Dear Alumni, Students, Colleagues, and Friends,
It is with great enthusiasm that I am pleased to present the Spring 2019 edition of the Department of Psychology Newsletter! The Department continues to grow at a solid pace. Currently, the Department has 33 faculty, the highest ever, and four new faculty will be joining us next year. In addition, we support over 100 graduate students, nearly 1000 undergraduate majors, and over 850 undergraduate minors. We continue to have the highest number of undergraduate majors in the College of Arts and Sciences, and the second-highest in the University.
Psychology Department Fund
The Department of Psychology at the University of Nebraska is still going strong for 130 years since psychology was first taught in 1889 by Harry K. Wolfe. A Nebraskan since age 13, Harry K. Wolfe graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1880 and then went on to study psychology in Germany with Hermann Ebbinghaus and Wilhelm Wundt—two pioneers in the new experimental psychology—completing his doctorate from Wundt in 1886 at the University of Leipzig. Wolfe was the second American to earn a Ph.D. in experimental psychology. He returned to the University of Nebraska in 1889 as Chair of the Department of Philosophy, teaching courses in general psychology, pedagogical psychology, and experimental psychology with a laboratory, and his teaching was extremely popular with students. Wolfe established one of the earliest psychological laboratories in the United States and apparently the first devoted to the training of undergraduate students. Although Wolfe applied to the administration to establish a Department of Psychology in 1891, the Department was not established until 1939, with 6 faculty members; nevertheless we deservedly consider Wolfe as the Department’s founder.
Neuroscience and Examining Individual Differences in Response to Emotional Uncertainty
Faculty member Maital Neta in the Department of Psychology is conducting research examining individual differences in response to emotional uncertainty.
Psychology Department Faculty, Students, Staff, and Alumni are Recognized for their Work
The psychology department faculty, students, staff, and alumni have some impressive accomplishments over the last year. Below is a brief snapshot of some recent happenings.
Nebraska Motivation Symposium on Nature and Cognition April 2019
The 67th Nebraska Symposium on Motivation once again brought together faculty from different departments to organize the symposium. Anne Schutte (Psychology), Julia Torquati (Child, Youth, and Family Studies), and Jeffrey Stevens (Psychology) brought together researchers studying how time in natural environments influences cognition and well-being.
A University of Nebraska research team led by Sociology professor Kirk Dombrowski (Center Director, University of Nebraska—Lincoln (UNL)), Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience professor Shilpa Buch (Associate Director, University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC)) and myself (Associate Director, UNL) has recently been awarded a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health - National Institute of General Medical Sciences that will fund the creation of the Rural Drug Addiction Research (RDAR) Center.
Psychology majors uniquely poised for new technological age
The landscape of the world of work is changing quickly due to computerization, robotics, artificial intelligence, and the automation of tasks formerly assigned to human workers.
Psychology at the Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior
The Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior (CB3) is a multidisciplinary research center, built into the southeast corner of Memorial Stadium, just across the sidewalk from Burnett Hall. Despite our visibility and close proximity, many in Psychology may not be aware of all we have to offer and how intricately tied we are to department faculty and students. In this Newsletter feature, I aim to get everyone up to speed on CB3!
One’s years in college provide challenges to students who are required to learn and retain a great deal of information to perform well in courses. Fundamentally, success in college depends on how well one remembers, which can be optimized with study techniques that increase attention and understanding of course material.
2019 Department of Psychology Awards Celebration Honors Undergraduate Accomplishments
The psychology department held the annual Awards Celebration on April 8, 2019, in the Nebraska Union. The annual event provided an opportunity to celebrate the impressive accomplishments of our outstanding undergraduate students.
Greetings from Joanne Murray, Jessica Calvi, Doug Schultz, Karl Kuntzelman, Noah Clayton, Jessica Cronin, and Lynda Lynch! We interact with many of the Department of Psychology faculty and students as researchers and in our administrative roles. We would like to introduce ourselves.