What makes you a Difference Maker?

Through my work with peer learning, student organizations, my podcast, and both faculty-led and independent research, I’ve begun the work that I want to continue one day as a psychology professor: bringing people together to learn from both established knowledge and each other. The work of a university faculty member is the creation and distribution of knowledge. One facilitates this not only through research and formal classroom instruction, but also by fostering community outside the classroom between students, other researchers, and anyone else in the one’s academic sphere of influence. Through the unique opportunities I have at UM-Dearborn to engage in research and facilitate my fellow students’ learning, I have been able to experience that work first-hand while completing my degree. I hope to make the world a better place by bringing a bit more knowledge into it.

Tell us about your leadership experience.

Since I started as a freshman, I have worked with the campus Supplemental Instruction (SI) program as an SI leader. I lead biweekly SI sessions for various psychology courses where students collaborate with each other to learn the course material more deeply. My role in those sessions is to create activities to facilitate that learning. I also mentor new and experienced SI leaders to help them improve their technique. Over the last year, I became an assistant supervisor for the program. I helped drive the transition to fully online programming when the campus first closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I’ve grown into the position as an employee and as a person. Now I work with my colleagues to supervise 10% of the university’s student employees and plan for the future direction of the SI program. In student organizations, I serve as treasurer for Ratio Christi and president for both DoDeutsch, which is the university’s German club, and the Locke & Lewis Society. Through these organizations, I work to bring students together to learn about ideas, religions, and cultures different from their own to broaden their intellectual horizons. I have also trained research assistants for a psychology professor, mentored incoming honors students, and tutored several of my peers through the university's tutoring program. Lastly, I worked with a fellow student to create and run a program called Hope Companion that connects students with residents of long-term care facilities to provide them with social connection during the pandemic.

What is your dream career or goal?

My goal is to find a faculty position in a psychology department at a research university. My engagement in research, tutoring, peer learning, and academic service throughout my time at UM-Dearborn has shown me the variety of ways in which a professor can help individuals, institutions, and society gain knowledge about the world. My dual B.S. and B.A. degrees with two majors, three minors, and two certificates will provide a diverse educational background to complement my research experience in preparing me for a Ph.D. program in psychology. I can hardly wait to enter a career someday where I can continue generating knowledge through research, disseminating knowledge both in and out of the classroom, and mentoring students to effectively wield that knowledge in their lives.

What is your most defining moment?

My most defining moment at UM-Dearborn was the first time I attended a research conference. Through a CASL undergraduate student research travel grant, I was able to attend the annual conference for the Michigan Association of Institutional Research in the fall of 2019. During the two-day conference, I saw firsthand how the scientific community comes together to share new methods and discuss the direction of their fields. I met many, many researchers from higher education institutions across the state and learned about what they do for a living. This conference was the first time I realized that research would be more than something I do during my undergraduate program to build my resume. I knew I wanted to be like one of these researchers someday.