DEPARTMENT PAGES:

Dr. Walsh's Pages

Late Breaking Stories~2002-2003

Phone: 401.341.3120
e-mail:walsh@salve.edu

April 25, 2003, Newport, RI :On Thursday evening, April 24th, the Psychology Club held its annual "cook out" and awards dinner. Although the temperature was chilly for a late April day, everyone enjoyed themselves and had a great dinner put together with a combination of home cooked treats such as "to die for" chocolate-chip-cookie-pie ~Martasian, calzones ~Tuliano, chips, salsa, popcorn,soda, etc. ...and wonderful sour dough sandwichs and a salad from Newport's newest "chic" restaurant, Panera Bread on Long Wharf. After dinner, certificates of appreciation were presented to graduating senior club officers Brendan Ristaino and Kiyoko Koganei and all 2002-2003 club officers received gifts of appreciation. Club members in turn presented gifts of appreciation to club advisors Dr. Arthur Frankel and Dr. Paula Martasian. Dr. Sheila Quinn was presented with a bouquet of flowers thanking her for her support over the past year as exemplified by her regular attendance at club meetings. Club members then elected officers for next year. They are Andrea Tuliano, President; Ashley Jutras, Vice-President; Gina Liguori, Secretary; and, Nancy Porter, Treasurer. Congratulations to them all. Later in the evening, club members and others totalling around fifty persons were treated to an evening of entertainment by Tom Sgouros and his robot "Judy," a mechanical puppet which addressed the question: "If you built a robot smart enough to do the dishes, would it also be smart enough to find them boring?" Read more about Judy and Tom here.

April 24, 2003, Newport, RI :At this year's annual Student Life Awards Dinner held on April 23, 2003, Andrea Tuliano, Psychology Club President, received the Psychology Club Award "for her leadership, organization, [and] wonderful ability to put student ideas and wishes into action." Andrea was responsible for organizing numerous activities this year including a psychology club group walkathon for the Alzheimer's Association, collecting toys at Christmas for children at Lucy's Hearth women's shelter, raising funds for the Rhode Island Food Bank by organizing a Valentine Basket raffle, and securing funds for several fellow students to attend a psychology convention in Baltimore, MD.
Andrea also was nominated for and received the Robert Tracy Hall Sophomore Campus Leadership and Service Award for all of her many activities. Andrea has also been a sophomore mentor and has been involved in other student organized events such as Ox Fam, the March of Dimes, and the Make a Wish Foundation to name a few. The list does go on...believe me! We wish to congratulate Andrea on all her good deeds and thank her for being such a wonderful leader for our psychology club and for being such an excellent role model for others. Congratulations, Andrea, from all of us in psychology. Your professors are proud of you for representing our department so well.

April 24, 2003, Newport, RI : Dr. Paula J. Martasian, Associate Professor of Psychology received this year's Freshman Advocate Award, an award presented by the sophomore class which read: "In recognition of and appreciation for ...[her] outstanding contributions on behalf of freshmen students at Salve Regina University. Thanks [, it continues,] for making sophomores out of all of us". The award was presented at this year's annual Student Life Awards Dinner held on April 23, 2003. Congratulations are extended to Dr. Martasian from all of us in psychology.

April 14, 2003, Newport, RI :On Thursday, April 10, 2003 the Salve Regina University Department of Psychology Chapter of Psi Chi, the National Honor Society in Psychology conducted its third annual induction ceremony. Thirteen students and one faculty member were inducted during the proceedings. Inducted into the society on this date were Michelle Lee Carme, Deanna Lyn D'Amato, Bryce Beal DuBois, Regina Lynn DiGiovanni, Matthew R. Dusault, Ashley Jay Jutras, Kiyoko Koganei, Gina M. Liguori, Jennifer Rae Chantall Negron, Aida M. O'Brien, Nancy E. Porter, Dr. Sheila O'Brien Quinn, Elizabeth V. Tontini, and Andrea Theresa Tuliano. Numerous family members including grand parents attended the ceremony, some coming from as far away as New Jersey and the library in Ochre Court was filled to capacity. Following the ceremony, participants, new members, and their guests adjourned to the Rodgers Recreation Center for refreshments. The formal portrait of this year's class may be viewed here.

April 9, 2003, Newport, RI : The department has just learned that Amanda Hebert(2003), Vice President of our Psi Chi chapter and Kiyoko Koganei(2003), Secretary of our Psychology Club, have been accepted to graduate school. Amanda will be entering the school psychology program at Towson University in Towson, Maryland near Baltimore and Kiyoko will be entering the graduate program in marriage and family therapy at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA. All of us in the psychology department wish to offer them our heartiest congratulations. We know they will represent us all very well.

March 25, 2003 Newport, RI : Gina DeFrancesco, Kiyoko Koganei, and Dr. Sheila O'Brien Quinn returned triumphant from their trip to the 2003 Eastern Psychological Association Convention in Baltimore, MD earlier this month. They were cheered on while there by four other psychology majors from Salve, viz., Ashley Jutras, Nancy Porter, Gina Luguoni, and Aida O'Brien who flew in for the event. Photos from their trip may be viewed here. Check them out.

March 25, 2003, Newport, RI :The department has just received word that Christina Nordstrom, Class of 2003, has been accepted into the graduate program in clinical psychology at American International College in Springfield, Massachusetts. Christina will begin her studies in the fall this year. All members of the department extend to her our most enthusiastic congratulations.

February 26, 2003, Newport, RI :We are delighted to report that four senior psychology majors have had their fall semester Psychology of Language course research project(taught by Dr. Quinn) accepted for poster-format presentation at not one, not two, BUT THREE professional psychology conventions this spring. Keri Figueiredo, Dr. Sheila O. Quinn(sponsor), Gina DeFrancesco, and Kiyoko Koganei(left to right at right) will be presenting their research project entitled "Not All Shows are Reality Shows: A Comparison of Conversational Styles" this spring at the Rhode Island Teachers of Psychology conference at Johnson and Wales University in Providence on April 11th, at the Eastern Psychological Association convention in Baltimore, MD on March 15th, and at the 15th annual American Psychological Society convention in Atlanta, GA held from May 29th to June 1st(see logo below).

In the abstract prepared for the Altanta conference program our researchers wrote: "This poster examines the accuracy of gender-language differences as portrayed in two popular television shows: Friends and Mad About You. Contradicting the results of previous research, our results indicated no significant differences in the frequencies of interruptions, expletives, apologies or emotional exclamations between the sexes as portrayed by these shows." A more detailed description of their presentation and results may be read on line here. All of us in psychology are extraordinarily proud of the accomplishments of these fine young students. Our gratitude goes out to Dr. Quinn as well for providing the inspiration and guidance as they put their research together. We are certain they will represent our department and university well installing well-deserved "feathers in their own as well as feathers in our caps" in the process. We wish them well at every conference and look forward to having a few photos to publish at a future date. Questions about the research and its results may be directed to Gina DeFrancesco, the lead author on two of the presentation projects.

February 11, 2003, Newport, RI : During "Valentine's Day" week, the week of February 10th ~ 14th, 2003, the Psychology Club of Salve Regina University is holding a raffle to raise money for the Rhode Island Food Bank. The event caught the attention of Salve Today news(see below) which featured it on its web site on February 11th, 2003. In that piece it stated in part that "The estimated retail value of all three baskets is $275. The baskets will prove to be a real treat for the winners, and will be an even bigger treat for the Rhode Island Food bank who will be receiving all of the money generated by raffle ticket sales." Read the whole article here and note that the author of the article is none other than Andrea Tuliano, Psychology Club President and person who lead the effort to collect the "goods" for the raffle baskets!

January 27, 2003, Newport, RI : Brian Becker(2002) and Kiyoko Koganei(2003) have just announced their engagement. Brian is presently in the clinical psychology Ph.D. program at Fuller Theological Seminary in California. Kiyoko plans on entering the marriage and family counseling program at Fuller in the fall. Their wedding plans were announced during a recent trip to Tokyo over the Christmas holidays.

Brian accompanied Kiyoko to Japan in order to meet her family and to explore and learn more about Kiyoko's home town. The exact date of their nuptials has yet to be announced but all of us in the psychology department are thrilled with the news and wish them both all the best as they plan their future life together.

December 12, 2002, Newport, RI : On the 2nd of January, 2003, when others may be winding down from the excitement surrounding the change to a new year, Drs. Frankel, Martasian, and Quinn will be heading south to St. Petersburg Beach, Florida to the National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology's 25th Annual Convention. According to this year's program which runs from the 2nd to the 5th of January, the institute "is designed for teachers of psychology at universities, two- and four-year colleges, and high schools, who wish to enhance and broaden their teaching skills. The institute has served over 3500 teachers of psychology and has achieved an international reputation for its commitment to excellence in the teaching of psychology.

This year's program includes 33 distinguished primary presenters, as well as three poster sessions and three participant idea exchanges, at which all participants may present materials related to teaching. The topics span a wide range of course content areas and are designed to meet the needs expressed by past participants and psychology faculty in general." Drs. Frankel, Martasian, and Quinn are all on the formal program this year either by presenting a poster or by leading a discussion in a "Participant Idea Exchange" session. Dr. Arthur Frankel's poster is entitled "Six Well-Kept Secrets for Succeeding in College," a humorous satirical look at college student counter-productive behavior with a very large grain of truth included; Dr. Paula Martasian's "Participant Idea Exchange" session is entitled "Games Psychologists Play," in which she will explain how games of one sort or another may be used effectively to teach or review difficult topics in psychology;and, Dr. Sheila O'Brien Quinn's poster, "Meet your Twin:An 'Icebreaker' Activity to Introduce Research Methods to General Psychology Students," describes an effective didactic device she has developed for her classes. It is certain that not only will other teachers of psychology benefit from the creative ideas they will bring to Florida, but they, too, will undoubtedly bring some fresh ideas about teaching back to Salve with them as well. January 8, 2003 Update: All faculty arrived home safely after their Florida convention trip and reported that the experience was a great success. Their contributions generated a great deal of interest among participants, new friendships were established, and there were many opportunities for meeting and schmoozing with prominent psychologists from around the nation. Two images from the convention appear below. Dr. Arthur Frankel and Convention Guest Speaker Dr. John T. Cacioppo of the Social Psychology program at the University of Chicago at Dr. Frankel's poster session. Dr. Sheila Quinn and Dr. Paula Martasian at Dr. Quinn's poster session.

December 12, 2002, Newport, RI : Dr. Sheila O'Brien Quinn and Dr. Paula Martasian(along with Dr. Holiday E. Adair of California University of Pennsylvania) have had their article "Demonstrating the Fundamental Attribution Error While You Teach Study Skills" published in the Fall, 2002 issue of the Psychology Teacher Network( Volume 12, Issue 3, p. 9). The Psychology Teacher Network is published quarterly by the Education Directorate of the American Psychological Association. The article describes a teaching activity for use in introductory and social psychology classes. The activity, in part, is described as a practice exercise and a means of teaching students "transfer-appropriate-learning" as an effective study skill. "Secondarily," they wrote, "the activity also can be used to encourage cooperative behavior" as well.

December 11, 2002, Newport, RI : On Wednesday, December 4th, members of the psychology club gathered to do the final packing of children's gifts to be delivered Lucy's Hearth/The Newport County Shelter for Homeless Women. Lucy's Hearth is a 24 hour emergency and transitional shelter for mothers and their children who are homeless, due to

economic hardship, family crisis, divorce, eviction, and the lack of safe, affordable housing. It is located in Middletown, Rhode Island a few miles from campus. The psychology club students collected over 100 toys for children and gifts for their mothers and it took two cars to deliver them all. All of us in the Psychology Department are very proud of these fine young students for this their most thoughtful act of charity at this Christmas season.

December 6, 2002, Newport, RI : On December 3rd, 9 psychology majors and minors along with their mentor, Dr. Sheila Quinn, ventured "all the way over the Newport and Jamestown bridges" to the University of Rhode Island to attend a lecture by the world renowned Dr. Oliver Sacks. The subject of his lecture was the "nature nurture controversy" in part but he touched upon subjects that fit right in to Dr. Quinn's child development, child psychopathology, and psychology of language classes. Dr. Sacks is perhaps best known for his 1985 collection of case histories from the far borderlands of neurological experience, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, in which he describes patients struggling to live with conditions ranging from Tourette's Syndrome to autism, parkinsonism, musical hallucination, phantom limb syndrome, schizophrenia, retardation and Alzheimer's disease. His book Awakenings inspired the 1990 Oscar nominated movie with Robert De Niro and Robin Williams. Psychology students in attendance were Cynthia de Olivera, Maureen Carlin, Jessica Cochran, Regina DiGiovanni, Bryce DuBois, Kate Howard, Ashley(AJ) Jutras, Kiyoko Koganei, Kathryn Quint, Amy Welch, and Christine Wenthen.

November 21, 2002, Newport, RI : On November 14th, William Gammetto(at right with son Billy), B.A. Psychology 1994, MS Simmons College, was the guest speaker in Dr. Arthur Frankel's Psychology of Learning and Behavior class. The title of his presentation was "Conditioning and Shaping in Public Schools, Applied Behavioral Analysis." After graduating from Salve, Will joined the staff of The New England Center for Children as a special education teacher and remained there from 1997 to 2001. While there, he pursued his master's degree at Simmons College where he graduated in 2001. He is certified in Massachusetts to teach Pre-K-12 Intensive Special Needs children.

Will was associated with the LABBB Collaborative in Burlington, MA as a "developmental kindergarten inclusion teacher" for a time but he is presently a "Pervasive Developmental Disorder Classroom Teacher" in Wilmington (MA) at their Shawsheen School. In the course of his work Will works with students with profound "Pervasive Developmental Disorders" who are non-verbal and low functioning. He is responsible for developing educational programs for his students, modifying curricula, and developing intensive behavior modification programs. It is apparent that Will is doing quite well these days and finding many ways to apply his psychology education from Salve and Simmons on a daily basis. He is developing a web site which may be viewed here and working on a book entitled "Luther's New Neighbor," a story about a young boy, Luther, who learns about autism when a boy his own age with the disorder moves into his neighborhood. We are certainly proud of all Will has accomplished since leaving Salve and wish him continued success. He may be reached by e-mail at gammetto@yahoo.com.

October 23, 2002, Newport, RI : Dr. Sheila O'Brien Quinn, new to our department this year, joined several former students of her's from Providence College on the program at this year's New England Psychological Association annual convention held October 18th and 19th at Rivier College in New Hampshire. At the Cognitive and Moral Development in Children paper session she and two former students presented their research entitled "Development of Automaticity in Elementary School Children as a Function of Age Versus Grade Level." At the Memory and Cognition Paper Session she and three other students presented their paper "Is the Stroop Effect to Single Letters the Result of an Order Effect?"

Dr. Quinn was the faculty supervisor of the student produced research papers and the formal sponsor for their participation in the program. Abstracts of the papers can be read here and here. In the photo above, Dr. Quinn, Jaime Dougherty(now at Wesleyan), and Lisa Fortin(Providence College) prepare for their presentation. Gina DeFrancesco(SRU, 2003), Keri Figueiredo(SRU, 2003) and Sara Santino(SRU, 2003) also attended.

October 11, 2002, Newport, RI : The Psychology Club is conducting a Design a T-Shirt Contest seeking a new look for its signature club shirt. All designs should be 8 1/2 by 11 and focus on a psychology theme. Applications are available in the club mail box in Wakehurst. All entries must be returned by October 21st to the mail box. Judging will take place October 23rd at the club meeting. " This is a great way to get your art work published," the club president Andrea Tuliano stated, you can "win a free T-shirt with your design on it and be honored at a future Psychology Club meeting."

October 11, 2002, Newport, RI: Kathleen McCann (Kitty) Fallon, psychology Degree recipient in 1994(magna cum laude with a 4.0 GPA), wrote to Dr. Walsh recently with news about her career activities since graduation. Kitty is currently a graduate student in the Counselor Education Program working toward her Ph.D. in Mental Health Counseling. She is an Admissions Counselor for the graduate program she is in as well as being a "Registered Mental Health Counselor Intern" in the state of Florida and the holder of both the Ed.S.(Education Specialist) and M.Ed. degrees(1996) from the University of Florida, Gainesville, with a specialization in marriage and family counseling.

Since 1995, Kitty has amassed a very impressive resumeé which chronicles her rich professional experiences in mental health counseling for the past eight years. For example, she has served as a crisis intervention counselor and adjunct counselor at the Alucha County Crisis Center in Gainesville, a substance abuse counselor for the Meridian Behavioral Healthcare facility in Lake City, FL, a clinical group counselor at the University of Florida's Couples and Family Clinic, and a private practitioner at the Haile Village Counseling Center in Gainesville to name just a few of the experiences her resumeé includes. In addition to her clinical experiences, Kitty has also been teaching on the university level, publishing professionally, and involved in the conduct of over two dozen professional workshops and/or presentations. Kitty was a member of our Salve based psychology honor society, Psi Epsilon Delta--the precursor to our current honor society, Psi Chi--when she was here and had received numerous other honors before leaving Salve. She has continued to collect honors at the University of Florida, e.g., election to membership in Chi Sigma Iota, the "International Honor Society for Students, Professional Counselors, and Counselor Educators". Kitty will complete her Ph.D. in 2004 and we wish her all the best as she continues to represent our department and university so well. [aaw]

October 7, 2002, Newport, RI : On Sunday, October 6th, five walkers representing the psychology department and the Psychology Club set off on a 3.8 mile walk fulfilling their obligation to their sponsors who donated $208.00 to the Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk at this fund raising event. Team members in the photo at the right were(from left to right) Anne O'Neil, Andrea Tuliano( Psychology Club President), Andrew Martasian, Dr. Paula Martasian, and Samantha Martasian. The $208.00 raised by the group helped the event raise over $45,000.00 that day. Samantha Martasian alone raised $125.00 for the cause. A great time was had by all on what turned out to be a glorious fall day in Newport.

October 6, 2002, Newport, RI : The Department of Psychology was well represented at this year's Dean's List and Student Life Awards Ceremony for Spring, 2002 Recipients held at the Rodgers Recreation Center yesterday. Kiyoko Koganei(2003) introduced Dr. Paula Martasian who was this year's faculty speaker by virtue of the fact that Professor Martasian was the recipient of last spring's Teacher of the Year award. Brian Becker(2002) was the recipient of the Alan Shawn Feinstein Enriching America Program Award "...for four years of outstanding community service." Fr. Michael Malone was one of five recipients of the Freshman Advocate Award and received a framed certificate and an actual back scratcher, the implications of which remain obscure. Finally, the following psychology majors received awards for making the Dean's List itself: Brian Becker(2002), Deanna D'Amato, Nicole Gendreau, Amanda Hebert, Aya Ito, Kevin Linsky, Jennifer Negron, Kamila Pawerova(2002), Brendan Ristaino, and Michael Tarasenko. Dr. Anthony A. Walsh also attended. On behalf of the department, we congratulate all who received awards and thank all who participated in this important event.

September 26, 2002, Newport, RI : On September 26, 2002 the department of psychology held an "Open House" reception in the Rodgers Recreation Center for majors, minors, psychology club and Psi Chi members, and all students interested in our department. About 25 people attended and plans for the upcoming year's events were announced. Refreshments were provided and a good time was had by all.

October 4, 2002, Newport, RI : The university Psychology Club and Psi Chi, the Department of Psychology's chapter of the National Honor Society in Psychology will meet and schedule activities conjointly for the first time. The first event of the year is a fund raiser on Sunday, October 6th, in the form of a walk to raise money for Alzheimer's research. Officers this year are: Psychology Club Officers Psi Chi Officers President, Andrea Tuliano President, Brendan Ristaino Vice President, Ashley Jutras Vice President, Amanda Herbert Treasurer, Brendan Ristaino Treasurer, Lindsey Taggart Secretary, Kiyoko Koganei Secretary, Julie Brennan Psychology Department News, 2007-2008 Psychology Department News, 2006-2007 Psychology Department News, 2005-2006 Psychology Department News, 2004-2005 Psychology Department News, 2003-2004 Psychology Department News, 2002-2003 Psychology Department News, 2001-2002 Psychology Department News, 2000-2001 Psychology Department News, 1999-2000 This page is not an official page of Salve Regina University. It was created--and is still maintained-- for the Department of Psychology by Anthony A. Walsh to be a part of a larger web site devoted to psychology and other matters that he first put on line in January, 1996. These redesigned pages went on line November 5th, 1999. Revised: April 24, 2003