Center Announcements

EMAGS Receives second STUEY!

2010-08-09T12:44:00.000-07:00

The Ethnic Minority Association of Graduate Students (EMAGS) received its second Student Life Achievement Award (STUEY) at the 2010 STUEY celebration. EMAGS, a past STUEY recipient, was formed in 1994 by a group of students interested in multicultural issues in the mental health field expand their knowledge in providing services for minority groups.

CPS Director Honored at "I Believe in NSU" Assembly

2010-02-04T09:35:00.000-08:00

Ana Martinez, Psy.D., director of the Psychology Services Center, is in the top five most improved at NSU (staff direct report groups) as measured by the Gallup grand mean score. Her group will be honored at the Feb. 9th "I Believe in NSU" Assembly!

SAMSHA Grant Awarded

2010-01-22T08:11:00.001-08:00

The NSU Office of Suicide and Violence Prevention (SVP) has been awarded a 3 year/$300,000 grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA). The annual award will be matched by the university each year. CPS Associate Professor Scott Poland, Ed.D., Coordinator of the Suicide and Violence Prevention Office and Associate SHSS Professor Douglas Flemons, Ph.D., Director of NSU Student Counseling Center, are the co-directors and principle investigators for the grant. The project includes a diverse and accomplished group of individuals including Erin Procacci, Ph.D., who will serve as the grant coordinator and Christian DeLucia, Ph.D. (CPS) will serve as the grant quantitative evaluator.

CPS Doctoral Students Receive Army Commission

2009-05-21T09:24:00.000-07:00

CPS doctoral students in clinical psychology - Matthew Mascitelli and Christopher Carbo - were recently commissioned as 2nd Lieutenants in the United States Army Reserve. Mr. Mascitelli and Mr. Carbo recently applied for and received the Army Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP) which is a unique opportunity for clinical psychology students, as well as other healthcare professions. Matthew and Chris will be doing an Army internship at one of their five sites approved by the American Psychological Association and will serve for three years active duty upon the completion of internship. The HPSP is a very competitive national scholarship. Mr.. Carbo was commissioned by Capt. Jones, who will become the Physician’s Assistant to President Obama and Vice-President Biden on April 18th.

Matthew and Chris are the president and vice president, respectively, of the new Student Organization, Students United for Returning Veterans (SURV). SURV has been working with faculty, alumni and the community, such as the Vet Center of Fort Lauderdale, to foster research, community service and education related to the needs of returning veterans.

Any student interested should contact Julie Hamrick, the Secretary of SURV, at hamrick@nova.edu.

SURV meets every Tuesday @ Noon in Room 2045 and interested students should feel free to attend.

CPS Professors Lead Freedom Project

2009-05-21T09:22:00.000-07:00

CPS Professors Lenore Walker and Vincent Van Hasselt, with Dr. James Pann from Fischler School of Education and Human Services will lead the program evaluation team for the Freedom Project. This project stems from their Applied Community Research Grant (Quality of Life Council) funded by the Broward Sheriff’s Office on “Best Practices Model for Intervention with the Mentally Ill in the Broward County Criminal Justice System.” The annual budget for NSU will be $30,219.00. CPS Alumnus Kimberly Durham, Psy.D., Chair of the Quality of Life Council and NSU/BSO Advisory Council has been instrumental in fostering collaborative projects with law enforcement.

Continuing Education Program Receives NASP Approval

2008-11-14T07:59:00.000-08:00

The Center for Psychological Studies (CPS) received National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) approval for its Continuing Education Program. Associate Professor and Director of Continuing Education, Sarah Valley-Gray, Psy.D., School Psychology Program Coordinator, Suzanne O’Sullivan, M.A., and fourth year clinical psychology student, Julie Snyder, M.S., took a leadership role in working to obtain this approval. Beginning in 2010, school psychologists who hold the NCSP credentials will be required to earn their continuing education units from either an APA- or NASP-approved program. The center has been approved for more than 20 years by the American Psychological Association and the Florida state board to sponsor continuing education for psychologists.

Generous contribution to the CPS scholarship fund

2008-10-28T13:04:00.000-07:00

Dr. Gilbert H. Berken, the scholarship fund is named on his memory

Magdalen R. Berken had generously donated $25,000 to start the Dr. Gilbert H. Berken Endowed Scholarship Fund at NSU’s Center for Psychological Studies. The purpose of the scholarship is to provide financial support to graduate students who demonstrate significant financial need.

“It is my pleasure to honor my husband’s memory with the Gilbert H. Berken endowed scholarship fund. He was the dearest husband and father to our family. He would have been very proud to know we are helping students pursue higher education in his name”.

Gilbert H. Berken M.D.(1937 – 2006) was born into a family who fled their native Transylvania during the persecution of the Jews. After completing his psychiatric residency at Duke University he spent two years in the Air Force as a captain at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. This was during the Vietnam War. Many of his patients came directly from the battlefields and suffered from disabling psychiatric problems such as post-traumatic stress syndrome and severe anxiety. In addition to his private practice, he also served as Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Hollywood Memorial Hospital for a number of years. He supervised many NSU doctoral students while he was in practice. When he retired from Memorial Hospital he was appointed Emeritus Physician in 1998 after 30 years of service to the Hospital.

The first recipient of the scholarship is Angela Kuemmel, M.S. Angela is pursuing a career in Rehabilitation Psychology and hopes to work with patients who have suffered spinal cord injuries, brain injuries and strokes. Angela’s passion is to use her clinical skills to work with people with disabilities suffering from mental disorders. According to Angela, “Mrs. Berken scholarship will make a difference not only in my life, but also in the lives of the patients we help.”

Magdalen R. Berken and her daughter Christina at the CPS Humanitarian of the Year Award event last February.

CPS partners in Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation with Health Professions Divisions

2008-10-10T11:25:00.000-07:00

Noting the increasing interest in sport and exercise psychology as well as the utility of psychological interventions in sports medicine and physical rehabilitation, NSU’s Center for Psychological Studies and the College of Osteopathic Medicine have partnered to create a unique, jointly appointed faculty position in sport psychology.

In August, 2007, Dr. Stephen A. Russo joined the CPS faculty as an Assistant Professor and was also appointed as the Director of Sport Psychology for the NSU Sports Medicine Clinic within the Department of Osteopathic Principles and Practice. With the addition of Dr. Russo, CPS become one of only a handful of doctoral-level clinical psychology programs to offer opportunities for training and research in sport psychology. Dr. Russo joins the CPS faculty as an accomplished and internationally-respected authority on sport psychology. He is a licensed, clinical psychologist who has worked with top athletes from a variety of sports. And, as an active member of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology and the Sport and Exercise Division (47) of the American Psychological Association, Dr. Russo has worked extensively with elite athletes, coaches, and teams at the high school, college, and professional level.

The primary objectives for the NSU Sport Psychology program include:

-Teaching athletes, coaches, and teams about the effective use of psychological skills in their pursuit of athletic excellence.

-Providing sport medicine professionals with alternative treatment options when assisting patients in their recovery from physical injury.

-Creating training opportunities for psychologists-in-training who have an interest in sport, exercise, and health-related interventions.

-Conducting psychological research in the areas of sport and exercise psychology and also engaging in collaborative research projects with professionals in osteopathic medicine, physical therapy, sports medicine, and athletic training.

It is expected that clinical and research opportunities in sport psychology will be available in many of the following areas:

-Sports injury, rehabilitation, and recovery
-Pre-competitive stress management
-Goal setting and motivational counseling
-Biofeedback and psycho-physiological monitoring
-Emotional and cognitive regulation
-Visualization and imagery
-Psychological characteristics associated with exercise and athletic performance
-Coaching and parental influences

Joint (Psy.D. or Ph.D.) & masters in business administration (M.B.A) program.

2008-10-10T11:14:00.000-07:00

The Center for Psychological Studies offers a joint clinical psychology (Psy.D. or Ph.D.) & masters in business administration (M.B.A) program.

Current CPS doctoral students interested in admittance to the M.B.A. program should contact the CPS Director of Academic Affairs.

Incoming students will be able to gain admittance to both the clinical psychology program and the M.B.A. program at the same time by fulfilling the clinical psychology admissions process and indicating the interest to be admitted to the joint psychology and M.B.A. program.

Typically students will begin M.B.A classes during the 3rd year of their psychology studies and will pay the respective current tuition rates for both the clinical psychology program and the M.B.A. program.

For further information contact:

Dr John E. Lewis, Director Academic Affairs, Center for Psychological Studies (954) 262-5729 lewis@nova.edu

Dr. J. Preston Jones, Associate Dean, Huizenga School of Business & Entrepreneurship (954) 262-5127 prestonj@huizenga.nova.edu