Prize-Winning Psychologists

Honors for five professors and the doctoral programs bestowed in 2021

SEPTEMBER 28, 2021 BY STAFF REPORT

It’s been a stellar year for the University of Mississippi Department of Psychology. Professors Laura Dixon, Alan Gross, Mervin Matthew, Stephanie Miller, and Carrie Smith along with the doctoral programs were feted for their accomplishments.

“We are very fortunate to have these outstanding faculty members, and many others, in our department,” said Rebekah Smith, chair and professor of psychology. “The range of awards received demonstrates our department’s commitment to serving the needs of our students and fulfilling the mission of the university in research, teaching and service, while also focusing on the importance of inclusion in all that we do. I am fortunate to serve as chair in a department with many wonderful colleagues helping to move the department forward.”

Alan Gross was appointed Distinguished Professor by the university during the spring faculty meeting in recognition for sustained excellence.

“Dr. Gross has a long record of producing groundbreaking and impactful research that resulted in his appointment as a fellow of the American Psychological Association,” wrote Smith in her nomination letter. “He has produced 73 Ph.D. graduates, accounting for a significant portion of the degrees produced by our department and the university. Dr. Gross also contributes to the success of students in other labs by guiding other faculty and through his collaborations with students across the program. In addition to his successes in research and teaching, he provides extraordinarily important and effective service.”

For more, visit Gross’s faculty page on the department website.

Recipient of the College of Liberal Arts Award for Research, Scholarship, and Creative Achievement for senior faculty this year is Stephanie Miller, associate professor of psychology and director of experimental training, with the Sanford and Susan Thomas Senior Professor Research Award in the Social Sciences.

Miller’s innovative research with infants and children has significant implications for education, parenting, and social development in childhood and has been recognized nationally as a John Templeton Foundation Ideas Challenge Winner with external funding from the Kellogg Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, multiple peer-reviewed publications, and presentations at national and international conferences.

Read Miller’s Q&A on the College website.

Mervin Matthew, instructional assistant professor of psychology, is the College of Liberal Arts Outstanding Instructor of the Year.

“Dr. Matthew represents everything good about teaching at the university,” said Donald L. Dyer, associate dean for faculty and academic affairs and distinguished professor of modern languages. “His excellence of class instruction, intellectual stimulation of students, and concern for students’ welfare is evident in the classroom and in the nomination letters of support from students and colleagues for the award. We are thrilled to add this exceptional educator to our long list of distinguished and influential teachers in the College of Liberal Arts. He is a true gem of the university community, and we are extremely proud of him.”

Visit Matthew’s faculty page on the department website.

Laura Dixon added a Dr. Mike L. Edmonds New Scholar Award for junior faculty from the College of Liberal Arts to her 2020 Graduate Student Mentoring Award. One of Dixon’s “most important contributions is her innovative examination of anxiety sensitivity as a general vulnerability for a wide range of maladaptive behaviors and medical conditions, such as dermatological disorders,” a colleague said. “She has conducted multiple impactful studies in this area and was the first to examine the relevance of anxiety sensitivity in certain forms of dermatological disorders.”

Dixon’s research takes a transdiagnostic approach to evaluating cognitive, emotional, and behavioral mechanisms contributing to pathological anxiety and negative health-related outcomes.

Read Dixon’s Q&A on the College website.

Carrie Smith, assistant professor of psychology, was recognized for her commitment to representation in her department, her classrooms, her research, and even in the university’s Faculty Senate. She received an inaugural University of Mississippi Diversity Innovator Award for professors who serve their communities and strive to incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion principles into their teaching and research, as well as the lives of their students.

As cochair of the psychology department diversity committee, Smith has worked with her team to completely revamp the way to recruit and eventually select new faculty and graduate students. She has also toiled to see nontenure-track faculty receive representation in the Faculty Senate. This group of hundreds of UM faculty members previously had no representation in shared governance.

Read the full story about Smith’s award.

And finally, the Department of Psychology received the Donald R. Cole Excellence in Promoting Inclusiveness in Graduate Education Award for 2021.

The award recognizes unique contributions that make the graduate school a more inclusive environment for students of diverse backgrounds. Named after Dr. Cole, whose contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion led to national recognition of the graduate school, the award is a distinct honor based on commitment to inclusive excellence.

Graduate Program Coordinators Stephanie Miller and Todd Smitherman are thrilled to see the department recognized. The team effort from faculty helped shift the department forward over the last few years. One unique aspect of the recent changes in the department is the establishment of a diversity committee. The faculty endorsed the committee in 2017 to show the department’s commitment to diversity. From hiring new faculty to increasing transparency about the doctoral programs’ admission processes, the changes attracted diverse applicants and helped ensure applicants presented their materials in a way that best communicated their fit with the program.

Read more about the Graduate School award.

All in all, it’s been a banner year for the Department of Psychology.