Psychology Department (0436)
109 Williams Hall
Blacksburg VA 24061
Phone: 540-231-6581
Fax: 540-231-3652
Email: psycinfo@vt.edu

Shelmeshia Hill explains her work at the Virginia Tech Summer Research Symposium. Shelmeshia, a McNair Scholar, worked with a team of researchers from Julie Dunsmore’s Social Development Lab and Tom Ollendick’s Child Study Center on a project examining parent-child emotional communication in families seeking treatment for their child’s oppositional behavior. This project was conducted with funding from Virginia Tech’s Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment and the National Institute of Mental Health. Research in the Social Development Lab focuses on parents’ socialization of emotions and children’s socio-emotional competence. You can read more about this and other current projects in the Social Development Lab at http://www.psyc.vt.edu/labs/socdev/.

Welcome

Welcome to the Department of Psychology at Virginia Tech. The Department is home to more than 25 faculty, 6 staff, 70 graduate students, and 800 undergraduate majors. We offer doctoral programs in Clinical Psychology, Developmental and Biological Psychology, and Industrial/Organizational Psychology. Our faculty and students are actively engaged in basic and applied research that is advancing knowledge in a variety of areas of psychology and health related behavior. If these pages do not answer your questions please contact us directly and we will be more than happy to help.

- Dr. Robert Stephens

Department News

Student applicants sought for $4,500 scholarship... The first annual Actively Caring for People Scholarship will be awarded to an undergraduate in January. The scholarship committee is accepting applications until Dec. 17. Candidates are required to have completed the Introduction to Psychology course (PSYC 2004). (more info)

Dr. David Williams, Assistant Professor of Community Health at Brown University, has been named the College of Science Outstanding Recent Alumnus for 2009-2010

Rachel Moore will receive a Society of Pediatric Psychology (SPP) Diversity Research Grant at the SPP Award Ceremony at the American Psychological Association convention in Toronto in August.

Former industrial/organizational graduate student Gavan O'Shea, Ph.D. presented testimony on June 18 to the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Dr. O'Shea presented on behalf of the American Psychological Association (APA) because of his research expertise and military-oriented work in the areas of organizational commitment, personnel selection, and leadership assessment.

Dr. Angela Scarpa's collaborative research with Carilion hospital investigators on screening for autism spectrum disorders is featured on the home page http://www.vtc.vt.edu of the Virginia Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute.

The American Psychological Foundation Board of Trustees has selected E. Scott Geller, Ph.D. of Virgnia Tech as the recipient of the 2009 Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in Psychology in the Public Interest.

Robin Panneton, Associate Professor of Psychology and past Director of the Developmental and Biological Psychology area, has been apponted as the university's Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) coordinator by Vice President and Dean for Undergraduate Education, Daniel Wubah.