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Student Clubs and Organizations
The Department of Psychological Sciences has several student clubs: the Clinical & Counseling Club, Psi Chi International Honor Society, and the Research Club, each with very active members. If interested please contact the club advisor.
Clinical and Counseling Club
Our Mission
The mission of the Clinical + Counseling Club is to promote positive development in the field of clinical and counseling psychology and support pro-social mental health causes on our campus and the broader community. We wish to foster a feeling of community and social support in the club and encourage members to implement principles taught in clinical and counseling psychology to everyday life. We offer support and guidance on the process of selecting and applying to graduate programs. We have worked with organizations such as Project Angel Heart, Urban Peak, The Phoenix Center at Auraria, and MSU Denver’s own Counseling Center to create unique volunteer opportunities for our members. Each year, we submit academic research on topics within mental health and counseling to be presented at the annual Rocky Mountain Psychological Association (RMPA) conference. Additionally, we host club events such as film and game nights and social dinners to foster a community among our club members.
Come get involved and grow with us! Contact Dr. Smith for the current semester meeting times.
Dr. Randi Smith
Dr. Smith teaches in the clinical and counseling area, including such classes as Introduction to Clinical & Counseling Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Introduction to Psychological Assessment, Psychology of Sexuality, and Internship.
Her research interests include student homelessness/housing insecurity, professional ethics, service-learning, and human sexuality.
Psi Chi
Psi Chi’s Mission
The mission of Psi Chi is to produce a well-educated, ethical, and socially responsible member committed to contributing to the science and profession of psychology and to society in general. These ends are accomplished by:
- Advancing science and the profession of psychology.
- Promoting an educational experience consistent with the mission.
- Promoting ethical and socially responsible members and leaders.
- Defining and establishing an organizational structure that promotes our mission.
- Recognizing and fostering the contributions that diversity makes to the science and practice of psychology.
Membership Requirements:
- 3.2 G.P.A. for both Psychology and overall
- 9 credit residency hours recorded at MSU Denver
- Psychology related Major or Minor
- $65.00 One-time, life-time membership fee ($55.00 national dues, $10.00 chapter dues)
Dr. Jovan Hernandez
Dr. Hernandez teaches in the clinical and counseling area, including such classes as Theories of Personality, Abnormal Psychology, and Advanced Research Methods.
His research focuses on discrimination towards military veterans.
Dr. Lisa Hagan
Dr. Hagan teaches in the developmental area, including such classes as Child Development, Cognitive Development and Learning, Developmental Research Methods, Psychology of Human Development, Introductory Psychology, Infancy
Her research focus is on Pedogogy within Higher Education, Constructivism, Children’s Risk Taking.
Psi Chi Induction
Research Club
The MSU Denver Psychology Research Club provides students the opportunity to get hands-on experience planning, conducting, and presenting research – including:
- Deciding on a research question.
- Literature searches.
- How to design a scientific experiment.
- How to write a study proposal.
- How to submit a proposal to the Internal Review Board for human subjects approval.
- Data collection.
- Data analysis.
- Writing an abstract for presentation at a conference.
- Presenting research via posters and presentations.
- Submitting an article to a peer-reviewed journal for publication.
Dr. Cynthia Erickson
Teaching Interests
My teaching interests range from social issues such as multicultural psychology to cellular and molecular neurobiology. I am particularly interested in helping students develop strategies for learning complex and difficult concepts regardless of the specific topic.
Research
One of the brain’s most fascinating abilities is the capacity to quickly and accurately identify previously seen visual images. The ease with which we store and recognize pictures relative to words has been known for over a century. The neural underpinnings of this ability are less well known. Most of my research involves studying how the brain changes with learning and subsequently how the aging process alters this ability.
