SRC Awards honour Dr. Lawford
April 2013
In further success for the department, the SRC Social Science Divisional Teaching Award for this year has gone to our newest member of the Faculty Heather Lawford! Nominated by the students themselves, this is a great commendation for her dedication and enthusiasm during her first year at Bishop’s and all the hard work that goes into planning and preparing great classes.
Bishop’s University Research and Creativity Award 2013 goes to Dr. Stuart McKelvie
March 2013
The Psychology Department could not be prouder that this year’s award for longstanding and exceptional research contributions has gone to Dr. McKelvie, who in a 40-year career has published an incredible portfolio of high-impact research papers, many of which have been collaborative work with his students. In both research and in teaching, his contributions to the Department and the University have been exceptional; a moving speech by Dr. Stout at the Research Awards event outlined just some of these and left the audience in no doubt as to their impact on Bishop’s and on the field of Psychology.
Research week success for Psychology students
March 2013
The 8th Annual Research Week event included the usual high levels of participation and great displays of the year’s work from our Psychology students. 16 Honours thesis students presented their findings on posters and fielded questions from interested attendees, with Junie Carrière winning third prize in the competition for her beautifully crafted poster on empathy towards people with chronic and acute pain conditions. In a brand new event for this year, Research Idol, students were given exactly five minutes to present their thesis on stage (in the Gait) to an audience of students and professors and three intimidating judges in the form of Principal Goldbloom, Dr. Estelle Chamoux, and Prof. Mike Teed. Aren Bezdjian received first prize for a fascinating, professional and perfectly-timed presentation of his thesis The effect of low dose radiotherapy in Gentamicin ototoxicity, and Joel Robitaille and Jordan Lefebvre also gave great talks as part of the ten students selected to present. Many of our students progressing through the program were inspired by these accomplishments so we hope our departmental success in Research Week will continue for years to come!
Dr. Mendrek on Le Code Chastenay
March 2013
Recent research findings by Dr. Mendrek and her collaborators into sex and gender differences in drug use and abuse and in craving for cigarettes have been featured in the popular Télé-Québec scientific program Le Code Chastenay. You can watch the report online here!
http://video.telequebec.tv/video/14800
Brain Awareness Week 2013
March 2013
The Psychology students in Neuroscience are proud to present three speakers as a part of Bishop's University's Brain Awareness Week Activities. 20-minute presentations will be given by each presenter: Dr. Goffaux (PhD, University of Sherbrooke), who will talk about Pain, Dr. Mendrek (PhD, Bishop's University) and Ms. Bourque (MSc candidate, University of Montreal) who will discuss topics about Sex, Drugs & the brain, and Dr. Mujica (MD, MSc, McGill University) will inform us about Epilepsy. The talks will take place Tuesday, March 12th from 4:30PM-6:00PM in the Cleghorn Room. All are welcome!
See the Brain Awareness Week poster.
New findings on ‘The thief of time’
February 2013
Showing no signs of procrastination, Dr. Sirois has published two new papers on the topic this month; the first, with Tim Pychyl, a review on Procrastination and the priority of short-term mood regulation: Consequences for future self.
Secondly her meta-analysis in Self & Identity shows that procrastination is linked to low self-compassion, that is, being unkind and critically judgmental about oneself, and that this self-criticism contributes to the higher stress procrastinators report: Procrastination and stress: Exploring the role of self-compassion.
In July this year, Bishop’s will be hosting the 8th Biennial Procrastination Research Conference.
Mental Health Awareness Week
February 11th-15th, 2013
This week, Psychology professors and guest speakers will be presenting talks and getting involved in a series of events fostering awareness, discussion and openness about important psychological health issues. There will be many chances to ask questions and learn more about how these affect us and how to cope with such challenges. Drugs, eating disorders and relationships are just some of the topics to be tackled. See below for overviews, times and places of some of the main events!
February 11th
Fuschia Sirois, Ph.D., B.Sc. - Don’t Delay: A Guide to the Causes and Consequences of Procrastination
February 12th
Shannon Cutts - Beauty Undressed: A Campus Program Every BODY Can Relate To
February 13th
Adrianna Mendrek, Ph.D. - Everything You Wanted to Know About Drugs But Were Afraid to Ask
February 14th
Heather Lawford, Ph.D. - Relationships Made Easy
February 15th
Antonio Pascual-Leone, Ph.D., C.Psych - Understanding Emotional Change: How People Work Through Difficult Life Experiences
Read about Dr. Lawford's latest research findings on Science Daily
February 2013
Just published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Dr. Lawford’s latest work shows that caring within the context of adolescent friendships relates to later generativity; our concern for making a difference for future generations. The study itself is generating lots of positive publicity and discussion!
Read the full article on Science Daily.
Musicians: Born or Made?
January 2013
On January 19th, a group of musicians, psychologists, and music psychologists from Bishop’s (all previous members of the BU Singers) were fortunate to attend a one-day conference held by the International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research at the University of Montreal. The day included a series of talks and an excellent concert to ‘demystify’ the genetic and learned components of musicianship.
Photo caption:
From left to right
Kyle DeCoste (B.A. Music and Arts Administration, 2012); Dr. Laura Mitchell (Psychology), Aimee Battcock (B.Sc. Psychology/Neuroscience, 2012); Amy Norman (B.A. Music and Mathematics, 2012)
Invited talk on family therapy Friday October 26th
October 2012
The Psychology Department will be very pleased to host an invited talk by Dr. Julie Bennett at 2pm, October 26th in room H305. Dr. Bennett is a Principal Clinical Psychologist in a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service in the west of Scotland, and a great speaker. She will be using examples from clinical practice to discuss the theory and evidence base for family therapy, why we don’t just treat individuals, and how attachment theory comes to life in family therapy. All are welcome and there will be a short question period.
Dr. Standing awarded fellowship status by the Association for Psychological Science
September 2012
Dr. Leo Standing has been named as one of this year’s new APS fellows; a distinction given to those members who have made ‘sustained outstanding contributions to the science of Psychology in the areas of research, teaching, service and/or application’. The full list of distinguished researchers and teachers from all over the world can be seen on their website, and we are proud to announce that Leo has joined their ranks!
Latest addition to the Psychology Faculty arrives!
September 2012
The Department is very pleased to welcome a further new addition to our number, Dr. Heather Lawford. Dr. Lawford joins us from Brock University and the Centre of Excellence for Youth Engagement, and has already begun her teaching at Bishop’s with the courses Child Development I, and the Psychology of Exceptional Children. Her research and supervision interests are broad and encompass fields of social development, personality, positive youth engagement and adolescent well-being, with a particular focus on the development of generativity; our care and concern for future generations as a legacy of the self. We know that she is thrilled to become a part of the Bishop’s community and we are very happy to have her join us.
Meet our new Professor!
July 2012
Dr. Adrianna Mendrek has now officially joined our Faculty and has her office in McGreer 309. In addition to moving to Sherbrooke from Montreal, Dr. Mendrek has had a productive summer with some exciting publications that already show her Bishop’s affiliation. One of these is in the widely read and respected online journal Frontiers in Neuroscience, in the field of sex differences in brain and behaviour, and the other is the fruit of several years of collaborative effort with Dr. Helene Poissant from the Psychology Department of UQAM, with whom Dr. Mendrek used fMRI to test children with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder while they performed a forethought task. Both references are provided below.
Dr. Mendrek has also presented her recent work at international conferences in Finland and Russia, and has accepted invitations to serve as a member on two highly prestigious research committees; for the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) operating grant applications, and for the Fonds de recherche Québec - Santé (FRQS) post-doctoral fellowship applications in Clinical Neuroscience and Neuropsychology.
Such recognition for our Professors is extremely valuable for Bishop’s, and we are looking forward to the many further achievements of our students and Professors that the new academic year will bring!
Viveros, M-P., Mendrek, A., Paus, T., López Rodriguez, A-B., Marco, E-M., Yehuda, R., Cohen, H., Lehrner, A., Wagner, E.J. (2012). A comparative, developmental and clinical perspective of neurobehavioral sexual dimorphisms. Frontiers in Neuroscience. Review, 6, 84.
Poissant, H., Mendrek, A. & Senhadji, N. (2012). Neural correlates of forethought in Attention-Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Journal of Attention Disorders, in press.
New addition to the Psychology Faculty!
June 2012
The Psychology Department is very pleased to welcome Dr. Adrianna Mendrek, who will join us full-time on July 1st 2012. Dr. Mendrek’s internationally-recognized research in behavioral and clinical neuroscience focuses on sex and gender differences in psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, and she will be bringing this expertise to the classroom in our Abnormal Psychology and Brain and Behaviour courses in the next year. She is very much looking forward to becoming part of Bishop’s, and the Department is very excited about our continued growth which will see us joined later in the year by a further new Professor specializing in Developmental Psychology.
