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.