Alumni Spotlight – Page 17 – GWU Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences

Psychology Alum Valentines

cgeeFebruary 13, 2018February 13, 2018

In Their Own Words: Margaret and Matt

(originally posted on: https://www.gwalumni.org/2018/02/in-their-own-words-margaret-and-matthew/) February 5, 2018

Thanks to Margaret Rajic, CCAS BA ’16, and Matt Palmer, CCAS BA Psychology ’16, for sharing their story!

Matt and I met during our sophomore year at GW because we were both living in The Dakota. He was on the Men’s Rowing team, and we were introduced by our mutual friend and his teammate, Keenan Freyberg, ESIA BA ’16.

After hanging out every day for two weeks, I took Matt to a classical chamber music concert on the Vern (something I was really into, and that he pretended to enjoy for my sake). While waiting for the Vern Express shuttle on a swinging bench in front of the library I asked him “what our deal was.” Matt said, “You stole my thunder! I was going to ask you to be my girlfriend later tonight!” We’ve been together ever since!

Fast forward to almost four years later and we have lived in two cities post-graduation together – first New York City, and currently Chicago! We even have an adorable French Bulldog named Evie.

Matt and I always look forward to our trips back to GW for alumni weekend where we reconnect with our classmates and the campus!

Congratulations to Sapana Donde (Ph.D. ’09) on publishing 4 papers from her dissertation!

cgeeFebruary 8, 2018February 13, 2018

Congratulations to Sapana Donde (Ph.D. '09) on publishing 4 papers from her dissertation! Her research on sexual assault is more relevant than ever these days. Although she was a student in the clinical program, her dissertation chair was Dr. Alyssa Zucker.

Donde, S. D. (2015). College women’s attributions of blame for experiences of rape. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. doi:
10.1177/0886260515599659

Donde, S. D. (2016). College women’s assignment of blame versus responsibility for sexual assault experiences. Violence Against Women. doi: 10.1177/1077801216665481

Donde, S., & Ragsdale, S. K. A. (2017). Assuming personal responsibility for sexual assault: Harmful but potentially adaptive for college women? Journal of Interpersonal Violence. doi/10.1177/0886260517734223

Donde, S., D., Ragsdale, S. K. A., Koss, M. P., & Zucker, A.N. (2018). If it wasn’t rape, was it sexual assault? Comparing rape and sexual assault acknowledgement in college women who have experienced rape. Violence Against Women.
doi/10.1177/1077801217743339

Ana Maria del Rio Gonzalez, Ph.D. alum of the Applied Social Psychology program, receives 2017 CFAR Adelante Award for AIDS research

cgeeJanuary 21, 2018July 26, 2018

October 26, 2017

Please join us in congratulating DC CFAR Investigator, Ana Maria del Rio Gonzalez, PhD, as the recipient of the 2017 CFAR Adelante Award. Through Adelante, the Centers for AIDS Research strive to develop early-career investigators who focus on HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention, and care in the Latino/Hispanic community. Dr. del Rio Gonzalez's project is entitled, "Factors associated with PrEP intentions and use among Latina immigrant transgender women in the DC metropolitan area".

This study will focus on individual and social-structural factors associated with intentions to use and actual use of PrEP among Latina immigrant trans women, ages 18 and older, living in the DC metropolitan area. The specific aims are: (1) To gain a culturally-grounded understanding of individual and social-structural factors associated with PrEP intentions and use among Latina immigrant trans women in DC.; (2) to assess levels of PrEP awareness, intentions and use among Latina immigrant trans women, as well as changes in these levels over a 6-month period, and to examine how individual and social-structural factors are associated with these changes, and (3) to synthesize the qualitative and quantitative results, and assess the validity of the findings.

Click here for more information on the CFAR Adelante Program.