Mindy Erchull, assistant professor of psychology, has received the 2011 Psi Chi Southeastern Regional Faculty Advisor Award for her active involvement as the university’s Psi Chi chapter advisor.
The award is presented annually to one Psi Chi faculty advisor per region who best demonstrates Psi Chi’s purpose of encouraging excellence in scholarship, particularly in psychology, and advancing the science of psychology. The Psi Chi Southeast region includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, U.S. Virgin Islands, Virginia and West Virginia. Erchull’s award was announced during UMW’s Psi Chi spring induction ceremony on March 10.
Since becoming the university’s Psi Chi advisor in 2006, Erchull has facilitated programs already in place and helped chapter officers to add more workshops to assist students in preparing for graduate school and job applications. In addition, she has traveled with past chapter presidents to national leadership conferences sponsored by Psi Chi, and the university chapter was under Erchull’s guidance when the group received a regional chapter award in spring 2010.
In addition to serving as the chapter’s advisor, Erchull has served as a faculty consultant to Psi Chi for three years, reviewing grant and award applications and serving as a reviewer for the “Psi Chi Student Research Journal.” In addition, Erchull has served as president of the campus Phi Beta Kappa chapter and has been a member or a convener of several Phi Beta Kappa committees.
In 2010, she received the Mary Roth Walsh Teaching the Psychology of Women Award at the American Psychological Association Convention. The award, sponsored by the Society for the Psychology of Women, recognizes a young faculty member who employs innovative methods to address issues of diversity in teaching the psychology of women.
Erchull, a member of the UMW faculty since 2005, received a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in social psychology from Arizona State University and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Connecticut College. Her research focuses on such issues as objectification, feminism and psychological aspects of reproductive health.
She has been a reviewer for the Association for Women in Psychology, the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research, and the American Psychological Association conference submissions and a reviewer for publications that include “Sex Roles,” “Women’s Studies” and “Health Care for Women International.” She is also a consulting editor for “Psychology of Women Quarterly.” Her own articles have appeared in “Psychology of Women Quarterly,” “Sex Roles” and “Health Psychology,” among other academic journals.
Erchull is co-chair of the Hyde Graduate Student Research Grants Committee for the Society for the Psychology of Women. Her professional memberships include the American Psychological Association, Association for Psychological Science, Association for Women in Psychology, Society for Menstrual Cycle Research, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Virginia Academy of Academic Psychologists and the Virginia Psychological Association.
