Faculty Accomplishments

All faculty in the Psychology Department hold doctoral degrees from a variety of respected institutions. The faculty's primary commitment is to teaching, spending countless hours preparing for classes, running in-class activities and lectures, grading tests and papers, providing other feedback to students, and working with students in office hours. But most faculty are also active in research and community service, and they welcome student partners in these endeavors.

Faculty interests and research specializations

Faculty areas of specialization include behavior disorders of childhood and adulthood, cognitive development, violence prevention in the schools, physiological bases of motivation, cognition, and perception, the use of computers in psychological research, and many topics in social psychology. Within these areas, faculty conduct their own studies, give talks and presentations, and write articles, book chapters, and books. Some faculty are also leaders in different areas of community or public service. Below are some of their recent accomplishments and activities outside the classroom.

Faculty accomplishments and activities

  Spring 2022

Dr. Anna Lindell co-presented a poster titled “Relationships with Parents, Academic Self-Efficacy, and Emotional Adjustment Among First-Generation and Continuing-Generation College Students” at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence (virtual event, March 2022).

Drs. Elizabeth Olson and Carolyn Morgan authored an invited chapter titled “We Have to Start Somewhere: Classifying Alibis to Launch a Literature” in the book Alibis and Corroborators: Psychological, Criminological, and Legal Perspectives (May 9, 2022).

Dr. Dan Stalder received a 2022 Teacher Scholar Travel Award for the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, at which he co-presented a poster titled “Can Cultivating an Uncertainty Mindset Reduce Bias and Conspiracy Beliefs?” (virtual event, February 2022). See his latest articles at Psychology Today at Bias Fundamentals, including “How Either-Or Thinking Can Sustain a Pandemic.”

  Fall 2021

Dr. Carolyn Morgan completed the UW System Certificate program in Online Learning in October 2021.

Dr. Chris Neddenriep was co-recipient of a 2021-2022 School-Based Mental Health Professionals Grant, a subgrant award from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Federal School-Based Mental Health Professionals (FSBMHP) Grant ($148,759).

  Spring 2021

Dr. Anna Lindell co-authored the article “Parent-Child Relationship Quality and Emotional Adjustment Among College Students: The Role of Parental Financial Support” in Journal of Social and Personal Relationships (February 2021).

Dr. Tracey Scherr co-presented “Supporting Forcibly Displaced Youth in Schools Using a Strength-Based Approach” at the annual National Association of School Psychologists Convention (virtual event, February 2021).

Dr. Dan Stalder co-presented a poster titled “‘What’s Your Problem?’ The Role of Language and Empathy in Committing the Fundamental Attribution Error” at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (virtual event, February 2021). See his latest articles at Psychology Today at  Bias Fundamentals, including “Maskers Versus Anti-Maskers: Who Are the Bigger Sheep?” He also received the 2021 College of Letters and Sciences Excellence in Teaching Award.

Dr. Meg Waraczynski received the 2021 Cisco/Presidio “Teaching with Technology Innovator” honorarium, awarded by the Learning Technology Center.

  Fall 2020

Dr. Barbara Beaver co-facilitated a LEARN Center Fall Book Discussion Group on the book “Radical Hope” to discuss how to develop and maintain our hope in our students and teaching through our pedagogical choices.

Dr. Chris Neddenriep authored a chapter titled “Positive Peer Reporting” in the book  School-Based Behavioral Intervention Case Studies: Effective Problem Solving for School Psychologists  (November 30, 2020).

  Summer 2020

Dr. Barbara Beaver co-presented the talk “The Pandemic, Stress, and Coping” at UW-Whitewater’s College of Letters & Sciences annual retreat (August 27, 2020).

Dr. Heather Niemeier co-presented the talk “The Pandemic, Stress, and Coping” at UW-Whitewater’s College of Letters & Sciences annual retreat (August 27, 2020).

Dr. Tracey Scherr co-authored a chapter titled “Supervision of School Based Mental Health Services” in the book Introduction to School Psychology in Vietnam (2020), the first school psychology textbook in Vietnam.

Dr. Dan Stalder co-presented a poster titled “Self-Identifying with Your Smartphone, Laptop, or Game Console Breeds In-Group Favoritism” at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science (virtual event, June 1 – Sept 1, 2020).  See his latest articles at Psychology Today at Bias Fundamentals.

  Spring 2020

Dr. Barbara Beaver facilitated a LEARN Center Spring Book Discussion Group on “Connected Teaching” to discuss the role of the teacher-student relationship in teaching. Dr. Beaver was also selected to present “Advising Conversations: Fostering Collaboration and Motivation” at the Region 5 Conference of the National Academic Advising Association in Milwaukee, WI (March 2020; canceled due to coronavirus).

Dr. Sasha Karnes was selected to co-present “Breakfast Club Intervention Increases Breakfast Consumption Among University Employees” at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association in Chicago, IL (April 2020; canceled due to coronavirus).

Dr. Anna Lindell was selected to co-present "The Role of Sibling Support for First-Generation College Student Adjustment" and "Siblings' Technology-Mediated Communication During College: Longitudinal Associations with Relationship Quality and Adjustment" at the biennial conference for the Society for Research on Adolescence in San Diego, CA (March 2020; canceled due to coronavirus). She also co-authored two articles in the journal Developmental Psychology (May, 2020), “More Data, More Problems: Analytical Complications of Studying Differential Family Experiences over Time: Reply to Laird (2020),” and “Developmental Changes in Parental Authority Legitimacy and Influences on Adjustment: Differences in Parent, First-Born and Second-Born Perspectives.”

Dr. Chris Neddenriep co-facilitated a panel discussion titled “Passing the Torch: Tools and Strategies for a Successful Internship” at the spring 2020 conference of the Wisconsin School Psychologists Association in Wisconsin Dells, WI (March 2020).

Dr. Elizabeth Olson co-presented “Secondary Trauma Symptoms and Protective Personality Traits in Probation and Parole Agents” at the annual conference of the American Psychology-Law Society in New Orleans, LA (March 2020).

Dr. Tracey Scherr co-presented “Supporting Students and Families Who Have Immigrated” and “Students' Context and the Lens by Which We Practice” at the annual conference of the National Association of School Psychologists in Baltimore, MD (February 2020). Dr. Scherr also presented “Supporting Displaced Immigrants/Refugees: School Psychology Trainers' Role in Advocacy: National and International Contexts” as the keynote for the Trainers of School Psychologists Conference in Baltimore, MD (February 2020).

Dr. Dan Stalder was interviewed on California Community Radio KSQD on January 19, 2020, to discuss political tribalism. A link to the broadcast can be found here. In April 2020, Dr. Stalder received an Action Teaching Award (Honorable Mention, $200) from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues for his project “An Online Support Group and Blog to Reduce Bias and Conflict.” See his latest articles at  Psychology Today at Bias Fundamentals.

Dr. Brandon Thomas was selected to co-present an invited talk, “Leader-Follower Dynamics, Agency, and Anxiety in Joint Action Braking: A First-Order Dynamical Systems Model,” at the meeting for the International Society of Ecological Psychology in Cincinnati, OH (July 2020; canceled due to coronavirus).

Dr. Meg Waraczynski co-facilitated a LEARN Center Spring Book Discussion Group on “How Humans Learn” to discuss the multiple sources that drive student learning.

Dr. Shen Zhang co-presented “Cultural Impact on Subliminal Self-Face Processing” at the annual conference of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology in New Orleans, LA (February 2020).

  Fall 2019

Dr. Chris Neddenriep co-presented “You're Hired! Tips to a Successful First Year as School Psychologist” at the fall 2019 conference of the Wisconsin School Psychologists Association in Eau Claire, WI (October 24, 2019).

Dr. Heather Niemeier gave a talk titled “Evidence-Based Approaches to Improving Long-Term Weight Loss Maintenance” at the Stoughton Area Senior Center in Stoughton, WI, as part of UW-Whitewater’s Scholarly Scoop (Fall 2019 Lecture Series) on September 20, 2019.

Dr. Tracey Scherr co-presented a webinar titled “Use Your Resources: Supporting Students Who Are Refugees or Have Recently Immigrated” for the School Psychology division of the American Psychological Association (November 22, 2019). Dr. Scherr also testified on the issue of gun violence and suicide prevention at a public hearing of the Speaker’s Task Force on Suicide Prevention at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, WI, on September 9, 2019.

Dr. Brandon Thomas gave a talk titled “Don’t Forget to Come to This Talk: Tips for Remembering to Do Stuff ” at the Whitewater Senior Center in Whitewater, WI, as part of UW-Whitewater’s Scholarly Scoop (Fall 2019 Lecture Series) on November 1, 2019.

  Summer 2019

Dr. Barbara Beaver co-authored the article “Faculty and Staff Perceptions of Undergraduate Mentoring” in the journal Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning (August 7, 2019).

Dr. Chris Neddenriep, as academic partner on a Wisconsin Partnership Program Grant ($1,000,000 over 2019-2023), facilitated training of 15 infant mental health consultants who will be working to support early educators in preventing the expulsion of young children from early childcare programs in Wisconsin.

Dr. Tracey Scherr was interviewed on Wisconsin Public Radio on June 24, 2019, to discuss adoption and her contribution to the book Adoption Matters. The broadcast can be heard here. Dr. Scherr also served as a panelist in consulting with directors of UW System children’s centers about adoption issues, including developing inclusive information forms.

Dr. Brandon Thomas co-presented “Does Avatar Presence Facilitate Affordance Judgments from Different Perspectives?” at the annual meeting of the Vision Sciences Society in St. Pete Beach, FL (May 2019) for which he received an Early Career Scientist Travel Grant. Dr. Thomas also authored a chapter titled “Information and Its Detection: The Consequences of Gibson’s Theory of Information Pickup” in the book Perception as Information Detection (July 31, 2019).