Psychology Special Opportunities

Hillary Hayen ’13

Double Major: Psychology and History
Psy.D. Student, Immaculata University, Pennsylvania

“I found Hartwick to be extremely fulfilling academically. I really enjoyed every professor I worked with in both the psychology and history departments. I was not initially going to obtain a double major, but I could not stop taking Dr. Wallace and Dr. Quinn’s history classes. Dr. Goldman was my psychology advisor and he was a fantastic mentor; pushing me to achieve in all the ways he knew I could. He and I went over what I would do after I graduated and he convinced me to apply to doctoral programs. I was accepted by all to which I applied, however I chose Immaculata University to obtain my Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology.”

Read Hillary's Story

Joseph Ziegler III ’19

Double Major: Psychology and Sociology; Honors Program
Cross country team captain, swim team
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois

“My summer internship became a job offer for after I graduate. I will join Industry Specialty Services Group of BDO and get into consulting.

People ask me why a psychology major would want to work for an accounting firm. In my internship, I learned that the work requires both technical skills and people skills. The technical skills I didn’t possess, but can be learned. The people skills are something I did possess. My supervisors liked that I was eager to learn, was coachable, and had a positive attitude. I’m interested in how people do what they do and why. Understanding people allows me to help them better.”

Read Joseph's Story

Undergraduate Research

The Psychology Research. Suite include rooms with one-way mirror observation deck and adjoining conference room, student lounge and meeting room (with psychology journals, Psi Chi newsletters, graduate-school brochures and books, GRE practice tests, refrigerator, coffee maker, microwave, etc.). The Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory includes an animal colony, Pavlovian conditioning chambers, stereotaxic surgery equipment, and BIOPAC esources for research involving physiological measures, including EEG, GSR, heart rate.

Psychology students conducting research follow informed consent practices. Our Sample Informed Consent Form helps guide students through their projects.

Sample Informed Consent Form

J Term courses

The Department of Psychology provides opportunities for students to explore the world during January Term. Recent courses include:

Psychology of World War II in Europe
Psychology of Creativity in Hawaii
Psychology and Culture in Hong Kong

PSI CHI & Psychology Club

Psi Chi is the National Honor Society in Psychology, founded in 1929 with over 400 chapters at accredited colleges and universities across the nation. Psi Chi’s purposes are to encourage, stimulate, and maintain scholarship of members and to advance the science of psychology. The minimum qualifications for membership in Hartwick’s Psi Chi Chapter include: 3.50 psychology GPA, 3.25 cumulative GPA, and 12 completed Hartwick Psychology credits. Sample activities from Hartwick’s chapter include attendance and presentations at regional and national psychological conferences, sponsoring of guest speakers, and admissions recruitment activities.

Psychology Club is established by students to provide a venue for all students at Hartwick to learn about and celebrate around important issues related to psychology.

Student-Faculty Collaborative Cognitive Science Projects

Conference Presentations:

Allison Fitzsimmons ’21, Kelsea Royce ’21, Alyssa Jasewicz ’21, Maximillion Mastroianni ’21: Political polarization in a pandemic: Political views and mental health; Eastern Psychological Association, March 2021. Assistant Professor William Kowalczyk, Sanborn-Overby, U. A.

Justyna Cage ’22 and Jacqueline Gerstenberger ’23: Maternal Stress Increases Anxiety-Like Behavior of Rodent Infant Offspring; Society for Neuroscience Conference, January 2021; Assistant Professor Heidi Rivera

Olivia Roth ’20, Abigail White ’20, Lauren Gifford ’20, Abigail Schwartz ’21:The effect of mental health and expectancy of drinking outcomes on college drinking behaviors. Poster presented at the 92nd annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, June 2020; Assistant Professor William Kowalczyk

Jennifer M. Darasz ’20: Implicit gender stereotypes of aggressive vs. nonaggressive car “faces”; Eastern Psychological Association, March 2020; Professor Lisa Onorato

Award-winning Projects:

Freedman Prize: Vanessa T Morgan ’19: The construction of a reusable ecological momentary assessment application; Assistant Professor William Kowalczyk
Freedman Prize: Olivia Austin ’18: The effects of the color red on risk taking; Assistant Professor William Kowalczyk
Freedman Prize: Lauren Rosenberg ’17: The Effect of Personal Appearance on Test Scores; Professor Lisa Onorato
Freedman Prize: Teresa Kim ’17: The Effects of Computer Literacy and Note Taking Method on Delayed Recall; Professor KinHo Chan
Freedman Prize: Gwen Bennis ’16: The Effects of Tattoos on Stereotypical Perceptions Using a Lexical Decision Task; Professor Lisa Onorato
Freedman Prize: Natashe Pelletier ’16: Catching lighting with a bottle: Pessimism, goal-pursuit and object priming; Associate Professor Justin Wellman