On May 14, we celebrated commencement in Petco Park in San Diego, California. It was a beautiful celebration
with lots of smiles, laughter, hugs, tears of joy, and happy dancing. It is always so exhilarating for me to see
students achieving their academic dreams.
As I shared in the last issue, Dr. Patrick McNamara was awarded a significant grant from the Templeton
Foundation. Dr. McNamara is currently in the research preparation phase. In support of the research project,
we hired three full-time positions: John Balch as postdoc, Chanel Reed for the project manager position, and
Rachel Raider for the data steward position. This is very exciting, so please join me in congratulating John,
Chanel, and Rachel.
We also hired a full-time dissertation chair, Dr. Melissa Trevathan-Minnis. Dr. Trevathan-Minnis joined NCU in
2011 as a part-time faculty member. Dr. Trevathan-Minnis oversaw the revision of the of the MAPSY Gender
and Sexual Fluidity specialization. Please join me in congratulating Dr. Trevathan-Minnis. We are also hiring a
program coordinator for the MS in ABA. I am glad that we have the opportunity to hire these positions, which
reflects the health and stability of our programs.
I hope you are enjoying the spring and soon the summer,
Sincerely,
Bettina Shapira, PhD
Department Chair, Department of Psychology
Department Updates
Bettina Shapira, PhD
11
Northcentral University Psychology Bulletin
