The Research Colloquium Series presents: Meghan Butryn, Ph.D.

On Wednesday, January 16th, Meghan Butryn, Ph.D., and Assistant Research Professor at Drexel University, will be the presenting for the Psychology Department’s Research Colloquium Series.

Her presentation is titled “Acceptance-Based Behavioral Intervention: Applications to Weight Management and Physical Activity Promotion”

This presentation is will take place on the Rose Hill Campus in Walsh Library’s Flom Auditorium.  All university students are welcome.

Sara Douglass, M.A., awarded SPSSI grant

The Fall 2012 Grant-in-Aid Program Committee members and The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) have announced that Sara Douglass has been selected to receive a grant in the amount of $400 to support her dissertation research.  The announcement of this award will be made in an upcoming SPSSI Newsletter.

Sara is completing her dissertation in the Applied Developmental Psychology program and is expected to graduate in May.

New Faculty Member - Fatima Varner, Ph.D.

Dr. Fatima Varner, Ph.D.

The psychology department is pleased to welcome Dr. Fatima Varner as a full time faculty member in its Applied Developmental Psychology Ph.D. program.

Dr. Varner is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Ph.D. program in Human Development and Social Policy and was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for the Study of Black Youth in Context at the University of Michigan.  Her major research interests include the influence of parenting on ethnic minority adolescents’ academic achievement and mental health, contextual influences on mothers’ mental health and parenting, and uncovering disparities in achievement that may result from issues revolving around gender and ethnicity.

Her current research project, “Racial Discrimination Concerns and African American Mothers’ Parenting Practices”, funded by a Fordham University Faculty Research Grant, examines whether Black mothers’ concerns about the influence of racial discrimination on their children’s lives relate to their home and school-related parenting practices. She will conduct an online survey of Black mothers of children aged 5 -19 to also investigate child and parental characteristics that may influence the relationship between mothers’ discrimination concerns and parenting practices.

Regarding her decision to join the Fordham academic community, Dr. Varner states, “I am very excited about becoming part of the Fordham community. I have been impressed by Fordham’s  emphases on the holistic development of students and excellence in research and teaching. Additionally, working in New York provides unique opportunities to further my research on Black families and the academic and psychological development of Black youth.”

Dr. Varner will be joining the ADP program in January and will be teaching “Foundations of Psychology” and “Multicultural Issues in Education”.