Every year, the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry awards Sam Taylor Fellowships to full-time faculty members at United Methodist–affiliated colleges and universities in Texas. This year, eight Southwestern University faculty members won grants up to $2,000:

• Associate Professor of French Aaron Prevots, “Esther Tellermann: Enigma, Prayer, Identity”
• Associate Professor of Spanish María de los Ángeles Rodriguez Cadena, “Cultural Memory and Historical Fiction: Women of the Past on Television and Film by Four Contemporary Mexican Women Directors”
• Associate Professor of Computer Science Barbara Anthony, “The Social Welfare of Human Behavior in Doodle Polls”
• Associate Professor of Psychology Bryan Neighbors, “Central Texas Treatment Center Aftercare Assessment”
• Associate Professor of German Erika Berroth, “Minimalism and Restraint”
• Professor of Psychology Fay Guarraci, “Poverty: Understanding the Long-Term Effects of Poverty Using an Animal Model”
• Assistant Professor of History Joseph Hower, “The Life and Career of Author–Activist Ralph de Toledano”
• Associate Professor of Communication Studies Valerie Renegar, “Contemporary Modes of Parenting: Disrupting the Representation of Stepmothers in Popular Culture”

Learn more about this prestigious grant here.

Several Psychology faculty members and students presented papers at the annual meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association in Houston April 7–8. Students presenting with Professor of Psychology Traci Giuliano included:

• Kirk Zanetti, Taylor Torres, both class of 2020, and Athena Pinero, class of 2019: “Now that’s aggressive: Examining the relationship between political orientation and political flaming.”
• Sarah Butterworth, Justin White, Kyle Fraser, all class of 2018, and Lizette Cantu, class of 2019: “Is he flirting with me? How sender gender influences emoji interpretation.”
• Allison Cook, Rachel Allen, Winston Cook,all class of 2018, and Daniella Orces, class of 2019: “Emoji manners: Perceptions of students’ and teachers’ emoji use in emails.”
• Kate Davis, Dean Neubek,class of 2019, and Emily Olson, class of 2020: “Fake smiles, faker accounts: The relationship between life satisfaction and Finstagram use.”
• Sarah Butterworth, Rachel Allen, and Allison Cook, all class of 2018: “Blogging a way out: A study of depression and Tumblr usage.”

Students presenting with Associate Professor of Psychology Bryan Neighborsincluded:

• Rachel Allen, Matthew Gonzales, both class of 2018, Kaylyn Evans ’16, and Purna Bajekal ’16: “Attachment Insecurity and Cognitive Distortions Among Offenders in Substance Treatment.”

Students presenting with Assistant Professor of Psychology Carin Perillouxincluded:

• Helena Lorenz and Justin White,both class of 2018: “Creative Casanovas: Mating strategy predicts using — but not preferring — unusual flirting tactics.”