March 2020

It’s time for our annual Year in Review! As we look back on each month of the academic year, the MSP community can reflect on the changes and growth we have experienced since September, both individually and as a community. Here’s a look at highlights from March 2020.

Photo of Dana giving her presentation — We welcomed Alum Dana Howley, PsyD (’13) to discuss her dissertation research for March’s “Lessons from Our Alumni” series on March 2.

President Brown (center) with Curtis Lipscomb, Executive Director of LGBT Detroit (pictured left) and WDET's Ryan Patrick Hooper (right). — President Brown was invited to share her expertise on “The Pains of Coming Out in Minority Communities” on WDET’s “Culture Shift” on March 5. Pictured here with Curtis Lipscomb, Executive Director of LGBT Detroit (pictured left) and WDET’s Ryan Patrick Hooper (right).

COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic stopped everyone in their tracks. President Fran Brown announced on Friday, March 13 that we would transition all operations and class instruction to remote delivery beginning Monday, March 16. Our community of faculty and staff worked tirelessly to make the transition to online learning as smooth as possible for students.

By the end of the month, our hopes for a speedy transition back to campus began to dim. With heavy hearts, we announced that both the 6th Annual Research Symposium hosted by Psi Chi and the 2nd Annual Cultural Competency Conference were canceled.

The MSP COVID-19 Closure Resources page became available for student use on March 27. Resources included everything from Clinical Training and Financial Aid to Technology and Social needs.

At the end of March, the Psi Chi chapter at MSP created the Psi Chi COVID-19 Response Relief Fund to provide some relief during this emergency and support students as they continue in their studies.

Other March highlights:

IDEA welcomed Desa Cosma, MA, Executive Director of Detroit Disability Power to campus for a training to increase cultural competence and build skills for working with clients with disabilities on March 9.

We welcomed Alum Palina Drake for a “Lessons from our Alumni” lecture on March 10.

Dustin Shepler, PhD, Core Faculty, held a second brown-bag workshop to provide support on how to make a professional poster for a conference on March 11.

After campus closed, Student Engagement held several daily Virtual Atrium sessions on Zoom for students to connect with each other beginning March 23.

Student Engagement also hosted two virtual discussion for the community: “Dealing with the Unknown” on March 23 and “Balancing Roles” on March 27.

We held a Virtual Game Night for students, faculty, and staff on March 27.

Blogs: President Brown wrote to the community about steps for moving forward, Sierra Gillis (PsyD 1) shared some resources for students who are also parents homeschooling kids, Jared Boot (PsyD 1) wrote about Transgender Day of Visibility, we featured Vinnie Mangiapane (MA) in a How I Make It Work blog, and Alum Scott MacInnis, MA (’18), TLLP shared his Life After MSP journey.