From left: Heather Perfetti, MSCHE President; Dr. Katherine S. Conway-Turner, MSCHE Immediate Past Chair; Tiffany Chung, Psychology Student Research Team /Psi Beta Co-President; Colin Hogan, ’25, Montco alumnus; and Brett Miller, Vice President of Research; Dr. Susan D. Looney, MSCHE Chair/Reading Area Community College President; Michael Baron and Dr. Steven Baron. Photo courtesy of Middle States Commission on Higher Education
When Psychology major Tiffany Chung walked into the Middle States Commission on Higher Education’s (MSCHE) annual conference to present the student research poster that she and the members of MCCC’s Psychology Student Research Team /Psi Beta spent more than a year working on, she said she was prepared for anything.
“I was really nervous,” said Chung, who is the team’s Co-President with Ashlee McEntyre. “I was ready to be scrutinized.”
Instead, Chung, along with fellow presenters Colin Hogan, ’25, and Brett Miller, Vice President of Research, were met with a mixture of celebration, genuine curiosity and respect from the more than 50 other schools from across the country also in attendance for the conference at the Mariott Hotel in Philadelphia Dec. 11. The theme of this year’s conference was “Guiding for Good: Leading through Change.”
“It was nice to be surrounded, make connections and friends,” said Chung. “It felt really rewarding to present research we spent four semesters working on.”
The Psychology Student Research Team, which includes students and alumni, is composed of Chung, Hogan, Miller, McEntyre, Zack Smith, ’21, Heather Erlin, ’24, Jamie Hutchison, ’21 and Beck Mensoff, ’25. The advisors are Dr. Bridget Haines-Frank, Executive Director of Institutional Research Effectiveness, Dr. Steven Baron, Professor of Psychology, Michael Baron, Psychology Senior Lecturer and Dr. David Kowalski, Psychology Regular Lecturer.
Psi Beta, MCCC’s chapter of the Community College National Honor Society in Psychology, is composed of 63 members including students, faculty, alumni and community members who work to try to improve the lives of students through research.
This was the second time an MCCC team was accepted to present at the MSCHE conference. Previously the team’s poster focused on the stages of student pathways coming from high school to the College.
This year’s team poster included the results of a qualitative study measuring the importance of belonging and membership among MCCC students, and the role faculty members play in helping students feel included. Chung and McEntyre noted a key finding from the research was that it doesn’t take much to help students feel like they belong.
“The little things have the biggest impact,” said Chung. “An open ear from a faculty member to listen to students goes a long way.”
“When students have a voice,” said McEntyre, “they feel like they belong.”
Dr. Steven Baron said they are already acting on their findings to help Psychology students. The department would be relaunching a program where students would serve as educated peers for their classmates.
“They will be there as an adjunctive resource for Psychology students,” he said. “They are another set of ears or another set of arms to reach out if needed.”
Baron said he was enormously proud of this year’s team performance at the MSCHE conference and gave special recognition to McEntyre for her work organizing behind the scenes for the team to attend this year’s conference.
“She couldn’t make it to the conference physically, but she was the hub of this team,” he said. “She was the lead student, upon which we relied constantly.”
The team thanked Dr. Vicki Bastecki-Perez, MCCC President, Dr. Chea Sweet, Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs and Provost, Dr. Anthony Ginexi, Dean of Business and Professional Studies and Kelly Strunk, Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs for Business and Professional Studies, for their ongoing support.
Baron said the strong performance at the conference was just the latest example of the abilities of MCCC students.
“Never underestimate what a Montco student can do,” he said. “Never underestimate their capacity to reach as high as they have proven they can.”