Award Winners 2019
Undergraduate
Louis C. Weber Scholarship for Outstanding Undergraduate Student
Adam Rutledge
Adam is a sophomore, double-majoring in psychology and anthropology with a minor in Spanish and completing a Peace Corps preparation certificate. He is an undergraduate research assistant in the Center for Psychosocial Health and Research and is the service vice-president for Alpha Phi Omega, a national service fraternity. Adam serves on the Social Justice Committee, under the Black Student Union. He is also a peer mentor to first-year psychology students.
Adam plans to study abroad in Panama this summer, where he will complete an internship with a non-profit organization. Adam's long-term goal is to one day conduct Action Research in his community and to later run for public office. He believes his research will make him a positive force in society and a well-versed representative of those whose voices must be heard to create lasting, effective social change.
Louis C. Weber Scholarship for Psi Chi Award
Christina Cantu
Christina Cantu is a senior who will be receiving her bachelor's degree in August 2019. She is the Vice-President of Psi Chi, an Ambassador for the Department of Psychology and will be pursuing her Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology after graduation.
Graduate
Charlotte Friedersdorff-Boyd Memorial Scholarship for Outstanding Graduate Student
Nathan Kearns
Nathan is currently a fifth-year student in the Behavioral Science Ph.D. program working under the guidance of Dr. Heidemarie Blumenthal and was recently awarded a National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) predoctoral fellowship. His research focuses on etiological mechanisms, interplay, and consequences of trauma, posttraumatic stress, and problematic substance use among at-risk populations (e.g., emerging adults, traumatic injury). In addition to his research, he also serves as a Clinical Research Assistant for the Department of Trauma, Critical Care, and Acute Care Surgery at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas and as the Student Representative for the Addictive Behaviors Special Interest Group (SIG) within the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy (ABCT).
Ladenberger Honor Student in Psychology Award
Christina Clevinger
Kristina Clevinger is a 5th year doctoral candidate in the Counseling Psychology program and Sport Psychology cluster at UNT. She will be completing her doctoral internship during the 2019-2020 academic year. Throughout her time at UNT, Kristina has contributed to the Department of Psychology and broader university community through a range of activities. Her service began during her 2nd year when she began teaching the lab portion of the Assessment I and II courses for 1st year psychology doctoral students. Kristina continued in this position for two years, helping to teach and provide supervision for 1st year students in the administration and scoring of clinical assessment measures. She later transitioned into a teaching assistant role for those courses, providing feedback on assessment report writing and interpretation. Kristina has also served as a co-facilitator of group supervision at UNT Counseling and Testing Services (CTS), helping to provide support and guidance to less advanced doctoral trainees from the psychology department.
Kristina has been actively involved in various research and outreach related on-campus events. She served as a co-chair for the 2018 Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) South Central Regional Conference, which was hosted at UNT in March 2018. By having this regional conference at UNT, it provided visibility to the Department of Psychology and Center for Sport Psychology and Performance Excellence. This conference attracted 78 undergraduate students, graduate students, and professionals, with students representing 12 different universities. Kristina also served as a co-coordinator for the 2018 Denton, TX National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) Walk, which was a collaboration between CTS and many other campus departments. This event brought a few hundred people to campus to raise awareness for eating disorders in our community and provided education about the resources on campus to students interested in treatment or continuing advocacy work.
Additionally, Kristina has completed on-campus practicums that have allowed her to support and connect with UNT's students. She was previously an eating disorder practicum clinician at CTS. Through this practicum, she worked as one of the mental health providers on the interdisciplinary UNT Body Image and Eating Awareness Team, a treatment team designed to provide interdisciplinary care to UNT students with disordered eating concerns. Kristina also served as a campus ambassador for The Elisa Project, an organization focused on eating disorder awareness in Texas. The Elisa Project was a new opportunity that allowed CTS to connect with other eating disorder resources in Texas and spread the word about events and treatment services available at UNT. In addition to this practicum experience, Kristina has continually been involved in the sport psychology practicum. She has spent five years working with UNT student-athletes providing performance enhancement, mental health counseling, and psychological assessment services.
Outstanding Teaching Fellow Award
Ivan Carbajal
Ivan was born and raised in Odessa, TX by immigrant parents from Mexico. As a kid he always enjoyed learning and had a series of teachers that motivated and encouraged him to pursue higher education. Coming from a family of little means and education, this meant a lot to Ivan. He believes he would not be who he is without the strong women in his life to teach him the joy of learning. As a 4th year Behavioral Science doctoral student, Ivan's pursuit of an academic career was influenced by instructors he had as undergrad and was reinforced by graduate students he connected with early on. Now in the final stages of earning his PhD, Ivan has connected with many students over the years as their instructor and hopes he instilled the same desire for knowledge in his students as those who taught him.
Ivan considers himself fortunate to have taught more than four courses during his time at UNT. He has connected with students in ways that remind him why teaching is so rewarding. As the first Person of Color, and Latino to win this award, Ivan is honored to be recognized for this award. Throughout his educational career, Ivan recalls never having an instructor that looked like him. He was even reminded about the importance of representation in the first course he ever taught. One student approached him at the end of the semester to let him know how much Ivan's presence as an educated man of color meant and how much hope it gave the student about finishing their education. Ivan's teaching philosophy is heavily influenced by social justice, to assure that all his students feel seen and heard. If his presence and teaching gives hope to just one student at a time, then Ivan considers all the hardships and struggles he's faced to have been worth it.
Anna Wright Memorial Scholarship
Megan Dolan
Raised in Dallas, Texas, Megan attended Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology, and graduated summa cum laude. After graduation, she obtained a position as a clinical research coordinator in the PTSD Research Lab at the Dallas VA Medical Center, where she had the opportunity to coordinate/assist with multiple, national clinical studies. After working in the PTSD Research Lab for one year, Megan continued to pursue her doctoral degree in clinical psychology at the University of North Texas. Megan is currently a second year doctoral student with the opportunity to participate in diverse graduate courses as well as valuable research and clinical experiences.
Frank Collins Memorial Scholarship
David Mosher
David Mosher is a fifth-year student in the Counseling Psychology doctoral program and credits his advisor with molding him into a decent researcher and writer. As a student, David has helped publish 15 articles. He's also enjoyed presenting research in 8 different symposiums, presentations, or posters in various conferences over the years. David's taught positive psychology courses 7 times as the main instructor--his favorite research subject--and was proud to be named the Outstanding Teaching Fellow across UNT's graduate programs in 2018. However, David's favorite accomplishments are when he can make a difference in someone's life, through research, teaching, or one-on-one conversations with people. He considers those to be un-quantifiable and the reason he has chosen to pursue a career in academia.
David's research interests are focused on positive psychology, religion, spirituality, and various virtues. Particularly, his research interests involve religious/spiritual struggles and growth, humility, forgiveness, and multiculturalism. David's research informs my clinical and teaching practice, as well as his community involvement in various outreach programs in religious communities. David's family and faith are the bedrocks of his life, and they fuel his accomplishments.
Ernest H. Harrell Memorial Scholarship
Stephanie Caldas
Stephanie is currently in her third year of doctoral training in clinical psychology. Her research interests lie in using mixed methods and interdisciplinary research approaches to improving health outcomes in at-risk minority populations. She has investigated resilience and other factors related to health outcomes among those living with chronic illness and marginalized populations. In the future, she hopes to link science and practice through participatory methods to better understand the role of stigma and cultural differences in the way health afflictions are understood and their role in treatment seeking behavior and patient treatment adherence.
Outstanding Dissertation Award
Erin Albert
Erin Albert is a fifth-year student in the University of North Texas Counseling Psychology doctoral program. She earned a B.S. in Psychology and a B.A. in Sociology from Tulane University in New Orleans, LA before beginning her graduate degree at UNT. Erin is working towards a specialization in sport psychology. She will be completing her doctoral internship at NC State University's Counseling Center this upcoming academic year.
This past fall, Erin successfully defended her dissertation on achievement motivation and grit in college athletes. She was the principal investigator for her study, and received several grants to fully fund the participation of over 500 student-athletes. Erin examined the extent to which achievement motivation constructs--like the motivational climates created by coaches, the mindsets athletes hold about whether ability can be changed through hard work and effort, and the achievement goal orientations they adopt--can predict grit, or perseverance and passion for a long-term goal and grit in college student-athletes. Because grit may be an important indicator of successful sport performance, Erin hopes that results from her study can help coaches and sport psychologists effectively communicate the importance of personal growth and mastery and foster a perspective consistent with grit.
Outstanding Thesis Award
Hannah Walsh
Hannah is a 3rd year in the Clinical Psychology program, under the mentorship of Dr. Craig Neumann. Her research interests are primarily focused on advancing knowledge on the factors that contribute to psychopathy in early childhood and using this knowledge to advance assessment techniques that are useful in a wide variety of settings. Specifically, Hannah has conducted research utilizing novel technologies (e.g., linguistic and acoustic analysis software) to augment the assessment of psychopathic personality through examination of natural speech within the context of a clinical interview. Hannah is originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, and attended Louisiana State University (LSU) for her undergraduate degree.
Outstanding Scholarly Publication Award
Margot Williams
Margot Williams is a fifth-year doctoral candidate in Clinical Psychology. She will complete her doctoral internship at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine during the 2019-2020 academic year. Margot has been extensively involved in clinical research with Dr. Richard Rogers' research team throughout her time at UNT, specializing in forensic psychology.
Margot's winning publication, "Faking good: An investigation of social desirability and defensiveness in an inpatient sample with personality disorder traits," is the result of her thesis research on detecting positive impression management for personality pathology. It was accepted in May 2018 to the Journal of Personality Assessment with her as first author.
Rogers Academic Career Award in Clinical Psychology
Hannah Walsh
Hannah Walsh is a 3rd year in the Clinical Psychology program, under the mentorship of Dr. Craig Neumann. Her research interests are primarily focused on advancing knowledge on the factors that contribute to psychopathy in early childhood and using this knowledge to advance assessment techniques that are useful in a wide variety of settings. Specifically, Hannah has conducted research utilizing novel technologies (e.g., linguistic and acoustic analysis software) to augment the assessment of psychopathic personality through examination of natural speech within the context of a clinical interview. Hannah is originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, and attended Louisiana State University (LSU) for her undergraduate degree.
The Psychology Department is pleased to recognize these fine winners.
Congratulations once again to you all!