Jane Halonen, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, received the Distinguished Applications of Psychology in Education and Training Award from the American Psychological Association. She will accept the award this summer at the APA’s convention in Hawaii.
The award recognizes Halonen’s teaching excellence and her contributions to psychology curriculum that have been implemented nationally.
Halonen said these national projects help set standards for “what people should learn and how they should learn them.”
She actively worked on various projects for two decades at the request of the APA.
Jane Halonen works to promote psychology as a rigorous science. (Photo special to The Voyager)
“My research agenda over time has been dedicated to trying to figure out how to make psychology students learn more efficiently and effectively,” Halonen said.
Her research isn’t intended to produce traditional teaching methods—it’s intended to uncover ways to improve how students retain information.
“My research is really to help faculty figure out what particular skills and cognitive changes should happen in students as a result of being in class,” Halonen said. “Then I help to design classes with active learning experiences that give that learning staying power. I call it Velcro learning.”
Her framework will provide students with a sturdy learning foundation that will result in a more beneficial learning experience.
Halonen developed the curriculum guidelines in 2002, but the APA did not approve it until 2007. Although its approval took five years, Halonen’s framework was already being applied at universities nationwide.
“I went ‘ah ha,’ the first time I went out on a department visit,” Halonen said. “They didn’t wait for APA approval, the structure that we developed met such a powerful need that people adopted it and departments adopted it right away.”
Halonen currently chairs the APA’s Board of Educational Affairs. The national committee continues to examine undergraduate psychology curriculum and national guidelines.
Halonen is currently undertaking six other writing projects. One of the six is preparing a speech for the national convention in Hawaii in July where she will receive her award. Like her track record suggests, it will be unforgettable.
“I’m taking a risk in this presentation,” Halonen said. “It’s going to be about raising some awareness about the degree to which psychologists practice caste politics and how we should be smarter than that. So I’m going to link it to “Brave New World.” It’s going to be a lot of fun and maybe, if I do it right, controversial.”
Elizabeth Egstad
Staff Writer