David Creswell graduated from Colorado College in 2000 with a degree in Psychology. While at CC, Dave was a member of the Honor Council, was a Writing Center Tutor, and a Varsity tennis player.

       After he graduated, Dave began working with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (the author of "Flow" and "Creativity" among other titles) at the Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, CA. He was brought in as a research assistant in the psychology lab to work on several of Csikszentmihalyi's research projects and to develop his own (all relating to Dave's interest in the psychology of performance and sport psychology). This research has been looking at the transmission of values and practices in several kinesthetic arts (Dave has been studying dance, martial arts, and coaching), primarily through interview data.

       Dave was just accepted into UCLA's doctoral program in social psychology (where he plans to attend in the Fall). It is a research-based program that has specializations in sport psychology and health psychology. He thinks that CC provided a good introduction to the field of psychology. Unlike most educational institutions in the country, you have the opportunity to take an area(s) that you are passionate about and run with it. What makes this so unique is that you are mentored by excellent professors, and you have essentially two months to do YOUR OWN RESEARCH and nothing else.

       Dave strongly advises psychology students to start your thesis the summer before the designated blocks, and to spend some time asking yourself what you really want to know, how you could test it in two months, and bounce these ideas off of your advisor. (4/30/01)

Elisa Kapler (Neuroscience)

    Elisa Kapler gradated magna cum laude from Colorado College with a degree in neuroscience in May of 2000.  Elisa was quite active while at CC, and was a member of the Women’s Leadership Training Institute, the Women in Science Alliance, the Women’s Softball team, and Club Med.  In addition to these organizations, Elisa was the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including the Arnold B. Scheibel Neuroscience Award,  the Howard Hughes Undergraduate Research Grant, and a Venture Grant to attend the Society for Neuroscience conference.

    Currently, Elisa is working at the National Institute of Mental Health in the Clinical Disorders Branch.  Her branch, which is headed up by Daniel Weinberger primarily does Schizophrenia research, but they also work on Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease.  The branch is working on a developmental model of schizophrenia, and therefore has many different sections, including genetics, neuropathology, neuropsychology, molecular biology and several others.  Elisa works in the neuroimaging section of the branch, and her research utilizes a 3 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Scanner to acquire functional, structural, and spectroscopy data.  She focuses on magnetic resonance imaging; working with patients, running the scans, and analyzing the functional data acquired.  Elisa chose to work in this lab because it allowed her to work with patients in a research setting, which will help her prepare for her graduate work in an M.D./Ph.D. program.

    Elisa feels that her neuroscience degree from CC put her ahead of many other individuals in her position at the NIMH.  Most of the other people working in her lab have not had much neuroanatomy or physiology.  Elisa believes she is fortunate because her neuroscience degree gave her a solid background, thus allowing her to choose which lab she wanted to work for.  Elisa feels that the professors at CC are very supportive and are more than willing to help students.  She thinks that the block plan (that is, the block plan with challenging lab courses) is in some ways a good way to prepare for life in research.  Much like the block plan, you can expect to be working on, thinking about, or reading about your research just about all of the time!  Of course, it should go without saying that research doesn’t have block breaks, nor does it break for Friday nights, Sunday mornings, ect.

    Her advice to other students wishing to pursue a job in research or who are continuing on to graduate school is to first do some research at CC.  Elisa believes her research experience greatly helped her prepare for the projects she is working on currently.  Her research taught her how to think about a project, learn about it, and how to question results and processes.  Elisa highly recommends utilizing the professors and any others that are willing to help as much as possible.  They have been through the process and have some great advice. (4/30/01)

Sabina Mehta (Psychology, 2000)
    Sabina Mehta graduated from CC with a B.A. in Psychology in 2000. In 2004, Sabina completed her Master's degree in Speech and Hearing from the University of Minnesota. She works as an audiologist at Kaiser Permanente in Denver, CO. Sabina was featured at the Science News for Kids website on January 11, 2006...http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20060111/Feature1.asp (see the "Scientist's Notebook" link).

    For students considering a speech-language-hearing graduate program, Sabina recommends taking some biology-based courses, statistics, and neuroscience courses at CC. These courses would serve as a great foundation for graduate school. She also recommends students call up hospitals and ask to spend a day or two observing audiologists and/or speech language pathologists at work to learn more about the career. She'd advise against taking more than one year off between undergraduate and graduate school. When the undergraduate major is in an area other than speech/language/hearing, the graduate program can be 3-4 years long, plus a residency year. It's quite a lengthy degree process. Finally, in terms of getting admitted to programs, she encourages students to take a class or two (and getting an A!) within the department of the particular graduate program they are interested in prior to applying to the graduate program. This way, one can ask the professor who taught the class to write a letter of recommendation for the particular graduate school application. If you're interested in the audiology area, Sabina would be happy to talk. Contact Sabina through CC Professor Cathey Weir (Cathey.Weir@coloradocollege.edu). (4/3/06

Kristin Culhane (Neuroscience)

    Kristin Culhane graduated from Colorado College in ’99, with a degree in neuroscience. While at CC, Kristin was involved with the Chamber Orchestra, Women’s Club Hockey, and Volunteer Action.

    Kristin is now working at the University of Colorado Health Sciences center.  She is a professional research assistant in the Department of Rheumatology.  Her current projects are not really Neuroscience related, however they have allowed her to learn many basic lab procedures and tests that are used in most research.  The main focus of her research is on the complement system (part of the immune system) and more specifically, on Complement Receptor 2.  She runs many assays testing for auto-antibodies on serum obtained from mice.  In addition, she does a lot of Polymer Chain Reactions, in which a certain piece of DNA is replicated and amplified, thus allowing it to be more easily studied.

    Kristin is currently preparing to apply for Graduate School in a Neuroscience program, but she also intends to apply to Medical School as well.  She feels her research job has shown her what research would be like as a career, and believes that it was a valuable learning experience, but not an area in which she would like to continue.

    Kristin feels that the Block Plan was a very good way for her to learn, and that her retention of information is better than she expected.  She learns information more quickly, and has better study habits after CC. (4/30/01)

Alysia Blandon (Psychology)

    Alysia Blandon graduated from Colorado College with a degree in psychology in 1997.  Alysia was extremely active while at CC, participating in the Women’s Leadership Training Institute, the Victim’s Assistance Team, Psi Chi, and The Student Development Committee.  In addition, Alysia volunteered at the Pike’s Peak Hospice.

     After graduating from CC, Alysia began working at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver.  There she worked as a research assistant on a large longitudinal study that examined how psychosocial and family factors influence children’s adherence to their asthma medications and treatment regimens.  Alysia was involved with recruiting and maintaining contact with subjects, conducting family interviews, observing and coding family interactions, entering and analyzing data, and writing reports.

     Alysia feels that the statistics and research design classes she took at CC were extremely beneficial to her research, as well as the writing skills that she developed as an undergraduate.  She recommends that any person who is interested in research or a Ph.D. program should do an independent study project so that they can gain the necessary experience.  Alysia also found that the close interaction with professors and fellow students was helpful.  Alysia completed her Ph.D. program at the University of Michigan in Developmental Psychology and subsequently was a Post-doc at UNC Chapel Hill. (4/3/06)

Brooke Vick (Psychology)

    Brooke Vick graduated from Colorado College in 1997 with a major in psychology and a minor in Women’s Studies.  While she was a student, Brooke spent the majority of her time on stage in drama department productions.  Immediately after graduation, Brooke worked in the Admissions Office as an Assistant Director.

    Brooke believes her CC education helped her in a number of ways, by giving her a broad background in psychology, and by teaching her how to collaborate effectively.  She learned how to work well in groups and how to communicate with many different personality types.  According to Brooke, communication is crucial in a graduate school environment.  Brooke also believes the psychology professors at CC challenged her to think critically and scientifically early on.

    Currently, Brooke is a first year graduate student at the University of California, Santa Barbara (a.k.a. Paradise) pursuing a Ph.D. in Social Psychology.  She is a member of UCSB’s social psychophysiology lab, where she studies social psychological questions, but measures their effects physiologically.  This shows effects of experimental manipulations that subjects might not self-report simply because they are unaware of them.  Specifically, Brooke is working on projects asking questions about stigma, stereotype threat, self-esteem, and coping mechanisms.

    Brooke feels that the best advice she could give to students wanting to go on to graduate school in psychology is to do research.  Because so many programs are research-based, it is irrelevant whether or not one wants to pursue a research career.  Brooke believes that one has to do the research to get the degree.  Brooke conducted her undergraduate research with Tomi-Ann Roberts, and believes it gave her a huge advantage on getting accepted into graduate school. (4/30/01)

A publication co-authored by Brooke:
Kaiser, C. R., Vick, S. B., & Major, B. (2006). Prejudice expectations moderate preconscious attention to cues that are threateningto social identity. Psychological Science, 17 (4), 332-338.

Sherry Metzger (Neuroscience)

    Sherry Metzger graduated from CC with a B.A. in Neuroscience in 1996.  She moved to Washington, DC to do a pre-doctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).  While there, Sherry researched dopamine receptor changes throughout development and worked in the Clinical Brain Disorders Branch conducting Schizophrenia research.  After two years at NIMH, she started graduate school at Colorado State University in the Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Neurosciences program.

    Sherry’s first year consisted of course work and lab rotations.  Now in her second year, Sherry has chosen a lab in the Anatomy and Neurobiology department, and has started her Ph.D. research project.  Her research is focused on the effects of Estrogen on developing hippocampal pyramidal cells.  In addition to research, Sherry will teach two classes and finish her course work this year.

    Sherry has found it somewhat difficult to remember some of the things she learned in her science classes on the block plan.  She did like that CC taught her to think for herself, and she values her liberal arts education because of that.  Sherry would recommend for anyone who is unsure about graduate school to take a few years off to work in their field of interest.  This would allow one to really get a sense of what they would be doing on a daily basis, and whether a higher degree would actually help them.  She also emphasizes the need to thoroughly research the schools that one is thinking about applying to, and to make sure to find a good advisor. (4/30/01)

Sarah Soule (Psychology)

    Sarah Soule graduated from Colorado College in 1996 with a degree in psychology.  While at CC, Sarah was involved in student government, SAA, and a sorority.  Sarah considers herself to be an atypical psychology graduate.  She works full-time at the University of Colorado Hospital doing large special events and cultivating donors that give between 1 and 50 million dollars.  Sarah believes her degree comes in handy when dealing with very different personalities in stressful situations and the effects of large amounts of money on behavior.  Sarah also runs the VIP programs for House of Blues Denver.  She feels that she uses her psychology degree when dealing with people and their needs versus their expectations.

    Sarah thinks that her experience at CC helped her a great deal by making her learn to do things in short amounts of time.  She thinks quickly on her feet, from having to process large amounts of information in only 3 ½ weeks.  Sarah believes that the best thing that a student can do now is to take opportunities and meet as many people as s/he can, because networking will serve a person far better than any technical skill. (4/30/01)  

Mike Baca (Psychology)

    Mike Baca graduated from Colorado College in 1994 with a degree in Psychology.  While at CC, Mike played four years of Varsity Soccer, and was active in Track and Field.

    Mike is currently a graduate student at the University of California-San Diego in the Neurosciences Program.  He received his Masters degree last spring from UCSD, and is now working towards his Ph.D.  For his thesis project, Mike is conducting behavioral, electrophysiological, and computational modeling experiments in the medicinal leech.  The goal of the proposed research is to understand the population code used by the medicinal leech to bend its body wall away from tactile stimuli.  Another exciting development in Mike’s lab is the optimization of voltage sensitive dye imaging techniques, which allow researchers to look at small numbers of neurons simultaneously while the animal is performing behaviors.

    Mike has also conducted research at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), investigating novel antipsychotic agents and possible mechanisms underlying tardive dyskinesia in schizophrenics who have received typical antipsychotics such as Haloperidol.

    Mike believes that there were specific required courses in the Psychology program that helped him conduct research.  They include Research Design, Neuroscience, Probability and Statistics, and his own Advanced Research Topic.  He also enjoyed taking Abnormal Psychology and Human Psychophysiology, which gave him an appreciation for the different types of research and/or emphasis one could take in pursuing psychology.

    Mike’s advice to students—take all the physics, math, and computer science that you can, in addition to the required courses in Neuroscience.  Increasingly, top tier neuroscience programs require a strong background in several of these areas. (4/30/01)

Angela Peyrouse (Psychology)

    Angela Peyrouse graduated from Colorado College in 1994 with a degree in Psychology.  Angela believes that getting a degree in psychology exposed her to a very diverse curriculum of study that eventually led to a Neuroscience course taught by Bob Jacobs her senior year.  It was at that time that Angela discovered how much she enjoyed the human brain, and how motivated she was to learn more about it as well as to deal with its pathology from a clinical standpoint.  This caused Angela to spend the next three years finishing pre-medical coursework on the East Coast where she worked with several different physicians in private practice.  When she returned to Colorado, she worked in the oncology laboratories at the Health Science Center in Denver.

    While a student at Colorado College, Angela wrote for the Leviathan and the Catalyst.  She was also a member of the poetry club her freshman year.  For her last two years at CC, Angela worked about 25 hours per week.  Angela enjoyed her experience at CC, and wishes all courses could be taught on the block plan.  She feels that the small class sizes, the intimate campus, and the focus on a liberal arts education all contributed to her success at CC, as well as her recent accomplishment of gaining admittance to medical school.  Angela believes that attending a unique school like CC set her apart from the rest of the applicants, and enabled her to develop the ability to study intensely.

    Angela highly recommends for students to remain on-campus, and to keep outside work to a minimum.  She believes that there is not an equivalent experience to that of being an undergraduate living on campus once a student graduates.  She thinks her undergraduate years were a unique period of life that should be enjoyed and fully explored.  In Angela’s opinion, joining clubs and organizations only enhances academic learning, especially if they are helping students apply course material through their activities. (4/30/01)

David Markley (Psychology)

     After completing a bachelor's degree in Psychology from CC in 1991, David Markley worked for two years in a private psychiatric hospital. He then spent six years in graduate school, obtaining a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. David then did his required year of internship working in a teaching hospital.  

      Currently, David is doing what's called a 'postdoctoral fellowship' in the department of psychology at the University of Washington in Seattle. His title is
"Research Associate" and he has a faculty appointment there. Most of David's work revolves around a large-scale clinical trial of three treatments for depression. It's a huge, 5-year, federally funded investigation, involving 400 subjects. As part of this project, David divides his time between clinical work (conducting assessments and therapy), clinical training of the graduate students, data analysis, administrative tasks, and some grant-writing. He finds this to be a fulfilling and stimulating mix of activities. At the conclusion of this project, David hopes to move into a faculty position within the department of psychiatry within the school of medicine at the University of Washington.

Fortunately, as an undergraduate, David had some idea of what he wanted to do professionally. So, he took as much psychology as he could. David feels that CC prepared him well for graduate school a) in terms of psychology content and research methods, and b) in terms of the pace and workload characteristic of grad school, which he was used to, having had the block plan as his model. (4/30/01)

Michael Taffe (Psychology)

    Mike graduated from CC in 1990 with a degree in Psychology. He spent the majority of his extracurricular time with the Cycling team and, of course, skiing and playing intramural hockey.

    Following graduation from CC, Mike attended graduate school in Experimental Psychology at the University of California, San Diego. After defending his dissertation, Mike received postdoctoral training in the department of Psychiatry at UCSD and in the department of Neuropharmacology at The Scripps Research Institute where he is currently an Assistant Professor. Work in his laboratory focuses on neuropharmacological mechanisms which support cognition and complex behavior in the nonhuman primate. The studies contribute to ongoing efforts to understand the ways in which drugs of abuse, psychotherapeutics and degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's may interfere with (or enhance) the brain's ability to learn, remember, attend, perceive and generate motor behavior. Mike returned to CC to teach a block on drugs and behavior in 2000.

    Mike believes that the Block Plan provides excellent preparation for postgraduate training and a career in experimental science. "Let's face it, this career path features one extended Block of focused effort interspersed with monthly Blocks of insanely focused effort as you complete experiments, propose and write a dissertation, write papers and (hopefully) are in the position to write grant applications." He also suggests that the Department's Skinnerian roots may seem old fashioned but "you will be amazed how many times that sort of rigorous thinking instilled by Carl Roberts and John Horner comes in handy in a scientific career- almost daily in my case". (10/31/02)

Dell Lyn Rhodes (Psychology)

    Dell Lyn Rhodes graduated magna cum laude from Colorado College in 1969 with a degree in Psychology.  While at C.C., Rhodes was a Boettcher Scholar, a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and a Woodrow Wilson Fellow.   After graduation, Rhodes received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1975.  She conducted her post-doc in psychology at Yale University.  Currently, Rhodes is a Professor of Psychology at Reed College in Portland, Oregon.

    “Teaching is always my first and foremost role.  But one of the things that I like about the liberal arts college environment…is that it is a small community.  That means that it’s very difficult for any individual not to be engaged in different parts of the work of the community.  Consequently, both faculty and students are more likely to be involved in making things happen at the institution, not only in the educational program, but also with respect to the administrative and social structure.”

    Much of Rhodes’ research has focused on the interaction between learning and punishment.  However, Rhodes has also examined the effects of lesions in the frontal eye fields on saccadic movements.  Rhodes is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Cognitive Neuroscience Association, the Society for Neuroscience, and the Society for Psychophysiological Research.  Much of Rhodes’ work is published in journals such as Biological Psychology and The Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, which reflect the biological nature of her research. (4/30/01)

Sarah Rule (Psychology)

    In 1967, Sarah Rule graduated from Colorado College with a B.A. in psychology.  The very next year, she received her M.A. in Psychology (Learning and Motivation) at the University of Pennsylvania.  From Pennsylvania, Sarah went on to further her graduate studies at the University of Kansas, where she earned her Ph.D. in Developmental and Child Psychology in 1972.  Although she was attending school in Kansas, Sarah still spent a good deal of time in Colorado Springs, first as a math teacher at The Colorado Springs Community School (1971-1972) and then as the principal of that institution (1972-1973).

    After holding the position of principal for a year, Sarah then continued her trek around the country and found herself as an adjunct faculty member for the “University Without Walls Program” at the University of Minnesota in 1974.  In addition to holding this position, she was also busily working as a psychologist at The Minnesota Learning Center.  By 1976, Sarah was working as a faculty member at the Peabody College for Teachers.  Although her job title and position changed almost yearly for the next five years, Sarah continued her work at Peabody College.  The year 1981 found Sarah in Utah, working as the project coordinator for the Social Integration Project at Utah State University.  She was appointed as a research associate professor at USU in 1984 and then as an associate professor in 1987.  In 1995, she was appointed as a professor at USU, a position which she currently holds.  In addition to being a professor, Sarah is also the associate director at the Center for Persons with Disabilities.

    Throughout the course of her career, Sarah has been a prolific writer, with more than fifty different journal articles to her name.  As if that alone was not enough, she has also authored one book and presented at more than sixty conferences.  Over the last thirty years, Sarah has consistently focused her research on children, especially those with learning disabilities.  She currently resides in Utah and is a professor of special education. (4/30/01)

Garry Martin (Psychology)

    A former center on the Colorado College varsity hockey team, Garry Martin graduated from CC in 1962.  Four years later, after receiving his Ph.D., Garry began his current academic career.  Ten years later, he was a full professor and winner of his first institutional award for Outstanding Contributions to Scholarship and Research in the University of Manitoba.

    Professor Martin has since become a major figure in applied behavior analysis in Canada, applying principles of learning and motivation to his research.  This research has focused largely on the developmentally disabled, but his published work spans the problems of autistic children, epileptics, and those with cerebral palsy; time management; rehabilitation medicine; programs to teach behavior-management principles and procedures to professionals; and the prevention of emotional abuse in children in organized sports.

    Central to Professor Martin’s work has been the development of extensive behavior-modification programs for the profoundly and severely retarded, as well as special-educational programs in institutional and community settings.  Martin has published over 60 papers, and multiple training manuals and books.  Garry has also done extensive work in the areas of athletic performance, coaching and sport psychology, and in the fields of adjustment and everyday living. He received an Honorary Degree from CC in 1989. (4/30/01)

Floyd Ratliff (Psychology)

    Floyd Ratliff was Associate Professor of Biophysics at the Rockefeller Institute.  He received his B.A. degree from Colorado College in 1947 and his M.S. and Ph.D degrees from Brown University.  He had been a Research Associate at Brown University and in 1954 was appointed Assistant Professor of Psychology at Harvard University.

    In 1955, Dr. Ratliff was appointed a Consultant to the Surgeon General’s Panel on Vision of the Advisory Committee of Psychobiology.  In 1957, he was appointed a member of the National Science Foundation Advisory Panel for Psychobiology.  In 1963, Dr. Ratliff became a Consultant to the United States Sciences Exhibit of the Department of Commerce, and in 1963, he became a member of the Visual Sciences Study Section of the National Institutes of Health.

    Dr. Ratliff was a member of the Optical Society of America, The American Psychological Association, The Society of Experimental Psychologist, The Psychonomic Society, The American Association of the Advancement of Science, and the Eastern Psychological Association.  He is the noted author of numerous papers and journal articles.

    In his book, Mach Bands, Dr. Ratliff brings together and integrates the contribution made to a specialized field by psychology, neuropsychology, psychological optics, mathematics, the theory of knowledge, and the history of science.  It is directed to the advanced student in psychology, physiology, and related fields, and to the researcher in industries concerned with the transmission of information and pattern recognition. (4/30/01)