Counseling Psych Students Continue Streak of Success

The Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences proudly announces the results of the 2015 national internship match. For the third straight year, the Counseling Psychology Ph.D. program achieved a 100% match rate, with all 6 applicants being placed. The students and their placements are:

Student	Internship Site	City, State
Terri Duck	University of Notre Dame	South Bend, IN
Rebecca Granda	Veterans Affairs, NJ Health Care System	Lyons, NJ
Laura Harris	North LA Psychology Internship Consortium	Shreveport, LA
Devin Merritt	U.S. Air Force/Lackland AFB	San Antonio, TX
Jay Middleton	Kansas State University	Manhattan, KS
Rose Niles	University of Kansas	Lawrence KS

Please join us in congratulating these students, the 2011 cohort, for achieving such impressive and sought-after placements! A successful internship match is the culmination of years of preparation by students, faculty, and clinical supervisors. It also is an important factor in maintaining the program’s accreditation by the American Psychological Association (APA).

Congratulations also are in order for the core faculty of the doctoral program. Led by the Director of Training, Dr. Walt Buboltz, core faculty members are Dr. Güler Boyraz, Dr. lore dickey, Dr. Tony Young, and Dr. Donna Thomas.

“The Match,” as it is commonly known, is highly competitive due to an imbalance of available sites and students, with as many as 25% of applicants in the U.S. and Canada remaining unmatched in recent years. A 12-month, 2000-hour predoctoral internship is a graduation requirement typically completed in students’ 5^th year of study. Doctoral students who do not match with an internship site must reapply the following year, facing the same daunting imbalance. 

Counseling Psychology doctoral students enter their program with internship in mind, and must make decisions each year about field placements to tailor training to their specific interests and expertise. Formal preparation for internship application begins in the spring quarter of the 3^rd year when students begin a 3-quarter sequence of courses used to assist in site selection, application preparation, and interview proficiency. The application includes detailed reporting of clinical hours and experiences, 4 essays, 3-4 letters of recommendation, a curriculum vitae, and transcripts from all higher education institutions attended. To be eligible to apply, students must have completed a minimum of 1,000 hours of clinical work, passed comprehensive exams, and completed their dissertation proposals.

Applicants complete a series of in-person and telephone/Skype interviews; some students have engaged in as many as 16 interviews in one month. Interviews are expensive in terms of money and time, with entire cohorts traversing the country for 4-6 weeks during winter quarter. Since 2012, a collaborative project between the Counseling Psychology doctoral program and AROS, the consulting branch of the Industrial/Organizational Psychology doctoral program, has assisted applicants in their preparation for interviews. Thank you, Dr. Mitzi Desselles and your team for playing an important role in helping students achieve success!

The Internship Matching Program is sponsored each year by the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC).

Science Club Students Educate the Arklamiss!

On March 27, 2015, seventeen students from the Dubach Science Club in Lincoln Parish and their teachers did 11 science demonstrations relating to surface tension, buoyancy, and sound. These demos were recorded and archived. The students also had the opportunity to tour the KTVE NBC 10/ Fox 14 studios with morning anchors David Cawton and Karen Edwards. There they met Director, Mr. Justin, Sports Reporter Mr. Gene , and many other amazing folks responsible for bringing the news to the Arklamiss daily. The student spots will show during the morning show on KTVE NBC 10 news each Friday for the next three months. SciTEC hopes to showcase one school each quarter and have similar experiences four times each year. The group celebrated their hard work with a lunch provided by SciTEC at Cheddar's in West Monroe, LA. Thanks to Mrs. Mabry, Mrs. Franks, and Mr. Vincent for selecting such amazing students and allowing us to partner with the young scientists for this opportunity! Thank you, also, to Mr. John Price for making the visit possible and providing transportation. We cannot wait to see what great things these young people will accomplish in STEM!

LATECH COE Represented Well in Baton Rouge

On Friday, March 6, 2015 at the invitation of the LDOE, Interim Dean of the College of Education, Don Schillinger, participated on a five person panel to discuss Louisiana Teacher Educator Preparation during the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) Policy Information Session in the Claiborne Building. The session was hosted by Louisiana State Superintendent of Schools, Mr. John White. Also in attendance were  Bryan McCoy, Interim Head of our Teacher/Leader preparation programs,  Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) President Chas Roemer  and BESE District 5 Representaive Mr. Jay Guillot, a resident of Ruston, Louisiana Tech University graduate, and a founding member of Hunt, Guillot, and Associates.

Louisiana Superintendent John White

The panel responded to a number of questions and prompts pertaining to ways University Educator Preparation programs could better serve students who would later be teaching in Louisiana schools. Questions such as the following, guided the conversation:

1. What should preparation programs be expected to teach?
2. What should qualify a preparation program to train teachers in Louisiana?
3. How can the quality of a program's experience/coursework, student teaching, et cetera- be measured?

BESE Member Mr. Jay Guillot

In addition, there was also mention of successful educational efforts taking place in the state. Specific acknowledgement of recent UTeachTech funding and Louisiana Tech COE success with the Louisiana Believe and Prepare program took place.

For more information about the meeting, the panel members, and the information provided by Louisiana Tech University College of Education representatives, please see the link below to the BESE video archives:

http://bese.louisiana.gov/meetings/live-streaming-and-video-archive

Dubach Science Club Members become SciTEC Citizen Scientists!

We are thrilled to share our first community response to our SciTEC Citizen Science column! Students from the Dubach School Science Club submitted the following images and descriptions of the exciting Alka-Seltzer pop rockets and balloon rockets they made as a result of reading the column! The accounts were described by fourth graders Haley Ingram and Jaden Dotson.

“In science we did alka seltzer rockets. All you had to do was get couple of supplies for it. We had a container and put in water and alka seltzer, and then we put the lid on it and shook it up. One we did that, we stepped back and waited until the lid popped off.”

In addition, the students shared another rocketry experiment they conducted. The students created balloon air rockets and fastened a balloon to a straw and “raced” raced the rockets. The following is their account.

 

“In the science club we learned how carbon dioxide can be used as a engine for a balloon rocket by blowing a balloon up and taping it to a straw. We paper clipped it onto the fishing line and then we let it go to see how far it would go.”

Dubach school is located in Dubach, Louisiana, and serves students in northern Lincoln Parish from grades K-8. To learn more about Dubach School and their Science Club, check out their webpage on the following link:  http://www.dubach.lincolnschools.org/

We are so excited about their wanting to share their great educational experience, and we are anxious to receive additional commentaries that we can share with the community! We would love for you to submit ideas about demonstrations or experiments you would like showcased! Please send ideas and information to scitec@latech.edu! 

And the Academy Awards Goes to...COE Faculty and Teacher Candidates Engage HS Students to Raise Writing Scores

Our education students are getting hands-on teaching experience while helping Louisiana and Arkansas high school juniors through collaborations with Simsboro High School, Homer High School, and the Murphy Oil Foundation grant for El Dorado High School. These projects began over a year ago when Dr. Dawn Cassady was approached with a request from El Dorado High School to help improve their students writing skills and ACT scores.

 

Cassady said “you never know where you will get the next big idea from, but I saw this as a win-win opportunity.” This collaborative also gives our student-teachers a chance to interact with students online and face-to-face. 

Through the collaboration with El Dorado High School a writing-in-action program with required texts (Beowulf and Oedipus) came to life for the juniors at the high school and the student-teachers. Those involved interacted via distance education tools and a one-week face-to-face workshop accumulating in the juniors presentations of their movie trailers and an “Academy Awards Ceremony.” 

Cassady said these experiences are adventures for students and provide a way for students to try new things, keep up with the latest teaching techniques and experiment under the supervision of experienced teachers. “It is a way for student-teachers to find their teacher voice” which can be challenging. 

The student-teachers found the experience exciting and rewarding. At Simsboro students took on The Great Gatsby and the concept of the American dream. The student teachers also helped students create interactive bulletin boards of the Titanic and the 9/11 crash sites. Cassady said these projects have produced a “creative wonderland” for the students and student-teachers. Future projects include Crime Scene Dramas where students will create short news stories using iVideo technology. 

Louisiana's 2015 Elementary Teacher of the Year is our own Tammy Schales!

Louisiana Tech COE Family Member, Mrs. Tammy Schales, has been named the
2015 Louisiana Elementary Teacher of the Year!

Mrs. Schales serves as an outstanding Elementary school educator at Ruston Elementary in Ruston, LA. Mrs. Schales is a stellar example of educational leaders with Louisiana Tech University COE ties in the field who have made it their life's work to enhance the lives of those in which they come in contact. Mrs. Schales and the other awardees were recognized by Louisiana State Supt. John White during the summer of 2014. A second award event was hosted by the Lincoln Parish School Board to recognize Mrs. Schales's exemplary work educating Ruston's children. More information about this outstanding award can be found at the following link:

 2015 LA DOE Louisiana Believes Teacher of the Year Selection

In addition to her being named Louisiana's Elementary Teacher of the Year, Mrs. Schales also was awarded The Ruston Kiwanis "Educator of the Year" Award!

 Thanks, Mrs. Schales for making the COE and the University so proud!

Pictured above are Mrs. Tammy Schales, her husband Danny, and their girls, Ashlynne and Lara.