2005 Denmark Award Winner
Psi Chi congratulates Dr. Joan B. Cannon, associate professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, for being selected as the winner of the 2004-05 Psi Chi/Florence L. Denmark National Faculty Advisor Award. This prestigious award is presented annually to the one faculty advisor who best achieves Psi Chi's purposes and has made outstanding contributions both to Psi Chi and to the field of psychology at the local, regional, and national levels.
As winner of the Denmark Award, Dr. Cannon will receive travel expenses to the APA/Psi Chi National Convention, to be held in Washington, D.C. this August, where the award will be formally presented. Dr. Cannon's deep commitments and enormous involvement with Psi Chi is described in her chapter's letter of nomination.
Joan B. Cannon, EdD, is associate professor of psychology and faculty advisor to Psi Chi (1996-present) at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. She earned her bachelor's degree in psychology from Saint Mary's College (Notre Dame, Indiana), master's degree from Boston University, and doctoral degree from Clark University. She currently teaches courses in Personality and Human Development and has been active in online teaching and in conducting a variety of career seminars. Her research focuses on organizational change, role conflict, dual-career families, and personality. She is the author of dozens of articles, book chapters (e.g., "Developing Job Search Skills: A Training Program for Psychology Majors" in Woods, P.J. [1988]; Is Psychology the Major for You?) and editor of two books, Resources for Affirmative Action, and Personality Psychology: Insights, Issues, Case Histories and Applications. She was honored with the Haskell Teaching Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1996, the 2003 Department of Psychology Distinguished Teaching Award, and the University of Massachusetts Lowell Student Organization Advisor for the 2003-04 year.
2005 Denmark Winner's Letter of Nomination
It is a great honor and privilege to nominate Dr. Joan B. Cannon, faculty advisor of the University of Massachusetts Lowell Chapter of Psi Chi (1996 to present) for the Denmark National Faculty Advisor Award. Dr. Cannon is an exemplary role model to students and other faculty advisors in the university and truly deserves to be recognized for her extraordinary leadership, commitment, dedication, and tireless energy to our local chapter by the National Council. The ever-growing success of our chapter and the leadership of our officers are attributable to the significant role that she willingly assumes every academic year. She exceeds the normal expectations of what an advisor is responsible for and enthusiastically conceives of a vision that will bring even greater recognition and prestige to our local chapter at the regional and national levels. This is evident in her attainment of two awards: the 2003-04 University of Massachusetts Lowell Student Organization Advisor of the Year Award and the 2003-04 University of Massachusetts Lowell Outstanding Community Service by a Group (Psi Chi).
During the fall semester, Dr. Cannon played a very influential role in demonstrating her commitment to the mission of Psi Chi, to academic excellence, and community services projects and initiatives. She nurtured and facilitated these ideals within the organization by always emphasizing our commitment to the goals and mission of the national organization and coaching us on how to achieve them. A natural leader herself, Dr. Cannon is able to foster and maintains a strong sense of community and support for officers, students, professors, and other members of the university and local community. She has facilitated these relationships by encouraging us to meet our goals at the local, regional, and national levels.
At the local level, Dr. Cannon diligently campaigned for new inductees in her regular and online courses. Through written correspondence and postings, she asked her colleagues to participate in the membership campaign process of the 691 members in our chapter; Dr. Cannon helped to attract close to 300 new members. With respect to the application and acceptance process, Dr. Cannon has always played a key role by processing all applications and writing personal letters to every new student. She also encouraged them to seek out and apply for membership as an officer. She is very committed to helping students polish and enhance their professional resumes.
Recently, our chapter participated in the University's Family Day and Open House programs, which enabled us to create liaisons with other student organizations, raise money for our treasury, and disseminate information about Psi Chi. For Family Day, Dr. Cannon personally decorated 40 Grab Bags labeled "A Gift for Him/Her/Anyone." She also helped with Halloween Gift Baskets and suggested a variety of games (Going Fishing, Test Your Candy IQ, and Change Your Identity) to help raise funds. Because of these efforts, our chapter earned $585.00.
Dr. Cannon conducted two academic seminars, "Careers in Psychology" (October 2004) and "How to Apply to Graduate School and the Job Search Process" (November 2004), with over sixty students in attendance. She also invited several other Psi Chi chapters to join in the activities. With a strong desire to have students think and behave like professional psychologists, she used her Seminar in Development course to develop these skills by requiring us to create posters, brochures, and programs for our academic events. She also encouraged us to invite former Psi Chi members to serve as guest speakers. At our Career Seminar, two former Psi Chi members (one is the director of our adopted shelter, the Woodland Inn) spoke of their career experiences.
In her efforts to gain public recognition of our society, Dr. Cannon created, designed, and printed out a very colorful Psi Chi newsletter. Through this medium, she provided students, faculty, and members of the university community newsworthy information about our chapter and its activities. She also contributed an article to Eye on Psi Chi.
At the regional level, Dr. Cannon was a member of the Regional Research Awards and Program Committee, participated in the EPA conference (2004), and presented "What Can You Do With A Bachelor's Degree in Psychology" at the NEPA conference (October 16, 2004). She also encouraged several officers to participate as co-chairs in a Psi Chi Exchange Program, which was a truly remarkable experience for us. It is her goal to get more involved individually and collectively in such regional activities.
At the national level, Dr. Cannon has already facilitated our participation in four of the five National Service Projects: AHAP, Adopt-A-Shelter Program, UNICEF, and a holiday food drive. In October, two checks for $100 each were sent to the National Office to help support the Archives of the History of American Psychology and UNICEF projects. On October 26, 2004, we presented Woodland Inn (our adopted shelter) with a check in the amount of $355 for the purchase of a UMASS Lowell Psi Chi musical cart. In November, various shelters and places in need received food baskets, wish list items, and stuffed animals as part of our holiday food drive.
As you can see, Dr. Cannon's personal and professional contributions to our society's success are innumerable. She has enthusiastically dedicated herself one hundred percent plus to facilitating our achievement in meeting the academic and community service goals proposed by the National Organization of Psi Chi. In addition, she has tirelessly participated in every aspect of the day-to-day operations and activities of the organization. She clearly merits the Psi Chi Denmark National Faculty Advisor Award for her:
- long-range vision, mission, and objectives of our local chapter of Psi Chi;
- mentorship and service as a role model;
- leadership ability;
- sensitivity to meeting the needs of various constituencies;
- commitment to excellence in every sense of the word;
- training of students in the development of professional skills, career interests, and community service projects;
- and recognition of accomplishments achieved by the organization, its members, and all university students.
--Kaitlin Chandonnet and Katie Gagliardi
Presidents of the University of Massachusetts Lowell Psi Chi Chapter