A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff
Professor of Psychological Science and Director of Academic Integrity Programs David Rettinger
Professor of Psychological Science David Rettinger was interviewed in USA Today and on Yahoo.com for an article entitled, “Millions of college students use Chegg. Professors say it enables cheating – and possible blackmail.”
Company officials said they’re aware some students use its services to cheat but that Chegg works with universities to try to address the behavior. David Rettinger, a professor at the University of Mary Washington who studies academic dishonesty, said Chegg is notable for its transparency and willingness to work with academic institutions compared with other sites offering similar services. Read more.
After earning a psychology degree at UMW, Mike Ambrose ’11 turned his passion for ultrarunning into a career with French footwear manufacturer Salomon. Photo courtesy of Mike Ambrose.
American runners can now access comfortable, lightweight and responsive footwear that will give them a feeling of empowerment. That’s the way University of Mary Washington alum Mike Ambrose ’11 describes the Salomon Ultra Glide. The technologically advanced shoe he conceived and helped design hit the market this month.
“I want people to feel like they can fly,” said Ambrose, who started trail running for fun at Mary Washington. Now, as Salomon’s lead product line manager for trail running, his life revolves around it. An ultra-race runner who lives in France, Ambrose used a degree in psychology to build a pioneering career, designing footwear that crosses continents and climbs into your mind. Read more.
Laura Wilson, associate professor of psychology
Associate Professor of Psychological Science Laura Wilson, an expert in the psychological effects of mass shootings, commented on the phenomenon of teens turning to social media app Tik Tok to protest school shootings.
“People have really different reactions to humor as a coping strategy, but humor can be a really healthy form of coping,” Wilson said to the upstate New York FOX affiliate. “After trauma, what a lot of people struggle with is vulnerability, and by making a joke or video about it, they think, ‘I’m taking control of this.'” Read more.
Megan Jacobs ’19 (right) and Associate Professor of Psychological Sciences Hilary Stebbins. Jacobs won one of the two Outstanding Undergraduate Papers awards given to UMW students by the Virginia Association for Psychological Science. Photo provided by Hilary Stebbins.
The Virginia Association for Psychological Science has recognized six University of Mary Washington students with awards for top research papers. The two top awards for Outstanding Undergraduate Papers were awarded to Megan Jacobs ’19 and the five-person team of seniors Kim Bui, Kara Hogue, Sidney McPhail and Corinne Rydgren, and junior Haley Turczynski.
The winning students competed among undergraduates representing 12 Virginia colleges, including James Madison, Virginia Commonwealth and Old Dominion universities. Some 24 undergraduate research papers were submitted.
Jacobs’ research paper “Physiological Differences in Stress Reactivity between Morning and Evening Chronotypes” examined the cardiac activity and cortisol level of people characterized as morning types versus those described as evening types when asked to perform a stressful task in the morning compared to the evening.
According to Associate Professor Hilary Stebbins who supervised the research, Jacobs’ findings suggest that the performance of evening types was impaired in the morning, which might be related to higher morning cortisol levels. “These findings have implications when we consider what we expect from our students, who are heavily skewed towards being evening types, in the morning,” said Stebbins.
The recognition is the second one for Jacobs, who received the outstanding undergraduate paper award last year for research on sleep deprivation as part of a four-member UMW team.
From L-R: Sidney McPhail, Kim Bui, Corinne Rydgren, Haley Turczynski and Kara Hogue at Psi Chi. The five-person team won an Outstanding Undergraduate Papers award from the Virginia Association for Psychological Science. Photo provided by Hilary Stebbins.
The second top prize award went to UMW’s five-person team composed of Bui, Hogue, McPhail, Rydgren and Turczynski for the paper “Error Related Brain Activity and Mindfulness.”
This research team examined the brain activity of people who meditate and people who do not meditate. They studied brain activity while the participants made mistakes to see how strongly they reacted to their errors. The group found that the meditators had a smaller error-related brain component that has been related to the conscious awareness of mistakes. The team also looked at a few variables that might explain why the meditators were reacting differently to mistakes.
“They found that cognitive fusion, which is how much someone fights their own thoughts and inner experiences, explained why there was a relationship between meditator groups and the error-related brain activity,” said Assistant Professor Emily Stanley, who supervised the study.
The winning students also were among undergraduate presentations given at the University’s Psi Chi Symposium held last week in the Hurley Convergence Center’s Digital Auditorium. Jacobs also won the award for Best Presentation for 491/492 teams at the symposium.
David Rettinger, associate professor of Psychological Science
Associate Professor of Psychology David Rettinger was quoted in an article on the ethics of plagiarism. “It’s a particular problem in academia because we care so much about the process,” says Rettinger, who is also the president of the International Center for Academic Integrity and director of Academic Integrity Programs at UMW. “I say this to my students all the time: I don’t care that you give me a [clean] paper. I care that you write a paper. The point is … it’s like sending someone to the gym for you. It completely defeats the purpose.” Read more.
David Rettinger, associate professor of Psychological Science and director of Academic Integrity Programs
David Rettinger, associate professor of psychology and director of Academic Integrity Programs was interviewed for a segment that aired on April 3 on Good Morning America entitled “We tried buying a college admissions essay online, here’s what happened.” “Contract cheating has grown a great deal over the past ten years,” said Rettinger, who is also the president of the International Center for Academic Integrity. “Students are willing to use internet sites, family members, friends and other technology to get contractors to do their work.”