TAMUCT Students and Faculty: Department of Counseling & Psychology at A&M–Central Texas
Nine students and faculty from Texas A&M University–Central Texas attended the 2025 Southwestern Psychological Association Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas. Over the three-day event, the attendees engaged in a series of workshops, research presentations, and teaching demonstrations. Ariana Espinosa Grimaldo and Amanda McHugh received Psi Chi Regional Awards for their student projects and the opportunity to lead designated presentations sessions. Espinosa Grimaldo’s project, “Bridging the Gap: The Relationship between Student-Faculty Interactions, Motivation, Self-Confidence, and Stress” and McHugh’s study, “Bad attitude? No problem! How prompt design influences peer feedback outcomes,” were supervised by Dr. Malin Lilley and Dr. Madelynn Shell, respectively. Queen Miller presented a poster titled, “The success puzzle: Internal and external attributions for student success” and received a SWPA Poster Showcase Award.
McHugh shared that attending SWPA multiple years in a row has contributed to the progress of her research, “Last year, I met a professor in Turkey who offered to launch one of my surveys at her university and this year, she offered to let me partner with some of her students to prepare an article for publication. It’s great to grow my network and meet more collaborators.” Further contributions from attendees included students from the BS Psychology Program: Michelle Sandy, who presented a poster, “You’ve got a friend in me: The relationship between belonging and GPA” and Abigayle Rocha, who presented a poster, “The influence of self-efficacy and college belonging on academic success and feedback,” after receiving a Psi Chi Travel Grant.
As a student who lives in New Hampshire and attends her TAMUCT classes online, Michelle Sandy noted that her favorite part of the conference was seeing her TAMUCT family in person and that she learned through her presentation that, “Impostor syndrome is a liar, if you work hard and do your best, you deserve to be there, and people actually want to hear about what you've accomplished.”
In addition to student accolades, Dr. Madelynn Shell, Associate Professor of Psychology, collaborated with Dr. Malin Lilley, Assistant Professor of Psychology, to present their work on an online seminar to promote student success. Dr. Kendal Smith, Assistant Professor of Psychology, co-authored a presentation on memory and the cross-race effect, and Dr. Daniel Clark, Associate Professor of Psychology, presented his work on post-traumatic stress, test anxiety, and academic achievement. Dr. Lilley also presented collaborative research with Dr. Dawn Weatherford from Texas A&M University-San Antonio on the Psychology Research Experience Preparation (PREP) Program.
The conference also facilitated networking opportunities for attendees, including a Psi Chi panel on graduate school admissions, events to talk with graduate school programs within the region, and research talks that covered a variety of sub-disciplines within psychology. If you are considering being involved in research at TAMUCT, McHugh says, “Not only does engaging in research help me apply what I’ve learned in my coursework, but there is an adventure around every turn. I encourage anyone who is thinking about getting involved in research to take that leap—you won’t regret it!”
For more information on the Counseling & Psychology programs at A&M—Central Texas, visit https://www.tamuct.edu/coe/counseling-psychology.html.