Counseling psychologist Charmain F. Jackman, PhD, accepted the Innovator of the Year Award from the mayor of Boston during the city’s Black History Month celebration in February. Jackman is the founder and CEO of InnoPsych, Incopens in new window., a Boston-based organization committed to reducing racial disparities in mental health and making it easier for people of color to find therapists of color. Jackman also works to help businesses and organizations make emotional wellness, diversity, equity, and inclusion a priority.
The Teachers College at Emporia State University has presented its Excellence in Service Award to psychology department chair Jim Persinger, PhD, and its Excellence in Instruction Award to psychology professor John Wade, PhD. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Persinger worked for several decades as a consultant and trainer in Kansas public schools, as a delegate to the National Association of School Psychologists, and on the executive board of the Kansas Association of School Psychologists. Wade is the director of the university’s clinical psychology program and is known for his commitment to inspiring and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students both in and out of the classroom.
St. Lawrence University has named social psychologist Kathryn A. Morris, PhD, as its next president as of July 1. She will be the second woman to head the university in its 165-year history. Morris was previously a professor and psychology department chair at Butler University before being named provost and vice president of academic affairs there in 2013. As Butler’s provost, Morris led six academic colleges, helped guide the university’s 2020 strategic plan, and played a key role on the university’s COVID-19 pandemic response team.
The Society of United States Naval Flight Surgeons has presented the Capt. Sonny Carter Memorial Award for promoting teamwork and advancing aeromedical science to Lt. Michael Natali, PhD. Natali is an aerospace experimental psychologist in the U.S. Navy who is stationed at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas. Among his many roles as the chief of naval air training there, Natali looks at ways to modernize aviation training and optimize learning using emerging technology such as virtual reality.
Noel Jacobs, PhD, a pediatric psychologist at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, has created a set of animated short filmsopens in new window called The Martin Family Dinner to explain COVID-19 to kids and teenagers. The series tackles why everyone’s routines have changed and provides parents with tools for talking to their children. “The goal is to give kids one place where they can hear for a few minutes the basics they need to know, like the fact that warm water and soap actually breaks apart the virus, and we wanted to show that in simple ways and medically accurate ways. We also want to help parents normalize the emotional toll pandemic anxiety and social disruption has on us, and ways families can help each other,” Jacobs says.
The University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, has presented its Outstanding Research Mentorship Award to distinguished professor of psychology Thomas A. Pyszczynski, PhD. Among his former mentees, Pyszczynski is known for building student confidence, creating challenging research opportunities, and empowering students to find and develop their own research niche. His own research focuses on terror management theory, which examines how people’s self-esteem and belief systems protect them against fear of death and other types of existential anxiety.