Dawn M. Salgado

Alicia Vasquez was awarded the Outstanding Senior in Social Sciences Award this year. She has worked in my research lab for 2 years on studying different aspects of mental health literacy and barriers to seeking psychotherapy among college students.

Alicia has presented at conferences such as the Western Psychological Association and Association for Psychological Science and also served as 2016-2017 President of the Pacific University Chapter of Psi Chi International Society.

Vasquez, Alicia E., “Mental Health Literacy among College Students: Conceptualizations of Mental and Emotional Health” (2016). Social Sciences Capstone Projects. 40. http://commons.pacificu.edu/cassoc/40

Great work!

Dawn Salgado
College of Arts & Sciences, Academic Year, “Promoting Well-Being Through Research, Practice and Pedagogy.”

https://www.pacificu.edu/about-us/news-events/faculty-members-receive-tenure-promotions-sabbaticals

Pacific University Psi Chi/Psychology Club students were featured in the latest Eye on Psi Chi Magazine for Fall 2017 (page 40, 41-42). See pictures of  Psi Chi students presenting at the 2016 Pacific University Undergraduate Research Conference.

During fall semester, Pacific Psi Chi students held their Fall Retreat and Organizational Meeting and participated in the university’s Club and Major fair to share information about Psychology as a major and future career.

See more in the Winter magazine, here.

Thanks to Elise Elliott Grant for Faculty-Student Travel ($4000) to the International Symposium for Contemplative Studies, sponsored by the Mind & Life Institute. I will be bringing two class of 2017 research assistants Alicia and Ashley, to come and learn about the recent advances in mindfulness in the fields of contemplative studies, social justice, clinical psychology, and medicine.

From the website:

The Mind & Life Institute’s International Symposium for Contemplative Studies seeks to encourage and help shape a cohesive interdisciplinary field in which basic and applied science, scholarship, education, the arts, and contemplative traditions collaboratively develop an integrated way of knowing.

Thank you to Pacific University for awarding me a Faculty Development Grant for my proposal entitled, “Training and Applications in Positive Psychology and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) to Promote Well-Being”. 

Jon Kabat-Zinn began with the MBSR clinic in 1979  and the The Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society in 1995. MBSR is an 8-week progam that allows individuals to (a) focus attention to present moment, (b) increase bodily awareness, and (c) practice non-judgment. Read more about this program, its structure, and more recent research findings here.

These funds will allow me to enroll in an intensive 9-12 day residential training at UCSD or UMass Medical School to become a “qualified” teacher and start organizing and teaching my own 8-week MBSR classes.

Thank you to the Faculty Development Committee at Pacific University for awarding me $1,500 to attend University of California-Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. They are hosting their 2nd Annual Summer Educator’s Institute.

Mission

The Greater Good Science Center studies the psychology, sociology, and neuroscience of well-being and teaches skills that foster a thriving, resilient, and compassionate society.

To achieve that overarching aim, we focus on these long-term, large-scale outcomes:

• A shift in conventional wisdom about human nature, so that the public views kindness and compassion as no less “natural” to humans than selfishness and aggression;
• Greater awareness about the keys to social and emotional well-being, including the factors most likely to cause people to act on their instincts for kindness and compassion;
• Greater demand for programs that foster the social-emotional well-being of their participants, driven by greater awareness about the research-based benefits of these programs;
• Deeper understanding within educational institutions of how—and why—to support social-emotional development, nurturing a new generation that is better equipped to deal with conflict, handle stress, and widen their circles of kindness and compassion;
• Higher levels of emotional well-being within institutions—specifically in families, schools, workplaces, and the health care system—better preparing people to respond to others with care, equanimity, and generosity.

2016 Pacific University Undergraduate  Research Conference

Examining Mental Health Literacy Among College Students
Author: Alicia E. Vasquez

See my presentation at the Association of Women in Psychology conference where I talk about my dissertation research on risk and resiliency factors predicting recidivism and successful re-integration upon release. See more information here.