Department News
Nao Hagiwara Ph.D. receives Diversity in Research Award
MAR. 13, 2023
Congratulations to Dr. Nao Hagiwara, , associate professor in the Department of Psychology. Nao was recently awarded the Diversity in Research Award from the Social Personality Health Network.
Nao's goal is to develop theory-driven interventions that are designed to reduce racial/ethnic disparities in healthcare and health and ultimately promote social equity. She grounds her research in social psychology theories of intergroup bias and examines mechanisms through which stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination contribute to the well-documented racial/ethnic disparities in healthcare and health.
Chimdindu Ohayagha receives a Black History in the Making Award 2023
MAR. 3, 2023
Congratulations to Chimdindu Ohayagha for receiving a Black History in the Making Award 2023!!! Your Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology will pave the way for change and prosperity! We wish you the best in your future endeavors and are proud of your work.
Read the full Black History in the Making Award article here.
Faye Belgrave, Ph.D serves as Commission member on Project Gabriel: President’s Special Commission on Slavery and Justice
FEB. 24, 2023
Dr. Faye Belgrave, associate dean for equity and community partnerships in the College of Humanities and Sciences, professor of psychology, and founding director of the Center for Cultural Experiences in Prevention at VCU will serve as a Commission Member on Project Gabriel: President’s Special Commission on Slavery and Justice. This project is aimed at helping VCU reconcile the past with the present. Read the full article about Project Gabriel here.
Steph Cull helps Honors Society Phi Kappa Phi win a national award for Service in the community
FEB. 21, 2023
Honors Society Phi Kappa Phi has won a national award for Service in the community. PKP students worked with Assisting Families of Inmates, an organization that has a trauma-informed support program called “Milk and Cookies.” With this program, VCU PKP members created 80 motivational cards to give to Richmond Public School Students students who are enrolled in a program for children with incarcerated parents.
The VCU PKP won Division I Fall 2022 Service Project Award, which was judged by a national and international council of PKP student members and leadership. The effort was a cross-campus collaboration between Phi Kappa Phi, the Honors College and the Department of Sociology in the College of Humanities and Sciences.
Steph Cull who's a student leader of VCU’s chapter of Phi Kappa Phi was quoted in the article saying: “Working to improve the lives of children of incarcerated parents from the Richmond community was a perfect way to try to help our community.” Cull, who received two Bachelors in Psychology and Sociology in 2022 from VCU, is now a graduate student in the health psychology doctoral program and helped lead the initiative. “It was an honor to be a part of a service project that benefited local children in need.” Read the entire article on VCU News.
Addressing social isolation may be key in preventing mass shootings, study finds
FEB. 17, 2023
A forthcoming study in the journal Psychology of Violence examined the psychological crises exhibited by mass shooters leading to their attacks:
• Samuel West, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology at Virginia State University who led the study while he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Injury and Violence Prevention Research Lab at VCU Health, earned his doctorate from the Department of Psychology in the College of Humanities and Sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University.
• Nicholas Thomson, Ph.D., director of research and a forensic psychologist at the Injury and Violence Prevention Program, is the study's co-author and is an assistant professor at the Clark-Hill Institute for Positive Youth Development in the Department of Psychology.
Read VCU News's full feature on the study.