2007-2008 Department Award Recipients

2007-2008 Distinguished Alumnus Harry P. Bahrick (right)
Professor Gifford Weary, Department Chair (left)
Photo by Melissa Keeley
Pictured above are the Psychology 2007-2008 Department Award winners (left to right) Doug Findlay, Staff Excellence Award recipient; Matt James, Graduate Administrative Associate Service Award recipient; Megan Bulloch, Teaching Excellence Award for Graduate Students recipient; Professor Gifford Weary, Chair; Associate Professor Ray Montemayor, Distinguished Teaching Award recipient; Andrea Busby, Herbert Toops Award.
Photo by Melissa Keeley
Pictured above are the Psychology 2007-2008 Retirees are (left to right) Professor Roger Page, the Department Chair, Professor Gifford Weary, Professor Marilynn Brewer, and Associate Professor Harvey Shulman.
Photo by Melissa Keeley
Professor Harry P. Bahrick received his PhD in Experimental Psychology from The Ohio State University in 1950. He joined the faculty of Ohio Wesleyan University in 1949 and has been a full professor with OWU since 1956. Professor Bahrick also has held guest professorships at Kenyon College, University of Marburg (Germany), University of Hamburg (Germany), University of Graz (Austria), Ohio State University and University of South Florida. Throughout his illustrious career, he has received many noteworthy honors including; Senior Fulbright Lecturer to Germany, National Science Foundation, Senior Fellow, Ohio Wesleyan’s Bishop Welch Meritorious Teaching Award, the Helen Whitelaw Jackson University Professorship at Ohio Wesleyan and the American Psychological Foundation, Distinguished Teaching Career Award. Professor Bahrick’s research also has been recognized with grants from the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health. His numerous publications, chapters and specialty books on the topic of human memory are highly regarded and frequently cited in popular science journals and introductory psychology textbooks.
Professor Bahrick’s influence on his students cannot be overstated. He has encouraged and inspired students at all levels to pursue their interest in psychology. In a recent article in the APS Observer he estimates that “over 100 people” were motivated enough in his classrooms to go on to earn psychology doctorates. Many of his students and post doctoral researches have gone on to have exemplary careers due to his mentoring.
The Staff Excellence Award honors a department staff member for exemplary performance to the department. Doug Findlay is our 2007-2008 winner. Doug is an integral member of our tech staff and his nominators recognized him for his professionalism, creativity and responsiveness. I quote "Doug has always been extremely responsive to questions, requests and panic attacks".
The Psychology Distinguished Teaching Award is presented to a faculty member with noteworthy teaching accomplishments. Ray Montemayor was selected among his peers as this year’s award recipient. Ray teaches a large number of undergraduate courses with high enrollment. He receives very positive SEIs year after year which places him among the most well-liked and respected teachers in the department.
The Fred Brown Research Award is in recognition of an outstanding article published by a psychology faculty member in the past year. This year the Psychology Senate selected Randy Nelson as our award recipient. Randy’s article is entitled “Photoperiod reverses the effects of estrogens on male aggression via genomic and nongenomic pathways”. His nominator described the article as "monumental in its implications and is likely to have a major impact on the fields of endocrinology and chronobiology as well as psychobiology and behavior".
The Teaching Excellence Award for Graduate Students recognizes outstanding achievement in instruction by a departmental graduate student. The 2007-2008 TEAGS winner is Megan Bulloch. Megan is a graduate student in the developmental area. Her dedication and enthusiasm for teaching are undeniable. Megan has instructed a number of courses, and played a major role in the development and teaching of the new on-line Psych 100 course.
The Graduate Administrative Associate Service Award is presented to a graduate student for outstanding and dedicated service to the department. Matt James has been named this year’s recipient. REP provides our students direct exposure to the topics, goals, methods, and ethical issues of psychological research and Matt has been instrumental in its success. Matt has coordinator the participation of 5,083 students in the Research Experience Program between Autumn 2007 to Spring 2008.
The Herbert A. Toops Prize for Creativity Award recognizes the most creative doctoral dissertation research proposal for this past academic year. Our recipient this year is Andrea Busby. Andrea is a graduate student in our clinical area. Her proposal was selected as the best among several creative proposals. The title of Andrea’s proposal is "Sex differences in inflammation, psychological functioning, and disease outcomes among COPD patients participating in pulmonary exercise rehabilitation".
Marilynn joined our department in 1993 as the Regents Eminent Scholar Professor in Social Psychology. Her contributions to the university, college and the department are numerous and significant. Indeed, the importance of her appointment at OSU cannot be overstated. In 2007 she was the recipient of the American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award. Professor Brewer was awarded the 2006-2007 University Distinguished Lecturer award. She has been elected as Fellow to the APA, APS and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Marilynn has served ably on many university, college, and department committees. Central to Marilynn’s contributions to OSU are her many research accomplishments. She has published articles in many top tier journals, published several books, and has been highly cited for her research. Marilynn you will be missed by your colleagues, students and by me.
Roger joined our department in 1975 as an Instructor and became an Assistant Professor at the Lima campus in 1976. He has served the department and the university for 34 years. Over his career he developed several new upper level courses and implemented a number of course for adult learners. Roger has served on countless university and department committees, chaired several APA committees and achieved Fellow status with APA in 2006. He has been awarded several research grants and published more than 30 articles. We are very pleased that Roger will on continue to teach courses for us here at the Columbus campus.
Harvey joined our department in 1969 as an Assistant Professor, serving the department and university for 38 years. Over his career, he has had many notable accomplishments including serving as Consulting Editor for several prestigious scientific publications. He has also served on more than 25 department, college and university committees. He has published more than 20 scholarly papers – several in the top outlets of his discipline. Harvey has offered to teach courses for us as needed in the future and we look forward to seeing him around campus.