As Oakland University continues to move forward in its strive for excellence, the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Psychology is no exception. Over the last year, the department has taken great steps toward enriching its programs.
Beginning last August, the department welcomed Dr. Todd Shackelford as its new chairperson. An evolutionary psychologist who conducts research on sexual conflict in humans and on religion from an evolutionary perspective, Dr. Shackelford was drawn to Oakland because of its plan to build a master's and doctorate program.
“It is rare to have the opportunity to build a new graduate program from the ground up, and this opportunity was one of the elements that attracted me to OU,” he said.
Dr. Shackelford and the department have since been able to build and push the graduate program forward. The program has now been approved by the College of Arts and Sciences and is awaiting the university’s approval. Administrators hope it will launch in fall 2012.
At the same time, the department has been growing its faculty. Dr. Cynthia Bennett, new to the department this summer as an adjunct professor, conducts extensive research with animal welfare. As the director of Animal Welfare for the Detroit Zoological Society, Dr. Bennett oversees the Center for Zoo Animal Welfare and the Zoo’s welfare program. “While basic care techniques for zoo animals have improved over the last few decades, ensuring the welfare of these animals has only recently emerged as a significant, separate topic of discussion for zoos in the United States,” Bennett explained.
Beginning this fall, new faculty member Dr. Jennifer Vonk will bring her comparative animal research to OU. “The basic goal of my research is to examine cognitive processes in non-human species that we believe might be unique to humans, to see whether there are any interesting parallels in other species,” explained Dr. Vonk. Dr. Vonk is currently working with the Mobile Zoo in Alabama to study the analogical reasoning, numerosity and abstract formation in the American black bears and chimpanzees residing there.
Also joining the team this fall is social-personality psychologist Dr. Virgil Zeigler-Hill. “My primary program of research attempts to gain a better understanding of the implications that self-esteem has for psychological adjustment and interpersonal relations,” he explained. Much of his work focuses on the distinction between “secure” and “fragile” forms of high self-esteem. “My recent work has examined the links between ‘fragile’ high self-esteem and outcomes such as poor psychological adjustment, maladaptive social behavior, decision making, and health behaviors such as alcohol consumption,” Dr. Zeigler-Hill continued.
The department has also recently welcomed Dr. Kerry Vachta, a research associate professor and the principle investigator and project director for the Child Health Incubator Research Project (CHIRP). Supported by a five-year $4.5 million grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Childhood Obesity Prevention Program, CHIRP is a partnership of seven community-based partners working with OU to explore the role of urban agriculture and food security in promoting health among Detroit children.
“Typical strategies to address childhood obesity presume access to certain resources and information, without regard to culture, economic or social circumstances. In Detroit, we know otherwise. We know our children don’t always have access to what some communities may take for granted and that parents don’t always have the same options,” Vachta explained. “But we also know there are resources here – from urban farms that provide affordable access to fresh organic produce to a plethora of child – centered institutions and extensive community and family support networks. Those resources create an entirely different potential health landscape for Detroit’s children than even many Detroiters are aware of.”
In an effort to promote excellence and productivity in these and other social and behavioral research projects, the psychology, sociology and anthropology, and political science departments came together to establish the Center for Social and Behavioral Research. Approved in April, the center’s objective is to become an interdisciplinary point of contact for researchers to help them identify funding resources, provide guidance, and connect researchers to students and the local community.
“This is an incredibly exciting time for the Department of Psychology,” Dr. Shackelford said. “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead a department that is making such substantial strides toward excellence on so many different fronts.”
To learn more about the Department of Psychology, visit
oakland.edu/psychology. Or, to donate to the department, visit
oakland.edu/donate.
