Alamo Community Colleges News & Events

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Renata Serafin
Director of Community & Public Relations
210-348-2082
rserafin@mail.accd.edu

Northwest Vista College Students Win First Place at Prestigious Psychology Conference

Students Presented Research Findings on the Difference Between Contentment and Happiness!

San Antonio, TX (April 29, 2008) — Northwest Vista College students recently won first place in a poster presentation at a professional research conference, The Psi Chi Southwestern Students of Psychology:  Ideas, Data Exchange, and Review (SW SPIDER), held in March at Texas Lutheran University. Their presentation was the culmination of a two-year research project that included three studies with more than 600 subjects.

“This is an exceptional accomplishment,” said Dr. Don Lucas, coordinator of the psychology program at Northwest Vista College. “Most students will never achieve such an honor—and if they do, they are not likely to achieve it until they are college seniors or graduate students.”
This was the first professional research conference for the students, most of whom are not psychology majors.  The SW SPIDER Conference was sponsored by Psi Chi, a National Honor Society in Psychology for students enrolled at four-year universities.  Northwest Vista College students were one of only two community college groups present, with the other being sister college, Northeast Lakeview.

Northwest Vista College students presented and defended their findings through a poster titled “Mistaking Contentment for Happiness.”  The conclusions of their research show that most people confuse contentment for happiness, and therefore may exercise poor judgment in pursuing things that make them happy.

Psychology major Anna Evans, who led the student group in the project, said her fellow students voluntarily spent almost two years of their time in conducting and measuring responses from three different surveys of 630 individuals. “I’m very proud of what we have accomplished,” says Evans.  “I’m also grateful for the opportunity and trust that Dr. Don has given us to conduct the research and present our findings at a professional conference.”
Other students participating in the conference included Selah Guerra, Stephanie Romo, Genita Zertuche, Evelyn De La Cruz, Kristin Bauman, and Alice Huegel.  Since the conference, some of the students have gone on to other venues to present their research findings including the Southwestern Psychological Association Conference in Kansas City, Missouri and the Science Conference at Northwest Vista College.

“The students were intrinsically motivated, doing something for the love of research,” says Dr. Lucas who guided the students in the project and accompanied them to the conferences. Lucas who was recognized in 2007 as a Piper Professor by the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation, the oldest and most prestigious teaching award recognizing outstanding educators in Texas, says the achievements of his students far outweigh his own professional honors.

“When you have been teaching for as long as I have, you are likely to pick up an award or two—and it feels good.  But I can truthfully say the feelings I got from my awards pale in comparison to the feelings I have for the awards bestowed upon my students.”