The Department of Psychological Sciences celebrates students’ successes throughout the year and is particularly pleased to acknowledge its Outstanding Seniors and Juniors for the fall 2021 semester. These individuals were chosen for their stellar academic records and activities related to psychological sciences.
Deja Kennedy
Deja, a first-generation student, was selected for this honor based on her activities as a research assistant. She demonstrated high levels of responsibility within the lab, increased her own workload to ensure success of the lab’s projects, and made an audio presentation on her research project at the spring 2021 research symposium.
Ryan Shallcross
Ryan was recognized for his outstanding academic accomplishments, volunteerism, and excellence as an intern in the Fieldwork and Internship (PSY 408C) program. Faculty and supervisors noted his commitment to his own professional development and to helping his peers achieve their own goals, professionalism, work ethic, and sustained exemplar work as a student in the Honors College. During his senior year, Ryan’s research supervisor Dr. Laura Noll was particularly impressed that he helped her team co-author a peer-reviewed article and took the lead on data collection for a capstone project that he plans to present at the Honor’s symposium in December. Ryan will soon be applying to graduate school and plans to build on his fieldwork and research experiences at NAU as he continues his education in psychological sciences.
Emily Watkins
Emily was lauded for their work as an intern within the Fieldwork and Internship (PSY 408C) program. Emily excelled as an intern with the Domestic Violence Shelter at Northland Family Help Center and, by the end of the internship, was offered a job at Northland where they have worked since the completion of the internship. Faculty noted Emily’s positive engagement with peers and their motivating and uplifting presence in class sessions.
In additional to these Outstanding Seniors, The Department of Psychological Sciences recognized three Outstanding Juniors.
Deqcaun Dinkins
Deqcaun, an online student who is active military, was recognized for his academic accomplishments and wide-ranging activities related to psychology. He has been a violence/suicide prevention instructor since 2018 and has taught over 300 military and civilian personnel on the topic. He serves as an HR technician and has counseled over 1,000 military members and their families, helping them address hundreds of quality-of-life issues.
Sam Osinga
Sam was recognized for his academic accomplishments and research-related activities. Working with Dr. Andy Schrack Walters, he has prepared applications to the Institutional Review Board and is completing his own research project this year involving interviewing 10 gay-identifying and 10 straight-identifying men on the behavioral signals they emit to convey gendered messages. Sam’s research has relevance both for how men convey messages about a masculine persona and also have implication about how mixed masculine messages can lead to anti-gay violence.
Maya Rajah
Maya, an international student from Singapore who is pursuing a B.S. in Psychology, was recognized for her academic accomplishments and her engagement with contemporary issues in the psychological sciences outside the classroom as well. She has worked in Dr. Michael Alban’s lab reviewing literature related to the light and dark triads and is working with Jason Whetten to revise materials for the Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience course he teaches. Last semester, she worked with Mr. Whetten to edit and compile the textbook for PSY 101, which is now being used by PSY 101 students. In addition to completing a capstone course focused on mindfulness with Dr. Goodman, Maya is currently taking a 2-year mindfulness teacher training program with the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center to become a certified mindfulness meditation teacher.
The Department of Psychological Sciences offers its congratulations to these exemplary students, and to all of the fall 2021 graduates.