newsPRE

MONTHLY October 2012

THE BALANCING ACT: TEACHING AND RESEARCH

Contents
NEWSPRE OCTOBER 2012
Volume 2 Issue 1

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ABOUT US We are a student group that writes about news in the Psychology and Research in Education (PRE) Department at the University of Kansass School of Education. LOCATION Joseph R. Pearson Hall The 6th floor 1122 West Campus Rd. University of Kansas Lawrence, KS 66044 NEWS TEAM Meagan Patterson Advisor mmpatter@ku.edu Kim Trang Editor, EPR ktrang@ku.edu Danielle Chen EPR Correspondent daniellechen@yahoo.com Jackie Bhattarai CPSY Correspondent jbhattarai@ku.edu Jessica Gahm CPSY Correspondent jessgahm@ku.edu Rachel Bromberg SPSY Correspondent brachel7@ku.edu Jesse Pace SPSY Correspondent Jesse.Pace@ku.edu

COVER STORY 2 | The Balancing Act: Teaching and Research

Bruce Frey, Associate Professor, shares his thoughts on finding a balance between teaching and scholarly work.

FEATURES 3 | 7000+ Miles Away

EPR international students, Hongling Lao and Derek Shaw, share their stories of adjustment to life and graduate school in the United States.

4 | Graduate School Summer Research Fellows

A story on EPR students who won the Graduate School Summer Fellowship for their dissertation research.

5 | Is there such a thing as validated narcissism?

Stephen Lokes work on the Validation of a Narcissism Measure with U.S. Students earned him recognition at the 120th APA convention.

6 | GOEPRS Excerpts
A special section featuring excerpts from the Graduate Organization of Educational Psychology and Research Students (GOEPRS) meetings.

6 | CPSO Updates
Current happenings in the Counseling Psychology Student Organization (CPSO).

Contact Us
Please send all correspondence regarding newsPRE to the Editor.

Also in this issue 5 | NPS/PERK Convention 6 | Research Spotlight: Fun Out of School Time Coming next issue
Turkiyeden Selamlar!

SOE & PRE

COVER PHOTO: HDLOST.COM

For more information regarding KUs School of Education and the PRE Department, please visit soe.ku.edu

1 | newsPRE | October 2012

COVER STORY

The Balancing Act: Teaching and Research

Kim Trang

inding equal balance between teaching and research may seem like an impossible task. Putting more time and effort into one area may lead to less than adequate performance in another area. At researchintensive universities such as the University of Kansas, faculty are expected to dedicate approximately equal amounts of time to both teaching and scholarly activities. At KU, it is 40% research, 40% teaching, and 20% service. However, when faculty are evaluated for promotions/tenure, it is expected that more effort was put into research. Given this expectation and the incentives (e.g., grants, funding) put in place to promote scholarly work, it is easy to sideline teaching duties.

A distinguished scholar, Dr. Frey has written over 30 journal articles, books and individual chapters, and presented at dozens of conferences. At the same time, his excellence in teaching can be seen through his numerous teaching awards. For Dr. Frey, teaching and research are not mutually exclusive activities; he believes, to do well in two different things, you have to enjoy two different things. That sounds so simple! But how does he do it?

ing a course in your research area, that will double your efficiency. Classroom prep work can also serve as research preparation. In addition, the interactions you have in the classroom can also inform your research. Not to mention the fact that

To do well in two different things, you have to enjoy two different things.
students will admire your passion as you talk about your research in the classroom. REUSE, RECYCLE. Beginning professors often spend more time prepping for courses because it will be their first time teaching. But as the old saying goes, dont try to reinvent the wheel. Talk to your colleagues who have taught the course before and more often than not, they will more than happy to share their materials. Once youve taught the course several times, you can always recycle old material.
HAVE AN IDEA FOR A COVER STORY? Send us an email

BUDGET TIME. Dr. Freys tip for completing research work: You just have to literally schedule it into your week. The best advice Dr. Frey received as a new faculty is to pick one day of the week that will be dedicated to writing For those looking to spend their life in and other scholarly work. The same academia, you may be wondering how goes for instructional preparatory seasoned professors find the right bal- work. Be sure to schedule certain days to prepare teaching materials. And reance between teaching and scholarmember to prioritize and budget time ship. To answer this question, I sat down to talk with Dr. Bruce Frey, Asso- wisely! ciate Professor of Education and FaculBE EFFICIENT. Find overlap in your ty Fellow to the Center for Teaching teaching and research. If youre teachExcellence at KU.

INTERESTING FACT
Did you know that Dr. Frey is also renowned in the podcast world for his work in the Bubblegum music industry? Celebrating the grooviest sounds of bubblegum pop music from the 60s and 70s, Echo Valley broadcasts live from the main gazebo in Reuben Kincaid Park in the heart of Echo Valley, USA where theres always sunshine and sweet, delicious music. Professor Bubblegum hosts 1 -hour long podcasts full of upbeat, happy tunes and entertaining commentary.
Download Professor Bubblegums podcasts on iTunes by searching Echo Valley: Bubblegum Music or heading to the home of Echo Valley at: echovalley.podbean.com.

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PHOTO: DEFYNITY IMAGES

7000+ Miles Away

Kim Trang

he distance between Guangzhou, China and Lawrence, KS is approximately 7800 miles or 12,550 kilometers. Educational Psychology and Research (EPR) students, Hongling Lao and Derek Shaw, left their homes and crossed the Pacific Ocean, traveling more than 20 hours to their new home on the hill at the University of Kansas.

graduate student, our students are also learning to adjust to the American way of life. For Derek and Hongling, this is their first year in the US and the first time they have had to use English on a daily basis. So I asked them, what is the hardest thing about adjusting to life in the US?

Of all the places they could have gone to for graduate school, why did they ROUTINE. Like other graduate stupick KUs School of Education? dents, Hongling initially found it diffiFINANCE. It is no surprise that being a cult to establish an effective daily rougraduate student is costly. However, it tine. Between classes, homework, and is even more expensive when you GTA duties, Hongling had to find time convert tuition into the Chinese yuan to talk to her family given their 13(RMB). In China, where the cost of hour difference. And when she does living is less than the US, $1.00 (6.27 find time, she needs to be careful ) can buy you 2 lbs (1 kg) of rice, a about going over her minutes. loaf of bread, or two cans of sodas. $1.00 certainly goes a long way in Chi- FOOD. How does American food comna! When asked about shopping here, pare to Chinese food? According to Hongling, The portions are too large! Derek says, Its hard to buy things because I keep mentally converting to It is hard to finish. And for Derek, there is no comparison, Chinese food RMB. Yikes! is the most delicious! Pizza hut is too Given how expensive graduate school salty. can get, here at KU, we are pleased that we can offer scholarships and GTA/GTA positions that help attract the best students. PROGRAM. KUs School of Education is highly ranked among public universities. Therefore, it is no surprise that we attract many academically talented international students like Hongling and Derek. They both said they applied to KU because of its outstanding EPR program. In addition to adjusting to life as a
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Its hard to buy things because I keep mentally converting to RMB.

LANGUAGE. Overcoming the language barrier is something all international students face. Honglings tip for rapid language emersion is to be friends with the natives. And Derek likes to watch American movies; two of his favorite actors are Brad Pitt and George Clooney. Despite the rough patches here and there, we certainly are glad Hongling and Derek are here to share their unique perspectives both inside as well as outside the classroom.
DO YOU OR YOUR FELLOW EPR STUDENT HAVE AN INTERESTING STORY TO SHARE?

What is spare time?

According to the freedictionary.com, spare time is time for hobbies and other activities you enjoy. And more importantly, it is time away from duties and responsibilities.

Do you have this seemingly nonexistent spare time?

Join our news team now! Benefits include flexible hours and working with an enthusiastic and energetic team.

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Graduate School Summer Research Fellows

It is a fellowship that intends to encourage students to get involved in research studies during the summerChunmei Zheng.

Danielle Chen

hunmei (Rose) Zheng, a Ph.D. candidate in the Educational Psychology Departments Research, Evaluation, Measurement and Statistics (REMS) track, won the fellowship in 2012. She is currently working in the Center for Research on Learning as a consultant for statistical data analysis performing quality control of computer-administered tests for large-scale assessments. Chunmei also conducts data analysis for principle investigators using existing largescale research databases such as the Kansas Math/Reading/Science Assessments, the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2), and a variety of grant evaluation projects.

Rose said, when asked who motivated her to apply for the fellowship. In addition, she also notes that, Dr. Kingston, my advisor, was very supportive and encouraging during the entire process. The proposal she used for the application is also her dissertation project, Examination of the Parameter Estimate Bias When Violating the Orthogonality Assumption of the Bifactor model. She successfully defended her dissertation proposal on July 6th, 2012 and has completed data analysis.

research after graduation, A solid foundation can also guarantee me the ability of implementing my research studies. Rose suggested to other doctoral students, Get involved in any projects if provided any opportunities. These opportunities will be very rewarding because it is a very good learning process.

I would like to aggressively explore new ideas and techniques in model implementation. My recent work in the area of target matrices may be Seungyeon, the winner of the graduseen as indicative of this effort. ate summer fellowship last year, motiRose talked about her plan for future vated me to make the application.

2011 Summer Research Fellow

ship in 2011. She is currently working on her dissertation, which is a study on behavioral interventions for educating children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), who have a hard time controlling their impulsiveness. The results of Seungyeons pilot study showed that the proposed interventions were effective. She successfully defended her dissertation proposal on September 13, 2012. As a researcher, I am very driven on working on a scientific inquiry, Seungyeon said when asked to define herself either as a researcher or a 4-year-old childs mom, but parenting is a lot tougher, she smiled. When asked for her advice to younger doctoral students, Seungyeon replied, I know we all have a busy life, but it is also important to actually maintain health in a good condition and balance your school work and social life. Networking is very important.
FOR MORE INFORMATION REGARDING THIS FELLOWSHIP Visit graduate.ku.edu

SEUNGYEON Lee, a Ph.D. candidate in Educational Psychology, Development and Learning (D&L) track, won the fellow4 | newsPRE | October 2012

PHOTOS: SEUNGYEON LEE/CHUNMEI ZHENG

Is there such thing as validated narcissism?

WHEN were talking about the validity of a construct measuring narcissism, there certainly is! Stephen Loke, the author of PRE Newsletters riveting The Secret Lives of the School Psychology Faculty article, as well as the less captivatingly titled (but equally well written) The 2011 National Association for School Psychologists Convention announcement, proves Stephen received a scholarship in once and for all that, despite obviaddition to the recognition. Steous talents in the area, journalism is phens study, which sought to measnot his field of study here at KU. ure the validity of the Narcissistic In August, Stephen, along with Dr. Personality Questionnaire for ChilPatricia Lowe, presented Stephens dren Revised (NPQC-R; Ang & work on the Validation of a Narcis- Raine, 2009) in a U.S. sample, ultisism Measure with U.S. Students at mately demonstrated that the measthe 120th convention of the Ameri- ure was viable with a U.S. population. can Psychological Association and The NPQC-R had been originally valiwon recognition as one of the top dated using a school aged population student presenters! in Singapore.

Jesse Pace

Stephen sought to demonstrate the validity of this measure in the U.S., and though some understandable limitations of his measurements are to be considered (sample size, selfreport only, and other common limitations), his work supports the validity of the measure among U.S. students. For his quality work and efforts, Stephen has been awarded the 2012 Outstanding Student Scholarship Award by Division 16 (School Psychology) of the American Psychological Association. This award was sponsored by Pearson Education. Stephen received a check for $500 from Division 16, as well as a certificate for his exceptional studentauthored proposal. Keep up the good work Stephen, and thank you for maintaining our good reputation!
SHARE YOUR SUCCESS!

Established in 1993, the Nebraska Psychological Society (NPS) is an organization for psychology students and professionals. Its purposes are to promote the scientific study of psychology, to advance teaching, research, and service in psychology, and to serve as a forum for academic psychology in the State of Nebraska. The stated mission of the Association for Psychological and Educational Research in Kansas (PERK) is to promote, improve, and disseminate psychological and education research, to encourage collaboration between faculty and students, and to enhance collegiality among college faculty and students in Kansas and other Midwestern states. KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Brain Injury and Recovery through Interventions. Dr. Dennis Molfese is an internationally-recognized researcher and director of the University of Nebraska-Lincolns new interdisciplinary Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior (CB3). In addition, Dr. Molfese leads a multi-institution effort to better understand the causes and effects of sport-related concussions and head injuries. He is also very involved in a national initiative designed to study reading and learning disabilities. Dr. Jeri Thompson, 402-461-7373, jthompson@hastings.edu Visit www.npsperkconvention.org

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GOEPRS: PUBLISHING
September 25, 2012

Current Happenings in the Counseling Psychology Student Organization (CPSO) Brittany Stewart
THE primary mission of CPSO is to provide support to our students and to serve as a communication channel between CPSY students and faculty. CPSO members and officers work diligently to carry out the CPSO mission through our biweekly meetings, peermentoring program for incoming CPSY students, social activities, and local volunteer opportunities. CPSO has many exciting events and projects slated for this year, including several talks aimed at increasing awareness and knowledge of diverse populations and education about different therapeutic modalities. This year CPSO will host speakers who will share their knowledge about the LGBT community, the Sikh community, music and play therapy, and various other areas in which our members and students express interest. Additionally, our research committee is hard at work developing new and creative ways to expand research opportunities for CPSY students by connecting students with similar research interests to each other and to faculty. This committee has disseminated a program-wide survey that seeks to assess the research interests and ideas of all CPSY students. The goal is to compile this information into an accessible database in an effort to increase the connectivity of our students research ideas and plans. CPSO gives our students an active voice and the opportunity to connect and engage in the CPSY program. We are excited for all that the year holds and look forward to having a successful and active student organization!
KEEP UP TO DATE WITH GOEPRS & CPSO IN EVERY ISSUE

Getting Started
If interested in publishing, talk with your advisor/faculty member with similar interests about what you can do to get published they will likely have suggestions for projects/collaboration opportunities.

Crafting the Paper

Think about the paper from the perspective of the reviewer. Throughout the article, be clear on 1) why research was conducted 2) why the research is important 3) why the particular methods were chosen.

Authorship
Determine authorship ahead of time, which usually helps to avoid conflict later on. It should be based on contribution (writing manuscript, analyzing data, collecting data, original idea some people may weight certain things as more important) and scale contribution from the order of authorship (e.g. if you are third author, maybe focus efforts elsewhere & contribute less than if you were first author).

Conference Submission
You dont have to submit everything to a conference first, but that should typically be the goal. Presenting at a conference first can be helpful for: 1) obtaining feedback from a discussant for making modifications to a paper, and 2) gauging the audience during the presentation-are they confused in places, highly interested, etc. This information can be used to inform modifications.

RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: FUN OUT OF SCHOOL TIME

Dr. Dave Hansens research focus is on how to improve youths out-of-school programs, such as the YMCA, to enhance adolescent developmental and learning experiences. His research group is currently working with the United Way of Kansas City to help set up evaluations for their programs using the Quality Matters Initiative. The QM Program is an important step in increasing training and support for staff as well as increasing collaboration between youth and adult supervisors. At the same time, Michael Crawford will be working on his dissertation about beliefs and perceptions of adulthood/adultism, the idea that adults discriminate against youths based on age. He is currently working on his proposal which is coming along great! We will keep you posted.

Journal Submission
Beginning of career publish anywhere! Focus on prestigious journals after a few articles have been published. 6 | newsPRE | October 2012

PHOTO: KANSASCITYYMCA.ORG