Education
Bachelors of Psychology from UNI
Industrial-Organizational MS from IUPUI 2020
Applied Social and Organizational Psychology PhD in progress at IUPUI

Why did you choose to attend UNI? What factors influenced your reason for studying your major?
I chose to attend UNI based on the size and location. It was close enough to go home for visits but far enough that I was independent. I also thought it was large enough to give me the college experience but not so large that I would be lost in the wave of people. I chose my major of psychology because I came in as education and ended up undecided after my first year. I kept taking psychology courses as my fun electives and then realized I liked some of the career opportunities they were connected to as well.

What do you do in your current position? What do you enjoy about it?
I am currently a PhD candidate at IUPUI which means all I have left is my dissertation (but that is quite a big project lol). With this being my 4th year as a PhD student, I have been able to be an instructor for undergraduate students, work in the graduate office putting on events and creating surveys, and also analyze campus data for my different graduate assistantships. I enjoy that I have been able to try different roles and positions through my graduate assistantships so that I can gain skills and also narrow down what I would like to do after graduation.

How did your major help prepare you for your current role? What skills are you still using today?
My major helped me determine what specific area of psychology I wanted to go into. Initially I thought it was fairly limited to counseling but after taking my undergraduate courses I realized I could do consulting, trainings, HR, selection and retention, or performance management.

What is a memorable part of your studies or participation within your major? (favorite class, event, clubs, study abroad, field experience, professor, role model, etc.) 
I remember I first got passionate about psychology after taking Psych of Gender. It was such a fascinating class and we had such good discussions each day. I really admired the teacher and how it opened people up to questioning society and our roles and stereotypes. 

I remember looking forward to Social Psych with Rowena after all the students talked about seeing her pictures of chickens in tutus. I noticed in Mike Gasser's class that all of his examples included people named Mike and Adam (him and Dr.Butler) as the antagonists and someone named Rowena (his wife) as the protagonist but he would never admit that he noticed it too hehe. 

Taking IO psychology with Adam Butler helped me find the major I wanted to pursue in graduate school. At the end of the class, I told Dr. Butler that I wanted to declare a psychology major and he personally sat down with me and walked through the courses I needed to take and the grad school application process, along with checking all of my letters of interest I wrote before I sent them. He also helped introduce me to more research experience and met with me to make sure that I was prepared for the graduate school transition.

What advice would you give to students currently interested in the same major and/or going into your career field?
If you are worried you can only do one thing with a psychology major - you can actually do many jobs. You will have the skills to analyze things in many jobs and if you choose to go to IO psychology in graduate school as well, you will be open to many opportunities to pursue career-wise. That is something I really enjoy as then I am never bored since I can try so many different things. I would say for all people though, if you are unsure then that is okay too. I did not declare my major until my final year. There are many things outside of work and a school major, so as long as you find satisfaction with yourself and within life, then you will be content in whatever you do.

Is there anything else you would like to add or share?
I had a hard time adjusting to undergraduate school at the beginning and it led me to trying nothing and doing nothing the first year outside of going to class. However, I realized too late that doing nothing is also an action and choice to not try. I would say to go for it and at least try things, that way you will know whether you enjoy something or not and won't have so many what ifs and regrets. I wanted to try so many clubs before going to UNI and while I did try some before leaving, the time went quickly and I wish I had taken the leap to put myself out there and try more the first year. Once I finally did join clubs, I realized that the people with similar interests I was looking for to be friends with were all there the whole time and it made it much easier to make connections as well. I even met nice people with clubs I did not stay with just because they were so open to new people and took a chance! It was much scarier in my imagination and worrying that it was too late to start things, but people can be very aware and supportive of how hard it is sometimes to just take a chance on something new and try. (Also, the campus monster cookies are the best so stuff them in your pockets with napkins whenever they make them. Don't try this with the edible cookie dough though as it does NOT travel well)