Regional Faculty Advisor 2008-09 Award Winners
Th e Psi Chi Awards Committee is pleased to announce the 2008-09 winners of the Regional Faculty Advisor Awards.
Each winning advisor is presented a $500 check and a plaque to display in his or her department. The awards are
intended to identify outstanding Psi Chi faculty advisors and to promote the purpose of Psi Chi. The deadline for next
year’s Regional Faculty Advisor Award Competition is December 1, 2009. Chapter officers are encouraged to consider
nominating the faculty advisor for their chapter.
Southeastern Region
Christina Sinisi, PhD
Charleston Southern University (SC)
Christina Sinisi, PhD, received a
Bachelor of Arts in psychology from
Hollins College (VA) in 1986, and
her master’s and doctoral degrees
from Kansas State University. Aft er
completing her degrees, she took
a temporary instructor’s position
at Georgia Southern University.
In 1994, she came to Charleston
Southern University. She has taught
at Charleston Southern for 15 years
and is a tenured, full professor. She
is married to Kyle Sinisi, a professor
of history at the Citadel, and has two
children, Scott and Lindsey.
Th e Charleston Southern
University chapter of Psi Chi was
founded in 1994; Dr. Sinisi became
advisor in 1999. During her tenure
as advisor, the chapter has been
awarded the Southeastern Regional
Chapter Award and the Ruth
Hubbard Cousins award in 2004.
Th is is the second time the chapter
has nominated her for the Advisor
award, and she is very grateful for
the wonderful students she’s been
privileged to work with and get
to know. As a Baptist university,
Charleston Southern’s mission
stresses service, and Psi Chi has
endeavored to integrate that with
the society’s own focus on science.
Th e chapter participated in over 20
service projects during the 2008-09
school year including: a car wash
for the Crisis Ministries homeless
shelter, a food drive for the homeless
shelter, a collection drive for the
battered women’s shelter, another
collection drive for the Ronald
McDonald House, and both the
local Memory and Juvenile Diabetes
Walks.
Western Region
Brian R. Metcalf, PhD
Hawai‘i Pacific University
From Stevens Point, WI, where
he received his bachelors,
Brian Metcalf’s MS and PhD in
biopsychology were earned at
the University of Georgia. Aft er
teaching and doing research at
Morris Brown College (GA), he is
now associate professor at Hawai‘i
Pacifi c University in Honolulu.
His courses include Introduction,
Statistics, Research Methods,
Social, History & Systems, and
Biopsychology.
Dr. Metcalf ’s research interests
have included studying alcohol
reactivity diff erences during
depression in rats, applying
chaos theory to animal operant
behavior, social stressors and
neuroendocrinology in hamsters,
the psychopharmacology of socalled
“club drugs” such as GHB,
false memories, eyewitness memory,
and why people believe strange
things (such as in psychic ability,
alien abductions, astrology, and
other paranormal phenomena).
Other activities and interests include
computers, photography, reading,
learning, and listening to music. In
addition to serving as the advisor
to the HPU chapter of Psi Chi, Dr.
Metcalf is the advisor to the awardwinning
Psychology Club.