Concentrators who have excelled
in academics have the opportunity to
complete a senior thesis through the
Honors Program. The honors research program work in Psychology and in Biopsychology & Cognitive Science involves
two terms of research in close collaboration
with a faculty mentor. The projects
involve collecting empirical data and
writing a complete report suitable for
submission to a journal publication.
This academic year, over seventy
students completed an honors thesis in
our program, comprising almost 10% of
our concentrators. These top students
pursued a wide variety of research topics
across areas in the department, including
co-parenting, identity, dopamine activation, perfectionism, acoustic coding,
empathy, job burnout, prenatal hormones,
and internet relationships. Our
program graduates represent over 20% of all graduates from the Honors College of
LS&A this year.
A graduation ceremony was held
to honor these students on the day
before the U-M graduation events. The
graduates attended in cap and gown, and
were awarded completion certificates
along with department pins (the “psi”
Greek letter) to wear on their academic
gowns. Seniors Jung
Min and
Kathleen Lentz addressed the
graduates, and stressed
the impact of the
honors project on their
Michigan experience.
Both also thanked their families for their
contributions to the
students’ academic successes.
Chair Richard
Gonzalez gave the closing remarks, and
the Honors Ceremony was followed by a
Psychology Department reception, giving
students a chance to celebrate with their
faculty mentors and families.
An annual award honoring Professor
W. B. Pillsbury is awarded each year
in recognition of outstanding research
performance in the field of experimental
psychology. Two seniors shared the
award this year: Juliana Breines was
honored for her research on women’s
self-objectification in daily life, advised
by Professor Jennifer Crocker; and
Kathleen Lentz received the award for
her thesis work (with Professor Margaret
Shih) on the impact of racial disclosure
on self-esteem. Lentz was also awarded
the Virginia Voss Memorial Scholarship
Award for excellence in writing by the Honors College of LS&A. While over
sixty professors assisted with a thesis,
Professor Jennifer Crocker served as a
mentor to six of our graduating seniors
this year.
Another program graduate was
honored by the LSA Honors College for
her overall excellence in scholarship.
Evelyn May Lyn Tan was awarded the
Marshall Sahlins Social Science Award
for the best student in the college across
the social sciences. Her honors thesis, on
class and religious identities, was advised
by Professor Fiona Lee. Tan actually
completed two honors theses, with her
second in the economics concentration honors program. The entire set of seventy
theses form an extremely impressive
array of novel contributions to the field.
News
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On Our Minds 2005 Homepage
