The Council for the Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching have named psychologists Jennifer Corpus, PhD, Beth Morling, PhD, and Kenneth J. Sufka, PhD, among their 2014 U.S. Professors of the Year state winners. Corpus is a professor of psychology at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Morling is associate chair of the department of psychological and brain sciences at the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware. Sufka is a professor of psychology and pharmacology at the University of Mississippi.
Manfred Diehl, PhD, a professor in the department of human development and family studies at Colorado State University, has received the Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, one of the oldest and most prestigious science foundations in Europe. He was recognized for his research on aging, including coping strategies and resilience over the lifespan. Diehl plans to use his award to conduct research in 2015 and 2016 at the University of Heidelberg, the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and the German Centre of Gerontology in Berlin.
The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia has presented Albert Farrell, PhD, and Miriam Liss, PhD, with 2015 Outstanding Faculty Awards. Farrell is a Virginia Commonwealth University psychology professor and founder of the Clark-Hill Institute for Positive Youth Development, which joins VCU faculty to work on projects that promote the positive development of young people. Liss is a psychology professor at the University of Mary Washington who studies parenting, division of labor and work-family balance issues.
The University of Louisville has presented the 2015 Grawemeyer Award for Psychology to James McGaugh, PhD, for his research on the link between emotion and memory. McGaugh is a professor of neurobiology and behavior research at the University of California–Irvine. He is founder and director of the university's Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory.
Harvard University psychologist Steven Pinker, PhD, has won the 2014 International Award of the Plain English Campaign for his writing guide, "The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century." The Plain English Campaign recognizes individuals and organizations that use jargon-free writing and value clear communication.
Former APA president Martin E.P. Seligman, PhD, has won the inaugural TANG Prize for Achievements in Psychology. Awarded by the TANG Foundation, the prize honors a living internationally recognized scholar whose work has made exceptional contributions to the well-being of humanity. Seligman, who directs the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, helped define the field of positive psychology, which has the goal of proactively improving mental health, rather than merely responding to illness. He has spent decades researching it and the related fields of resilience, learned helplessness, depression, optimism and pessimism, writing more than 250 academic articles and 20 books.
Garnett S. Stokes, PhD, has been named provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Missouri. Stokes, an organizational psychologist, is known for her research on personnel selection and promotion. Since 2011 she has been provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at Florida State University, and before that was a dean at the University of Georgia.
The Society for Personality Assessment has awarded Dustin Wygant, PhD, the Samuel J. and Anne G. Beck Award for outstanding early career research. As associate professor and director of clinical training at Eastern Kentucky University, Wygant researches the psychopathic personality and the use of psychological testing in medical, forensic and correctional settings.
Duchess honors Clark's legacy
A children's center founded by psychology icons Kenneth B. Clark, PhD, and Mamie Phipps Clark, PhD, got a royal visit in December. On Dec. 8, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge met with families at the Northside Center for Child Development in Harlem, New York, during her visit to the United States with Prince William. The Clarks, best known for their research on the negative effects of segregation for African-American children that was cited in Brown vs. Board of Education, founded Northside in 1946 to establish mental health services for Harlem's youth. The center offers Head Start programming, educational and clinical services to children with special needs, a behavioral health clinic and a children's library.
Behavior is focus of new NPR podcast
Aaron T. Beck, MD, Miranda K. Morris, PhD, and Jonathan Shedler, PhD, are among the mental health experts featured in the new NPR Science Desk radio series "Invisibilia" (Latin for "all the invisible things"), which will focus on the ideas, beliefs, assumptions and thoughts that shape our behavior. Each episode of the show will be available as a podcast and at NPRopens in new window.