Faculty and Students from the Graduate Psychology Programs attend the American Psychological Association Annual Convention

Thirty-two faculty, graduate students, and alumni from St. John’s University’s graduate psychology programs traveled to Boston to attend the American Psychological Association (APA) 116th annual convention.

With 148,000 members, APA is the largest association of psychologists worldwide. Thus, the APA Convention attracts a large number of psychologists each year in all arenas of psychology, from clinical psychologists to psychopharmacologists to behavioral neuroscientists to school psychologists. Graduate students, academics, and practitioners gather to network and present the latest research in the field.

St. John’s faculty, graduate students, and alumni delivered an impressive total of 22 presentations on their newest research in the field of psychology. This level of participation and the quality of the presentations and research highlights the outstanding work currently being conducted at St. John’s University.

Although students and faculty from graduate psychology programs have been attending APA annual conventions since the 1980’s, the 2008 Convention saw the highest number of research projects accepted from St. John’s in recent memory. Applicants throughout the nation submit their research for an opportunity to present at APA because the convention is prestigious, honoring the critical role of psychology. To be accepted as a presenter at this nationally recognized conference is an honor for any participant.

Conventions such as APA are an opportunity for faculty and students across programs to come together to present on similar topics of interest. While there were a number of impressive presentations, one collaborative effort involved Jeffrey Nevid, Ph.D. and Wilson McDermut, Ph.D. from the Clinical Psychology Program and Mark Terjesen, Ph.D. and doctoral candidate Robin Sakakini from the School Psychology Program, along with Dr. Mark Sciutto of Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania presented their own ideas and/or research in the symposium, “Undergraduate and Graduate Psychopathology Courses: Implications for Instruction and Training.” 

Beverly Greene, Ph.D. represented St. John’s in an impressive three symposiums, as a discussant, a presenter, and a chair. They included, respectively: Women and Spirituality: Freeing, Affirmative Creativity; Actualization, Resilience and Resistance: Queer Women Psychologists Strategize in Response to Hate Crimes; and Teaching Cultural Diversity in Mental Health Curriculums: Matching Syllabi to Setting.

Raymond DiGiuseppe, Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Psychology, spoke at the symposium, “Innovating Evidence-Based Practice with Session-by-Session Outcome Measures.”

In addition to the recognition afforded those presenting their outstanding research and scholarship, APA’s annual convention also offers the opportunity for individual recognition and honors. One individual honored this year was St. John’s faculty member John Hogan, Ph.D., who was recently elected president of Division 1, General Psychology, one of 54 divisions within APA and also the largest.

"As the professional psychological organization that recognizes all disciplines within psychology, it was a great honor just to see the level of current student, faculty, and alumni involvement at this years annual APA conference,” remarked Dr. Terjesen. “St. John's University always does well in terms of attendance and presentation at a number of professional conferences and the involvement of so many individuals this year is further reflective of the values of life-long professional development, the importance of dissemination of scientific knowledge as well as the recognition that the St. John's community receives from the field.”

Highlights of the convention included the keynote address by Malcolm Gladwell, staff writer for The New Yorker magazine and best-selling author of Blink and The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, along with addresses by well-known psychologist David H. Barlow and author John Elder Robison (Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s), among others.

For more information about the graduate programs in psychology, please contact Dr. Raymond DiGiuseppe, department chair, at digiuser@stjohns.edu or (718) 990-6368.