WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ— Monmouth University’s Psychology Department hosted its 61st semi-annual undergraduate student conference in the Wilson 
Auditorium on December 13. The conference was comprised of 65 undergraduate students that presented either their senior theses or internship experiences to those in attendance, instilling in the presenters strong pillars of communication and professionalism.
Attendees were rewarded with the sight of dozens of poster-board presentations lining the halls of the magnificent foyer of Wilson Hall and were given the opportunity to network amongst the many others that shared an interest in psychology.
The university urged all members of the MU community to attend and participate, not merely those who have a preexisting relationship with a presenter. Those in the psychology department are required to attend the event.
A primary concern involving the event was whether or not it is possible to keep students engaged even while attending on a Saturday morning. Alyson Birdsall, MU senior and psychology student, said, “I think it’s an engaging experience because every psych student has to go through this.”
However, the interest typically seems to skew based upon the age of each student. Alyson went on to explain, “So in the morning you get the freshmen who come in because they just want to get in and get out, but they’re still engaged because they want to know how you did it and how your stress level is. It’s more on a personal level than based on the research. But then you get the students that are my age and they really want to know what you did with your research and how you conducted your research because research is such a huge part of psychology.”
The Monmouth University Psychological undergraduate conference is currently the longest running of its kind in the nation. The campus is fortunate to have such a long-withstanding staple of student research and involvement.
For more information pertaining to next semester’s conference, contact Dr. Gary Lewandowski, professor and chair of the Department of Psychology at glewando@monmouth.edu.
