty years, he has worked with managers and human resource professionals in almost 20 countries, and this diverse exposure has provided him with many insights in cross-cultural management from the perspectives of different firms, people groups, and cultures.  With an extensive publication record and thousands of citations covering topics such as business, change, culture, ethics, diversity, and others, his work is highly collaborative with over 50 different coauthors drawn from NSU, the United States, and abroad. His books and guidance are sought and frequently used by companies, professors, and the media.  He served as a cultural consultant for the movie Kite Runner and in 2018 did pro bono training and development work in Afghanistan on topics of adult learning, leadership, and ethics.

STEM and Health/Medicine

Robison

Assistant Professor Award – Lisa Robison, College of Psychology, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and in her short time at the university already has funded collaborations with researchers in NSU’s Colleges of Pharmacy and Osteopathic Medicine. Her multidisciplinary work spans many topics, such as determining how lifestyle factors like exercise, diet, stress influence brain health and risk for mood disorders, addiction, and dementia. Since 2020, she has published 12 papers in journals with an average impact factor of 7.56. This widespread recognition can be further quantified with more than 1,000 citations of her publications and an impressive h-index of 21. Her work has garnered media attention, being featured on Newsweek and other news outlets.

Smith

Professor Award – Robert Smith, Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Allopathic Medicine, is an Associate Professor in the department of Medical Education and researcher in the NSU Cell Therapy Institute. His work on antibiotic resistance contributes to our understanding of how bacteria resist antibiotics as populations. He has received funding as a PI or Co-PI on projects from the Department of Defense and National Institutes of Health totaling over $2 million. One of these grants funded research equipment that has been used by over 4,000 NSU students and faculty. He has supervised over 65 undergraduate and graduate students, engaging many in his lab’s research projects and publishing with several of these students. As editor for the journal PLoS One and chair of NSU’s Faculty Research Advisory Council he helps to shape and support the research and scholarship in his field and others.

Congratulations to all the winners on their impressive achievements.

Posted 11/26/23

International Men’s Day Panel Discussion, Nov. 16

Every year on November 19, International Men’s Day is celebrated worldwide to raise awareness about various issues that men face, such as parental alienation, abuse, homelessness, suicide, and violence. It is also an occasion to celebrate men’s lives, achievements, and contributions to their nation, union, society, community, family, marriage, and childcare. This year’s theme is “Zero Male Suicide.”
To support this cause, the BEDI BOOKS + MORE CLUB and the College of Psychology are organizing a special panel discussion on November 16, 2023, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. via Zoom. The discussion will focus on how everyone can contribute to supporting fathers, brothers, sons, grandfathers, uncles, and neighbors to prevent male suicide. According to the CDC, suicide is one of the leading causes of death in the United States.
We are honored to have a lineup of distinguished NSU experts who will share their insights during the deep-dive shark chat.

  • Scott Poland, Ed.D., director of the Suicide and Violence Prevention Office;
  • Juliette Hubbard, Psy.D., assistant director of the Suicide and Violence Prevention Office;
  • Gregory Gayle, senior director, Recruitment and Admissions, NSU College of Psychology

This event is open to the NSU community. Please register here by Tuesday, November 14, 2023, to participate.

If you would like to learn more about International Men’s Day, check out our BEDI Library Resource Guide. 

Posted 11/09/23

Psychology Professor Keynote Speaker at Mental Health Symposium

Scott Poland

NSU’s very own Professor Scott Poland will be the keynote speaker at the First Annual Broward College Mental Health Symposium on Nov. 8, 2023, at the North Regional/Broward College Library from 8 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. He will discuss promoting mental health for students in challenges times.

Among the sessions will be:

  • How to Work with Neurodiverse Populations
  • Youth Suicide Prevention
  • Adverse Childhood Experiences
  • The Magic of Life: Affirmation and Healing
  • Ending the Silence Presentation
  • Why We Worry and What to Do About It

Poland is a professor at the NSU College of Psychology and the director of the Suicide and Violence Prevention Office for NSU Florida in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

He is a licensed psychologist and is an internationally recognized expert on school safety, youth suicide, and school crisis prevention/intervention. He has authored or co-authored six books and many chapters and articles on these subjects and has served as a legal expert in several lawsuits.

He also authored the Suicide Safer School Plan for the state of Texas, the Crisis Action School Toolkit-Suicide for the state of Montana and the Florida STEPS School Toolkit for Educators to Prevent Suicide. He previously directed psychological services for Cypress-Fairbanks ISD in Texas for 24 years and is a past President of the National Association of School Psychologists and a past Prevention Division Director of American Association of Suicidology. He is very dedicated to prevention and has testified about the mental health needs of children before the U.S. Congress on four occasions. He was a founding member of the National Emergency Assistance Team and has personally assisted school communities after many tragedies including school shootings and suicide clusters. He is known for his dynamic and practical presentations. He has received many awards including being named the most outstanding psychologist in Texas. Dr. Poland also has received the Houston Wage Peace Award, the Parkland Helping the Community Heal Award and the APA Division 16 Distinguished Career Award.

Posted 11/01/23

NSU Makes Strong Showing at SENDCon Regional Meeting

NSU Davie and Tampa campuses were well represented at the recent SENDCon meeting in Atlanta, Ga., with two of our colleges in attendance – Pharmacy and Psychology/Neuroscience.

SENDCon, which stands for the Southeastern Neurodegenerative Disease Conference, is a new regional meeting whose parent organization is the Alzheimer’s Association USA:  https://www.alz.org/sendcon/overview.asp. Last year (2022) the meeting was supposed to take place in Bonita Springs, but a hurricane canceled it. There were about 200 people in attendance in-person and another 200 or so who attended virtually at the 2023 meeting. There were several posters presented by NSU.

Posted 10/22/23

Psychology Associate Professor Publishes Manual on Grief

Christopher Layne, Ph.D., Associate Professor in NSU’s College of Psychology and colleagues recently published a manual on grief. This new manual, which was released on Sept, 14, 2023, is based on Multidimensional Grief Theory, and “provides counselors, social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists (as well as students in these fields) with a flexible program for assessing and supporting children and adolescents who have experienced bereavement.”

The manual is the result of more than 20 years of work in the field and is available on Amazon. Read more about this manual HERE.

Posted 10/22/23

Interprofessional Education, Simulation to Open Gateway to Future of Health Care at NSU

For years, NSU has been raising the bar on health care in South Florida through interprofessional education and simulation. Our philosophy and practice have focused on training future professionals to interact with patients and collaborate as members of health care teams before practicing in real-life health care environments.

To enhance and expand our current world-class health care facilities, NSU Health is seizing the opportunity to put them under one roof at the future site of a brand new, standalone Interprofessional Simulation Complex, or SimCom.

This facility – spearheaded by EVP and COO Dr. Harry Moon and NSU Health – will serve as the cornerstone of NSU’s health care footprint on the Fort Lauderdale/Davie Campus, strategically located near the health care colleges, NSU Health’s clinics, the Center for Collaborative Research, and the HCA University Hospital. The facility’s infrastructure will be used by students on campus as well as all regional campuses virtually. Slated to open in 2025, SimCom will be supported by NSU Health’s new Interprofessional Simulation Institute – led by Executive Director Dawn Wawersik. The Institute – which already oversees the administration and operations of simulation activities for the university.

These cutting-edge endeavors will culminate in a uniquely beneficial asset to NSU students, educators, and researchers across all our regional campuses, as well as the health care community and industry at large. The much smaller former Dolphins training facility building, previously considered to house SimCom, will be repurposed to address much-needed office and classroom space on campus.

Learn more about these exciting endeavors.

Posted 09/26/23

First Responder Program Battles Stigmas, Offers Trauma Support

By nature of their profession, first responders see more trauma than other citizens. The exposure to trauma takes its toll, but a stigma about asking for needed help exists among law enforcement officers, firefighters, dispatchers, emergency medical technicians, crime scene investigators, and other first responders. Vince Van Hasselt, Ph.D., is working to overcome that challenge through the First Responder Research and Training Program at the NSU College of Psychology.

“It’s estimated that at least 25 percent of first responders suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),” Van Hasselt said.  “Now, you may say that means maybe 70 or 75 percent don’t. But when you look at civilian levels of problems like PTSD, substance abuse, anxiety, and depression, they’re almost consistently at or around 5 or 6 percent.”

Vince Van Hasselt, Ph.D.

A member of the NSU faculty team for more than 30 years, Van Hasselt joined the staff because NSU was very supportive of the College of Psychology and wanted faculty members who were willing to teach and conduct research. When he began working with first responders as a consultant, his audience was appreciative of his effort but also informed him that unless he did the job, he wouldn’t understand it.

“Frankly, I got tired of hearing that,” Van Hasselt said. “I thought, let me go through the academy. Let me get certified. They were right. I tell my students they don’t have to become a police officer or a firefighter to work with them. But they sure better get a pretty good understanding of the nature of their jobs.”

After graduating from the police academy, Van Hasselt became a part-time officer of the City of Plantation Police Department while maintaining his full-time job at NSU. His on-the-job experience opened up possibilities in terms of mental health applications with law enforcement. Over the years, his work expanded to include fire rescue personnel, crime scene investigators, emergency communication operators, as well as detention deputies.

The first responder program focuses on two primary areas—assessment and prevention. NSU offers behavioral health training to help first responders prevent major mental health issues—anxiety, depression, substance use, sleep problems, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicide risk.

Van Hasselt’s First Responder Research and Training Program also offers an Optimizing Performance Program, with a focus on sports-oriented diet, nutrition, health, and exercise. There is also a research component that studies all first responders. Each and every one of them has significant trauma exposure, putting them at particularly high risk for mental health problems. What’s traumatic for a police officer or a firefighter is going to be different from a crime scene investigator or dispatcher.

“Part of our goal is to educate and encourage first responders to feel more comfortable opening up, seek help when necessary, and to fight back against that culture and stigma,” Van Hasselt said.

Students in the College of Psychology play a large role in the first responder program. Doctoral candidates in clinical psychology serve as trainers in the behavioral health and peer support workshops. They learn how to engage the first responders and not rely solely on statistics, numbers, and PowerPoint slides. Students are encouraged to participate in ride-a-longs with police officers, fire rescue personnel, and EMS trucks to interact with first responders and better understand their jobs. Stress management training—the ability to debrief first responders after a critical incident such as the death of a child or a serious injury in the line of duty—is another component students experience.

Van Hasselt’s First Responder Research and Training Program also collaborates with agencies and organizations to provide peer support and conduct research opportunities, including a recent effort with the Broward County Sheriff’s Office that offered peer support training to corrections officers. The First Responder Program also completed a recent project with the U.S. Marshal Service on the National Wellness Survey for Public Safety Personnel. That effort involved 14 different first responder groups, including professional and volunteer firefighters, wildlife firefighters, dispatchers, homicide detectives, and EMS.

 “I’m very grateful for my experience at NSU,” Van Hasselt said. “There’s always been a lot of support and encouragement for the work I’m doing.”

For more information on how you can support the First Responder Research and Training Program at Nova Southeastern University, contact Susanne Marshall, executive director of development, at (833) 310-2112 or msusanne@nova.edu.

Posted 08/27/23

Psychology Students Present at Research Conference

On Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023 from 1 to 3 p.m., College of Psychology students presented in the College’s fourth Student Virtual Research Conference.

Student presenter Kiara Williams

The Zoom event consisted of presentations on Trauma/Bipolar Disorder, Substance Use/Adolescence, and Clinical issues, and were offered simultaneously, which allowed participants to move from session to session. The presentation and presenters were:

  • A Literature Review on Treatment Options and Effectiveness for Anorexia Nervosa in Adolescence by Leeza Camilo
  • Alcohol Use Disorder and the Impact on Family Systems by Kathleen Andre
  • Clinical Recommendations for Treating Latine Migrant Populations that Have Experienced Trauma by Sabrina Dominguez
  • Deafness and Psychosis: All of What We Don’t Know by Alexis Israel
  • Human-Canine Bonding as a Diversion Program for Adolescents with Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders by Morgan Lawrence
  • Medical & Frontline Worker Burnout in the Age of COVID by Danny Bui
  • Neurocognitive Effects of Adolescent Depression by Chloe Christian
  • Peer-Related Social Interventions for Pediatric Survivors of Cancer A Review by Jake Metsky
  • The Intersection Between Bipolar Disorder and Trauma and Implications for Treatment by Ashley Kimbrough
  • Understanding the Phenomenology and Treatment Experience of Bipolar Disorders in the African American Population by Kiara Williams

After each presentation, the student presenters participated in a Q & A with attendees.

Student presenter Morgan Lawrence

College of Psychology faculty Amy Ellis Ph.D., Barbara Gracia-Lavin Ph.D., and Ana Fins, Ph.D., served as the faculty chairs for the presentations, while other faculty served as reviewers. The virtual conference was organized by Nurit Sheinberg, Ed.D., Wendy Burrion, and College of Psychology doctoral students Carly Cohen and Hannah Quimby.

Posted 08/13/23

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