Nick Tolchin, a graduate student at the California School of Professional Psychology in Fresno, was recognized as an outstanding presenter at the 27th Annual Central California Research Symposium on April 21, 2006, and received an award of $250.

When Amy Backos, MA, ATR-BC, was in her second year in CSPP Clinical Psychology PhD program in San Francisco in 2005-6, she attended a conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina sponsored by the International Psychology Congress to further her interest in cross-cultural research. A Registered and Board Certified Art Therapist, Ms. Backos has been working with children and teens for the last eight years. She is employed at Edgewood Center for Children and Families helping emotionally disturbed children express themselves through fine art, knitting, and gardening. Amy's research interests are in the area of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); she has also been involved in a practicum at the San Francisco VA Medical Center, working in the PTSD Clinic.

Ben Caldwell received the outstanding Dissertation Award from American Association of Marital and Family Therapy (AAMFT) for a dissertation completed in December, 2004. He was recognized at the AAMFT Annual Conference this Fall in Kansas City. Only one person is chosen to receive this award each year. Dr. Caldwell has been recently hired onto the Alliant faculty.

CSPP doctoral student Connie Weiss PhD won the “Best Dissertation” Award in 2004 from the Society of Consulting Psychology (http://www.apa.org/divisions/div13/) and another CSPP Doctoral Student, Merle Riepe PhD, won the same award in 2005. Dr. Weiss will present an invited paper on her dissertation at the 2006 APA conference.

Leon Smith, a candidate for an EdD degree at Alliant’s Graduate School of Education, was selected to present at 2005 the Harvard-sponsored Project for Asian and International Relations in Tokyo, Japan. His doctorate will be in higher education with a cross-cultural emphasis.

In 2004, forensic student Sarah Chisholm, who is interested in working with developmentally disabled individuals in the justice system, walked away with a competitive scholarship from the Forensic Mental Health Association of California. In 2005, the same scholarship was won by Grant Stoll, another graduate student from Alliant’s Center for Forensic Studies.

Alliant graduate Nancy Mancilla was selected to attend a 2005 fellowship program at the Bill Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock.

Annabel Change, a graduate student in the Division of Organizational Psychology at the Marshall Goldsmith School of Psychology, has also been accepted to participate in the Academy of Management International Division Doctoral Consortium during the summer of 2006 Atlanta. Annabel is in the process of collecting her data on her research which focuses on the investigating gender related diversity training and related initatives in global companies and the extent that such programs consider cross-cultural factors in their design.

Just after Betsy Lopez completed her first year of Master’s degree program in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, she won the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's new summer 2005 internship position in Organization Development and Leadership Development. Ms. Lopez says, “It’s a challenge to merely understand how their matrix organizational design works. I've been under the wings of an incredibly talented organizational Psychologist with whom I assesed a team's health and effectiveness using Stephen Phillip's "Team Effectiveness Inventory" for the quantitative part and detailed interviews for the quantitative part. We are currently conducting behavioral observations to help with team effectiveness. I've been involved with succession planning, not only is it a new lab-wide process but it's a drastic culture shift. I was also involved in putting together a four day Group supervisor workshop and helped design a strategy plan for a section of about 100 employees.”

Saima Raza is a multi-cultural PsyD student of Goldsmith School of Management from Fresno. She passed a challenging six-hour Series 7 exam accepted by the NASD, the world's largest private-sector regulator of financial services, for the position of financial planner. The Series 7 is the most comprehensive of the registered representative exams. Ms. Raza is highly successful in her new career and is associated with Waddell & Reed Inc, one of the most enduring mutual fund and financial planning companies in the United States.

Jasmine Yadegar, fourth year PhD student in Industrial-Organizational Psychology at the Goldsmith School of Management in LA, is one of two students who have won internships at HealthNet, one of the nation's largest publicly traded healthcare companies. Her internship became a full-time position with significant responsibilities. Ms. Yadegar says, “I was an intern at Health Net in Woodland Hills for five months and was recently hired as a Leadership and Organization Development Specialist. I manage training and development programs that are mostly geared towards leadership development. I am also involved in designing, implementing, and analyzing surveys. My biggest project at this time is upgrading our learning management system along with spearheading process improvement initiatives.”

Sukaina Alarakhia, PhD student in the Division of Business in the Goldsmith School of Management, was awarded the only scholarship given the President of the Association of Strategic Planning at its Conference in Long Beach in March 2006. The scholarship pays a full-time student's registration fee to the ASP Annual Conference and is named for Sumner Alpert to recognize lifelong commitment to learning and continuing education.
International Studies.

International Relations

Alliant graduate international relations student Samer Elchahabi learned hands-on skills in diplomacy while working at the Jimmy Carter Center, a nonprofit committed to advancing human rights and alleviating unnecessary human suffering.

Marital & Family Therapy

Ben Caldwell received the outstanding Dissertation Award from American Association of Marital and Family Therapy (AAMFT) for a dissertation completed in December, 2004. He and will be recognized at the AAMFT Annual Conference in the Fall in Kansas City. Only one person is chosen to receive this award each year. Dr. Caldwell has been recently hired onto the Alliant faculty.