Dr. Perry was formerly the program director for General, Social, Educational, and Health Psychology. He is now a core faculty member in psychology.
1. Please
briefly describe your current mentees' research
I
currently serve as chair for over 30 students in SoP. I have students from every specialization
covering a wide variety of topics. Most
of the students are doing quantitative studies.
Here are some example dissertation topics my students are working on at
the proposal/final dissertation stage:
·
Effects
of long term lead exposure on verbal
comprehension and perceptual reasoning
·
The
relationship between nutrient intake and social-emotional functioning in
preschool children
·
Impact
of family support on recidivism rates of formerly incarcerated individuals
·
Factors
related to muscle dysmorphia symptomology in adolescent
males
·
Transformational
leadership, job engagement, and professional isolation among online university
faculty
·
Barriers
to caregiver medication adherence for foster children
·
Predicting
occupational stress levels in professional pilots with commercial and airline
transport pilot licenses
·
Work-family
conflict, job burnout, and couple burnout in high stress occupations
·
Social
intelligence of undergraduates enrolled in traditional vs. distance higher
education learning programs
· Consumer attitudes and behavior
as a function of self-monitoring among civilian and military personnel
2.
How did you come to be a mentor?
I began
mentoring Walden doctoral students when I joined Walden University in 2009 (as
Program Director for General, Health, and Organizational Psychology). Mentoring was definitely something I wanted
to do even though my job was an administrative one. In addition, it’s been the most rewarding part
of working at Walden for the last 8 years.
I began to learn the mentoring process/role while I was a graduate
student. For many of us who went to a
traditional university (brick and mortar), we were involved in research from
the beginning of our graduate program.
My faculty mentor maintained a very active research laboratory where
undergraduate and graduate students worked together with faculty. In my graduate program, one of my roles was
to train and mentor newer students in the program. I was literally in the lab almost every day
of the week working on research, designing studies, collecting data, analyzing
data, collaborating with peers, etc.
Mentoring students has been a large part of my professional life ever
since.
3.
What do like best about mentoring
research?
·
I
think anyone who enjoys mentoring in psychology certainly values the scientific
process. Working with students in that
journey of discovery is exciting.
·
Oral
defenses! One of the first real
celebratory milestones during the doctoral process where the student and the
committee discuss, share ideas, critique, think about next steps with regards
to the student’s proposal and final dissertation. This is not a test (okay, it is), but again,
you are the expert demonstrating your knowledge, expertise, and ability to think
about research issues and they relate to your dissertation.
·
Hooding
students! It is extremely rewarding to
share the experience of accomplishment with students when they reach their
goal. For many of my students, it’s the
first time I get to meet them in person.
4.
What do you dislike the most
about mentoring research?
·
I
never like giving a U grade.
·
Students
who withdraw before finishing (ABD – all but dissertation). Most research has found students who do not
finish the dissertation do so for reasons unrelated to ability to finish. At all universities (online, traditional),
there are students who despite the ability to finish their dissertation decide
to withdraw. It’s very discouraging to
have a student withdraw when they are close to reaching their goal.
5.
Advice for students to complete
their dissertation?
·
Talk
to your Program Director, Research Coordinator, and/or full-time
faculty
(in your specialization) about the dissertation process before you finish your
coursework. Email them, schedule phones
calls, talk to them at residency, ask questions, etc.
·
Students
should come to the dissertation stage understanding that POS coursework and the
dissertation process are completely different animals. Dissertation work requires a different
mindset. When you are completing
coursework (even graduate coursework) you are essentially spoon fed what to
read, what questions to think about, what to write, etc. Your instructors are the experts in your
content courses. When you begin the
dissertation process, you (the student) are the expert. In the dissertation, you (the student) are expected to make a new and creative
contribution to a field of psychology study and demonstrate your ability to
plan and conduct an independent research study.
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