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Special Education Student and Alumni Highlights
Student and Alumnus Who Received Awards
Aaron Smith:
Geovanni Guzman: 2008 H. Kenton Reavis Special Educator Award
2008 Counseling Psychology Research Excellence Scholarship Recipients
Philip Nelson and GeriLynn Vorkink, students in the Counseling Psychology PhD Program at Brigham Young University, were recently awarded scholarships in recognition of their outstanding research efforts.
Philip Nelson began his psychology research experience by joining an interdepartmental psychology reseach team shortly after earning a bachelor's degree in music performance (BYU, '03). Philip has provided statistical analysis and consultaiton for local businesses, university professors, and a number of doctoral and master's degree candidates. His coauthored publications include an experimental study, a technical manual for an outcome measure, and a theoretical paper addressing clinical practice. Philip is coauthor of seven manuscripts in preparation for publication within the current school year (quantitative and theoretical). He is a certified Base Programmer for SAS 0. After his anticipated graduation in 2010, Philip plans to pursue a career in academia and clinical practice, with a focus on negotiation and conflict prevention/resolution. Some of Philip's hobbies are reading, snowboarding/skiing, camping/hiking, and body boarding.
GeriLynn Vorkink graduated Magna Cum Laude with a major in psychology and a minor in music in 1982. She then began raising a family of six children, who currently range in age from 7 to 25. She began work on her PhD in counseling psychology in the fall of 2005; completed her dissertation, entitled Patterns of Presenting Problems and Symptom Severity Related to Family Trauma in a Robust Sample of College Students, in the fall of 2008; and will begin her pre-doctoral internship in the fall of 2009. GeriLynn has served as assitant to the editor of the jounal Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy. She was elected as the graduate student representative to the governing board of the Association of Mormon Counselors and Psychotherapists (AMCAP). In addition, she has published and presented research at AMCAP conferences and at the annual conference of the American Psychological Association. She continues her interests in music and hopes to practice psychology in a college counseling center or mental health agency.