I have recently found myself reflecting on the Psychology Department at different points in time, specifically the past and the present. My thoughts about the past come in part from recently uncovering a time capsule of sorts within the department. There are rows of lockers on the 2nd floor of the Psychology building, many that had locks but were without obvious owners. On March 1, we held a “locker unveiling” event, where we ceremoniously used bolt cutters to reveal the contents of these unidentified lockers. We uncovered some interesting items:
- A lot of data in various formats, including paper, punchcards, large floppy disks, and reels of tape.
- The oldest item found: A Psychology Today magazine from 1969
- The oddest item found: A bottle of men’s cologne from Bath and Body works (let’s just say that colognes DO have an expiration date)
- The most historic item found: What appears to be a circuit panel from an experiment involving shocking participants, although that remains to be confirmed.
What do all of these items have in common (well, at least most of them)? They signify that we have always been a department that emphasizes scientific research, and over the years we have had numerous faculty and students receive recognition for and make important contributions through their research. While that may not be unique at a research university like UF, what IS unique is that our faculty and students are also outstanding teachers, frequently receiving local and national recognition for their teaching accomplishments.
While I greatly enjoy the nostalgia of the past, I want to take you into the present. This past year, our department has been fortunate to continue these traditions of excellence with the hiring of four new faculty. The tenure-track faculty are Dr. Colin Smith, a social psychologist whose research interests include implicit social cognition and political psychology, and Dr. Dorothy Espelage, a counseling psychologist whose research addresses problems in schools such as bullying, violence, and sexual harassment. The instructional faculty are Dr. Brian Cahill, who teaches courses such as Cognitive Psychology and Legal Psychology, and Dr. Ron Chandler, who has expertise in the Psychology of Sustainability; both of these faculty are also contributing to teaching in our growing UF Online program. With respect to our graduate programs, we also welcomed 23 new graduate students across our five doctoral training programs (Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience, Behavior Analysis, Counseling, Developmental, and Social), increasing our graduate training program to 110 students.
Now that you are up-to-date on us, we would love to hear more from you! For our next newsletter, we plan to add a new feature “Key Encounters” in which we are asking alumni to describe (in 250 words or less) a key encounter guided by a faculty member, as part of their academic experience. Possibilities could be an idea, fact, or domain of knowledge that “unlocked the future” for you by dramatically changing who you were, how you saw the world, or the path you took in life. Like our locker unveiling, we want you to dust off your memories of the department and share them with us; please email your key encounter to me. I am also excited to announce our new partnership with social media. Please follow the department on our Facebook and Twitter pages, as we are frequently posting happenings in the department; we also see this as an opportunity to stay better connected with you! Facebook: @UFPsychologyDEPT; Twitter: @UFPsychology
Best,
Lise Abrams