Event recap: Centenarian Study Reception

On November 11th, 2012, Dr. Daniela Jopp of the Applied Developmental Psychology program hosted the Fordham Centenarian Study Reception to honor participants in her two-year study. There were over 70 guests in attendance including 10 centenarians, Fordham administration and faculty, study staff and special guest, Grant Campany of Archon Genomics X PRIZE.

Dr. Daniela Jopp

Fordham Dean of Research Nancy Busch welcomed reception guests and opened the event. Dr. Jopp introduced attending centenarians and gave an overview of preliminary findings of the Fordham Centenarian Study. The study documents the experience of life at age 100 and intends to bring awareness to a growing, but rarely studied population. Dr. Jopp emphasized the challenges centenarians face, for example with respect to health, but stressed that most centenarians who participated in the study indicated to enjoy and value their life. She also highlighted the fact that centenarians have high levels of psychological strengths, such as feeling in control, experiencing life as meaningful, and wanting to live, which helps them to be happy and satisfied and may have contributed to reaching such an advanced age. Mr. Campany presented the 100 Over 100 Competition, noting its significance in learning more about genes that promote longevity and health in centenarians and consequently its imminent impact on healthcare. Two centenarians shared experiences and their take on their own longevity with the audience.

Reception guests enjoyed hearing about Fordham Centenarian Study and getting the chance to meet and learn more about centenarians.

In the future, Dr. Jopp intends to follow up with the study through a project focused on the perspective of the caretakers, children and relatives of the centenarians. She is currently planning on presenting results of the study at the upcoming Gerontological Society of America Conference. Dr. Jopp has recently been featured in Psychology Today and the Financial Times Germany in interviews about her work.

For more information about the Centenarian Study and Dr. Jopp’s other projects, visit the Web page for Dr. Jopp’s Adult Development and Aging Lab.

Center for Ethics Education hosts multidisciplinary career panel

Interested in pursuing a career in ethics?  On Thursday, February 7th, the Center for Ethics Education will host a multidisciplinary panel of professionals and Ethics and Society program graduates engaged in or pursuing a variety of ethics-related careers.  Audience members will have the opportunity to ask questions and interact with panelists.

Panelist will include professionals working at the Families and Work Institute, Montefiore Medical Center, Fordham Law School and Pace Law School, Fordham University’s Conservation Biology Program, Fordham Institutional Review Board, and HIV Research Ethics Training Institute.

This event will be moderated by Dr. Adam Fried, Director of the M.A. in Ethics and Society program.

This free event will take place in the Walsh Library’s O’Hare Special Collections room on Thursday, February 7th, 2013 at 6:30pm. Reception to follow.  RSVP to ethics@fordham.edu or call (718) 817-0926.

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”.

Celia Fisher Named 2012 AAAS Fellow

Dr. Celia Fisher, Ph.D.

The American Association for the Advancement of Sciences(AAAS) has named Celia Fisher, Ph.D., the Marie Ward Doty University Chair and professor of psychology, as a 2012 AAAS Fellow.

Fisher, who is also the founding director of Fordham's Center for Ethics Education, is one of 702 AAAS members around the world to be named a Fellow for their significant efforts to advance science.

For more detailed information, please visit Fordham Notes.

Dr. Laura Sosinsky elected to CFPC’s Steering Committee

Dr. Laura Stout Sosinsky, Ph.D.

The Applied Developmental Psychology (ADP) program has a leadership role in the national University-Based Child & Family Policy Consortium (CFPC), which includes over 30 member programs and centers across the US.

ADP faculty member Laura Sosinsky has recently been elected to CFPC’s Steering Committee and will help provide input on and support for the direction of CFPC activities and initiatives around research, career development, and engagement with practice and policy.  In addition, she continues to be part of the CFPC leadership group for the Initiative for Evidence-Based Early Childhood Policy and Practice, which will strive to support existing collaboration and generate new interaction among early childhood scientists and policy experts across the country.