Psychology Professor Presents at Law Society of Ireland

NSU College of Psychology adjunct professor Judge Ginger Lerner-Wren will be presenting to the Law Society of Ireland’s annual human rights lecture. The lecture is scheduled for Wednesday, June 7, 2023 and will be conducted via Zoom.

Judge Ginger Lerner-Wren, who teaches in the College’s Forensic Psychology M.S. program, is currently the presiding County Court Judge of the Misdemeanor Mental Health Court of the 17th Judicial Circuit in Broward County. She pioneered the nation’s first therapeutic Mental Health Court in 1997 which has been dedicated to the decriminalization of persons with mental illnesses and neurological disorders.

The Law Society is the educational, representative and regulatory body of the solicitors’ profession in the Republic of Ireland. It offers legal education and training as well as encouraging and supporting the highest professional standards in the profession.

Posted 02/19/23

NSU Counseling Professor Quoted in Counseling Today

Ashlei Petion, Ph.D. / Photo by David I. Muir

In the January 25, 2023, edition of Counseling Today, NSU Counseling faculty Ashlei Petion, Ph.D., was quoted in an online article called, “Generational trauma: Uncovering and interrupting the cycle” written by Bethany Bray. The article explained the term “generational trauma” and its impact on clients.

Per Petion, generational trauma is “a collection of traumas that have been experienced by their ancestors, passed down, and it’s affecting them to this day.” She continued by stating that, “Clients often report that it feels like [a weight] sitting on their shoulders”.

Petion’s interest in generational trauma started when she was a master’s intern. Later it became the topic of her dissertation and her specialty as a counselor.

Counseling Today is a website and monthly magazine published by the American Counseling Association.  It was first published in 1958.

Posted 02/19/23

College of Psychology Faculty Honored at Funding Reception

At the university’s annual External Funding Reception, which celebrates faculty and their research activities, several College of Psychology faculty were honored for their contributions to research.

Of the five Provost Research Awards were given, three recipients were from the College of Psychology. They were Jeffrey Kibler, Ph.D. (President’s Distinguished Professor, Department of Clinical and School Psychology), Justin Landy, Ph.D. (Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, and Emily Georgia Salivar, Ph.D. (Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical and School Psychology).

Kibler has an impressive history of publishing in prestigious high impact academic journals, and he has developed a solid, sustainable research program. The high quality of his scholarship is demonstrated through success with external research grants; he has received over $1.9 million in competitive funding from a range of agencies, including National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Landy pursues research that is located at the intersection of social psychology and cognitive psychology, and he’s delved into how people form moral judgments of other people and their actions. He has received recognition as a leading scholar from national professional societies and has an impressive publication record in top-tier journals and has authored five chapters in edited volumes from prominent publishers including Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press.

Salivar is a fellowship-trained licensed psychologist whose research focuses on romantic relationships and online couples therapy. She has an impressive record of peer-reviewed publications and book chapters and has achieved an h-index of 14 and an i10-index of 15. Her exceptional promise in the field of psychology has been demonstrated through research dissemination, national leadership positions and grant funding.

In addition, 12 College of Psychology faculty were recognized for their research activities. They were Soledad Arguelles-Borge, Ph.D., Jonathon Banks, Ph.D., Travis Craddock, Ph.D., Amy Ellis, Ph.D., Ana Fins, Ph.D., Barbara Garcia Lavin, Ph.D., Scott Poland, Ed.D., David Reitman, Ph.D., Lisa Robison, Ph.D., Jaime Tartar, Ph.D. (President’s Distinguished Professor), Vincent Van Hasselt, Ph.D. (President’s Distinguished Professor), and Angela Waguespack, Ph.D.

The Provost Research Awards, which are given annually, recognize demonstrated achievement in research, scholarship, and creative pursuits by NSU faculty members. Faculty are recognized across disciplines and career stages for their achievements in these areas. Faculty are nominated by NSU faculty and staff.

The first Provost Research Award was given to Mark Sobell, Ph.D. (currently Professor Emeritus, Department of Clinical and School Psychology) in 2011. In 2018, Linda Sobell, Ph.D. (President’s Distinguished Professor) became the second College of Psychology faculty member to receive the award.

The reception was held at Grand Oaks Golf Club on Tuesday, Jan 25, 2023. In attendance were the university’s senior leadership team as well as faculty and staff.

(Photos courtesy of the NSU Office of Provost and Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs)

Posted 02/05/23

Psychology Doctoral Candidate Featured in APA Profile

Nicole Herrera, a College of Psychology clinical psychology doctoral candidate

Nicole Herrera, a College of Psychology clinical psychology doctoral candidate, was recently featured this past November in her own APA (American Psychological Association) profile for her work with older adults.

Herrera has been working closely with her mentor, College of Psychology Professor Soledad Argüelles-Borge, Ph.D., in this research area. Her overall research interest is in creating treatment options that lead to the betterment of older adults.

Recently, Herrera had the privilege of being selected as an intern to APA. During her time at APA, she was involved with a variety of tasks surrounding bettering the lives of older adults such as updating the Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Older Adults, assisting with the APA 2022 Convention, and aiding in the development of the Psychologists Against Ageism webinar series.

Presently, Herrera is participating in an internship at the Community Action and Human Services Department in Miami, where she splits her time between working with preschool student at Head Start, and with individuals in the rehabilitation center for substance abuse.

Posted 01/22/23

NSU Holds First School Psychology Conference

Due to Hurricane Nicole, the 2022 Florida Association of School Psychologists (FASP) Annual Conference was forced to cancel. These unfortunate circumstances left College of Psychology students unable to present the research they had been diligently working on.

In order to give these students an opportunity to disseminate their research, Nova Southeastern University decided to host a mini-conference on campus instead. This was NSU’s first school psychology conference, and recognized students for their hard work on a vast array of research topics.

About 50 students participated in the event: 12 students presented posters and three students presented presentations. Students included mostly school psychology doctoral students with some clinical psychology doctoral students presenting as well.

Faculty and other students were able to walk around and ask any questions about the research, engaging the students in vital presentation experience. Overall, both students and faculty alike reported the event as a huge success. No hurricane could stop the care NSU shows regarding the success and development of their students.

Posted 01/08/23

LatinX Conference Presentation Receives Positive Reception

Diana Formoso, Ph.D., and members of the Unaccompanied, But Not Alone research team in the College of Psychology presented a symposium entitled Strengths and Needs of Unaccompanied Immigrant Minors and their Caregivers:  Working Collaboratively Across Disciplines to Fill Resource-Need Gaps at the National Latinx Psychological Association in Denver, CO. The talks focused on the strengths and needs of unaccompanied immigrant youth and their caregivers, balancing protection and autonomy for UIM in the U.S. refugee foster care system, and how we used community asset mapping methods to develop a community resource guide for migrant youth and families in South Florida.

The presentation was very well-received, with comments noted about how the various projects exemplified the strengths of community-based work (for example, interviewing migrant youth and professionals who work with them, forming a community advisory board), the importance of building trusting, respectful relationships with community partners, how to harness the University’s mission of community engagement and the privilege of education to build community resources and resilience, and the power of organizing and sharing community resources to support migrant youth and their families.

This work was made possible by a President’s Faculty Research and Development Grant and the commitment and hard work of the students in the Unaccompanied, But Not Alone research team: Jocelyn Meza, Adriana Wilson, Melissa Perez, Marianela Pena-Martinez, Veronica Grosse, and Courtney Clark. The NSU team was joined by Dr. Maria Fernanda Garcia from the University of Miami.

Posted 12/11/22

Honors Course Immerses Students in Korean Cuisine

Honors students enjoy Korean lunch.

On Monday, November 28, 2022, students in the Farquhar Honors College reading seminar enjoyed authentic Korean cuisine in honor of their course text—Grace M. Cho’s Tastes Like War. Funded by the Honors College, the meal allowed students to experience firsthand some of the dishes Cho writes about in her powerful memoir about food and family.

Course instructors Leanne Boucher, Ph.D., professor in the College of Psychology (COP), Kelly Anne Concannon, Ph.D., associate professor in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences, and William Collins, Ph.D., professor in COP, planned and hosted the lunch for students in their section of the reading seminar.

The honors reading seminar is offered every semester and allows students to engage with and lead discussions on a chosen text that changes each semester. Tastes Like War, the selected text for the second term of the fall semester, documents Cho’s relationship with her schizophrenic mother, her familial and cultural history, and the importance of food to both of those relationships.

Posted 12/11/22

NSU Jointly Hosts Immigration Legal Screening Service Project

NSU’s Shepard Broad College of Law and College of Psychology along with Americans for Immigrant Justice, Catholic Legal Services, Office of New Americans, Florida Immigrant Coalition, Haitian Lawyers Association, Hispanic Unity, and student organizations: the Evening Law Student Association (ELSA), the Immigration Law Organization (ILO), and the Public Interest Law Society (PILS) hosted an Immigration Legal Screening One-Day Service Project.  The event held on Sunday, October 16th, 2022, provided free immigration legal screenings to those in need. Students and attorneys worked together to help local community members learn more about how immigration law affects them and their families.  Community members received legal and non-legal resources to assist with immigration relief and next steps.

For more information on this and/or upcoming Immigration Legal Screening One-Day Service Projects, please contact Jennifer Gordon, Esq., Director of Public Interest Programs at jgordon@nova.edu.

Posted 11/20/23

Five Win Provost’s Research and Scholarship Awards

Nova Southeastern University Provost and Executive VP for Academic Affairs Ronald J. Chenail, Ph.D., is pleased to announce the winners of this year’s Provost’s Research and Scholarship Awards. The Provost expanded this year’s program to increase recognition opportunities for NSU faculty, and to improve accessibility to faculty from all academic disciplines and career stages.

The program now offers awards for early career and established faculty in two disciplinary categories. The winners of this year’s competition are:

Arts, Business, Humanities, Law, and Social Sciences

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

Justin Landy, College of Psychology, pursues research that is located at the intersection of social psychology and cognitive psychology, and he’s delved into how people form moral judgments of other people and their actions. He has received recognition as a leading scholar from national professional societies and has an impressive publication record in top tier journals and has authored five chapters in edited volumes from prominent publishers including Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press. His expertise has been called on to serve as a reviewer and editorial board member by journals in his field, with recent promotion to Associate Editor for the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. He has a demonstrated track record of mentoring students and preparing them to be scholars in their own right.

Emily Georgia Salivar, College of Psychology, is a fellowship-trained licensed psychologist whose research focuses on romantic relationships and online couples therapy. She has an impressive record of peer-reviewed publications and book chapters and has achieved an h-index of 14 and an i10-index of 15. Her exceptional promise in the field of psychology has been demonstrated through research dissemination, national leadership positions and grant funding.  Her mentorship of students is exemplary; she created an NSU clinical practicum which provides intensive yearlong training to graduate students, meeting an important training and clinical need. In addition, she has an impressive track record of clinical supervision to NSU doctoral students.

Professor Award

Charles Zelden, Halmos College of Arts and Sciences, is a nationally recognized political and legal historian with an outstanding publication record. He has garnered national media recognition and his areas of expertise include the history of voting and elections, presidential politics, civil rights and the constitution, and the American judicial system. His eclectic body of work includes a groundbreaking study of the disputed presidential election of 2000, a biography of pioneering Supreme Justice Thurgood Marshall, and a number of different studies of the intersection issues of race, voting rights and the courts. He has provided strong support and mentorship to many colleagues at NSU over the years, including helping others to navigate the world of academic publishing, media relations, and scholarship.

STEM and Health Medicine

Assistant Professor Award

Eben Gering, from the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences,  exemplifies research and scholarly excellence by tackling scientific questions that  have not been well-studied. He pursues research themes that are carefully chosen to provide novel and general scientific insights, while abetting applied research into human health, conservation biology, and other pressing social and environmental issues. His work has been published in Nature Communication, National Geographic, and other high profile publications. Within his first two years at NSU he led pioneering studies of the Covid-19 pandemic, using wastewater to recover molecular signals of infection throughout Broward County’s 1.9 million residents and predict infection trends a week ahead of inbound data from nasal swab testing stations.

Professor Award

Jeff Kibler, College of Psychology, has an impressive history of publishing in prestigious high impact academic journals, and he has developed a solid, sustainable research program.  The high quality of his scholarship is demonstrated through success with external research grants; he has received over $1.9 million in competitive funding from a range of agencies, including NIH and the CDC. Jeff has also made significant contributions in the realm of service to the scientific community. He is a member of an NIH/NHLBI panel of experts who met to develop novel research recommendations based on the latest evidence. Much of his research has contributed to a better understanding of the relationships between posttraumatic stress and cardiovascular health risks. Jeff is routinely selected as a chairperson and/or grant reviewer on national and international funding agency panels. In 2019, Jeff received the University-wide President’s Distinguished Professor Award after being named the College of Psychology Professor of the Year.

Posted 11/20/23

Students’ Documentary to Premiere at International Film Festival

A big congratulations to Janay Joseph, Graciel Quezada, and Bianca Vucetich on the upcoming premiere of of their documentary film “The Halls of Power” as part of the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival this November!  This is a great example how you can take your films from the NSU Undergraduate Film Festival and prepare them for entry into professional festivals.  Well done!

“The Halls of Power “ will premiere on Saturday, November 5, at 5 p.m. at the Savor Cinema, 503 SE 6th Street, Fort Lauderdale.

See the trailer for the film!

Purchase your tickets today!

Posted 10/05/22

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